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Sir Grances Galton
Although initial ideas of giftedness date back to 347 BC, Sir Frances Galton was one of the earliest philosophers of gifted people. He had extensive studies in the field of heredity, and how nature vs. nurture played a role in a person’s intellectual abilities. This movement, called eugenics, was able to help create groups of people- gifted, capable, average, or degenerate. He was one of the first to show a correlation between one’s intelligence and heredity. This is one of the most prevalent -
Lewis Terman
Lewis Terman, also known as the “father of the gifted child movement”, first began his career as an Army office where he devised IQ tests for soldier recruitment. Subsequent to his army career, he was able to conduct wide-scale research on children and their intelligence. He studied boys and girls with high IQs over a wide period of time. His studies were able to shed light on high intelligent children, and refute many common misconceptions. -
Leta Hollingworth
Leta Hollingworth was a pioneer of the work started by Lewis Terman. Holingworth expanded upon the notion of heredity to environmental factors which contribute to giftedness or the thriving of such. She was able to provide the basis for many current ideologies of gifted and talented students today. For example, she was a proponent of ability grouping for like-minded students, she understood the importance of early identification, and used project-based learning in the school she ran later on. -
The Marland Report
Following the Cold War, there was a significant push from the US government to encourage studies in Science, Technology, Mathematics, and Engineering (STEM) in order to compete with the Soviets. Legislation, called the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), sparked educators to notice their students with giftedness in order to better serve these students in their schools. Following the NDEA, a study called the Marland Report, provided the first definition of giftedness that did not solely rely o -
The No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind act is a piece of legislation that mandates student progression in attempts to ensure all children meet specific levels of proficiency. Although aimed to ensure teachers, schools, and districts are remediating those who fall far below the standards, little was done in the way of giftedness. However, the NCLB also reaffirmed grant monies from the previous Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act. In addition, the definition is modified, much to the teaching -
National Gifted Education Standards
The National Association for Gifted Children published standards and resources for teachers of gifted and talented children. The NAGC standards provide a framework for gifted programs and standards to follow in curriculum, extension, and acceleration. They are endorsed by the Association for the Gifted of the Council for Exceptional Children and local state programs. These are some of the first guidelines and resources aimed directly at the gifted and talented learners.
