-
Galton publishes Hereditary Genius
Sir Francis Galton published Hereditary Genius. A eugenicist, his work focused on sensory tests and the hereditary attributes of intelligence. While his emphasis on genetics has been discredited, he nonetheless lay the foundation for efforts to identify and support exceptional intelligence over the next 100 years. -
Binet-Simon Test
Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon created the first intelligence test, which was heavily verbal. They also established the idea of mental age--that physical age doesn't always reflect the mental development of an individual. -
Stanford-Binet Test
While working at Stanford, Lewis Terman adapted the Binet-Simon test and created the idea of IQ. His goal was to identify and study gifted children, and his work led to the publishing of five volumes of "Genetic Studies of Genius" between 1925 and 1959. He is credited with starting the gifted child movement. -
Hollingworth Begins Gifted Education Movement
Working out of the Teachers College at Columbia University, Leta Stetter Hollingworth built on Terman's work to start the gifted education movement. She believed environment and education played a major role in how intelligence developed, not just genetics, and thus focused on the role schools can play in supporting gifted students. -
NAGC Founded
The National Association for Gifted Children continues to be a major advocate for gifted education. Starting in 1998, they have published and updated standards for gifted education programs and for teacher prep programs. -
Sputnik
The Soviet launch of Sputnik inspired the U.S. government to put more resources into science and math education and the identification of gifted students. Thus the first large-scale funding for gifted education was actually written into the National Defense Education Act in 1958, pairing education with national security. -
SMPY Established
The Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth, not the Center for Talented Youth, was first established at Johns Hopkins University in the 1970s. Their aim was to create a national search to identify, describe, support, and share information about gifted children. By the 1980s, similar programs had developed at universities across the country, including Duke's TIP program, Northwestern's Center for Talent Development, and the University of Denver's RM Talent Search. -
Office of Gifted and Talented Established
The US Department of Education officially established the Office of Gifted and Talented within their agency, affirming the significance of acknowledging and supporting gifted education, though funding for gifted education in schools continues to be variable.
