Gifted & Creative Education: Developing Talents of Children in Schools (March 2018)

This essay first appeared in the March 2018 issue of Choice (volume 55 | issue 7).

Introduction:

Gifted and creative education programs attempt to identify highly able children and then provide them with special services through their schools. Issues regarding how best to define gifted and creative, and the most effective ways of identifying such children, have been the topic of vigorous discussion, and sometimes disagreement, for decades. Services provided by gifted-education specialists and other school personnel should be tailored to meet a given child’s skills and needs. To this end, curriculum and instructional activities for gifted and creative children are most effective when they closely adhere to practices, procedures, and issues that are the focus of…

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About the author:

Stephen T. Schroth is professor of early childhood education and graduate programs director at Towson University. He is the author of multiple monographs, book chapters, and articles related to gifted and creative children. His forthcoming book, due in the spring of 2018, is Developing Diversity in Early Childhood and Elementary Education: The REACH Project Approach (written with Jason Helfer).

Kimberly McCormick is assistant professor of early childhood education at Towson University. She received a PhD in learning and developmental sciences from Indiana University, before which she began her career as a technology coordinator at a science and technology magnet school in Indiana and then taught first and fourth grade. Her research focuses on connecting student engagement to the academic and social needs of gifted and talented students and fostering cognitive engagement through formative assessment.