Commentary
Charter Schools, Advanced Education
Charter Icahnoclast
We here at Fordham are really jazzed about the potential of high-quality career and technical education (CTE).
Commentary
Advanced Education
Standard deviations: Creative writers take standardized writing tests?
Students at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology produce the highest SAT and ACT scores in the nation. All of the students take at least one Advanced Placement exam, with 97 percent of them scoring well enough to receive college credit. But those high scores don’t come without intellectual cost.
Commentary
Advanced Education
The importance of parent intuition and observation in recognizing highly creative children
In my work with hundreds of families, I have observed one common truth: Parents are the experts on their own children, especially when it comes to giftedness. Parents often observe certain characteristics in their children and view them as positive traits—until those same characteristics are regarded negatively in school.
Commentary
Advanced Education
The importance of robust state gifted policies
If you had a magic wand and could change one thing to ensure the availability of great gifted education services for students in your community, what would it be? A state mandate? More funding? A wide array of service requirements based on what we know about giftedness and best practices for promoting the development of high-ability learners?
Commentary
Advanced Education
Racial bias in gifted and talented placement, and what to do about it
The following text is an excerpt from Aiming Higher Together: Strategizing Better Educational Outcomes for Boys and Young Men of Color, an Urban Institute report authored by Ronald F. Ferguson of Harvard University.
Commentary
Advanced Education
Honoring giftedness in the black community
At the turn of the twentieth century, scholars and politicians alike were wrestling with a new America. It was the end of Reconstruction, and race relations in the country were coming to the fore of the national conversation. Sociologists and politicians were embroiled in contentious discussions that would shape the nation’s development.
Commentary
Advanced Education
Students need opportunities to flex their creative muscles
Although we consider creativity and critical thinking two of the most important skills today, children often have limited opportunities to flex their creative muscles. Parents and teachers need to encourage creative children to find at least one outlet, along with venues and audiences to showcase their work.
Commentary
Advanced Education
America's Report Card: We're still ignoring low-income high-achievers
Last week, the Department of Education released the 2015 Nation’s Report Card for twelfth graders. As with the fourth- and eighth-grade scores provided last fall, there was little to celebrate. In the core subjects of math and reading, average scores held firm at the same unimpressive level they’ve been at since 2009.
Commentary
Advanced Education
No child is just born gifted: Creating and developing unlimited potential
Observing what a young person is capable of is always exciting. Many of the limits we thought children had do not seem to be as absolute as we once believed. The more we study children, the more we discover that our beliefs are limited, not the abilities of kids.Are children born gifted?
Commentary
Advanced Education
San Antonio's plan to serve high-achievers
Over the past year, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute has published numerous articles (including a book) explaining how schools across the country are overlooking high-achieving poor students.
Commentary
Commentary
Advanced Education
Dispelling the myths around gifted education
How often have you heard, “Gifted students will do fine on their own?” This is just one of the many myths that become barriers to properly educating millions of high-potential students. The following is a list of the most prevalent myths in gifted education, accompanied by evidence rebutting each of them.
Commentary
Advanced Education
Let's ensure that all kids have access to gifted programs in Illinois
As a parent of three young children in Chicago Public Schools, I’m starting to get nervous.
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Advanced Education
How tracking can raise the test scores of high-ability minority students
By David Griffith
Commentary
Advanced Education
Challenges to the pursuit of equity in excellence
A recent report showing low levels of participation by black, Hispanic, and low-income students in the gifted and talented programs of Montgomery County underscores the significant challenges befo
Commentary
Advanced Education, Curriculum & Instruction
High-potential students thrive when school districts develop sustainable gifted services
The goal of gifted programs should reflect that of any other educational program: to engage students with appropriately challenging curricula and instruction on a daily basis and in all relevant content areas so that they can make continual academic growth.
Commentary
Advanced Education
One size may fit most, but certainly not the gifted and talented
Last fall, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) published a working paper by researchers Thomas S. Dee and Hans Henrik Sieversten titled The Gift of Time? School Starting Age and Mental Health. The well-developed study quantifies the effects of predicating enrollment in formal schooling on the mental health of students.
Commentary
Advanced Education
Leaving talent on the table: Fixing gifted education in America
Talk is cheap.For decades, elected officials, education leaders, and others have consumed much oxygen talking about the challenges facing our nation from countries doing a much better job developing their academic talent.Despite this the reality is that we have largely failed to address this concern as many of our most talented children are being overlooked and uncultivated.
Commentary
Advanced Education
Breaking the artificial ceilings we place over gifted and talented children
On January 23, the Economist sent a clear warning to world leaders about the ways that “governments are systematically preventing [youth] from reaching their potential.” In the article “Young, gifted and held back,” authors point to many polici
Undefined
Advanced Education
The Star Wars edition
Intel’s withdrawal of its Science Talent Search sponsorship, the legitimacy of the “Asian advantage,” charter school policy’s importance to voters, and principals’ opinions of Teach For America alumni.
Undefined
Advanced Education
The "Genius" edition
A suburban college readiness gap, rethinking the high school graduation age, fracking’s effect on male dropout rates, and racial density in high schools.
Undefined
Advanced Education
The Emmy edition
Catholic schools and the Pope’s stateside visit, Bill de Blasio’s pre-K enrollment efforts, STEM education for gifted kids, and KIPP’s successful scale-up.
Book
Advanced Education
Failing Our Brightest Kids: The Global Challenge of Educating High-Ability Students
In Failing Our Brightest Kids, Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Brandon L. Wright argue that for decades, the United States has focused too little on preparing students to achieve at high levels.
Commentary
Advanced Education
Equal Talents, Unequal Opportunities: A Report Card on State Support for Academically Talented Low-Income Students
No state does right by its “high flyers,” and most do an awful lot wrong. Michelle Lerner
Commentary
Advanced Education
What Works in Gifted Education: Documenting the Effects of an Integrated Curricular/Instructional Model for Gifted Students
Another good idea limited by flawed assessments. Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.
Commentary
Advanced Education
Life in the Fast Lane: Effects of Early Grade Acceleration on High School and College Outcomes
Kids who skip grades stay ahead of the pack. Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.
Commentary
Advanced Education, Curriculum & Instruction
NEW from Fordham: Common Core and America's High-Achieving Students
While the merit and politics of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been much debated and discussed, one topic has been virtually ignored: What do the standards portend for America’s high-ability students? In a new brief from Fordham, Jonathan Plucker, professor of education at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education, provides guidance for districts
Report
Advanced Education, Standards
Common Core and America's High-Achieving Students
Gadfly editorial by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Amber M. Northern
Commentary
Curriculum & Instruction, Standards, Advanced Education
Can gifted education survive the Common Core?
Higher standards are no excuse to ditch gifted services. Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Amber M. Northern, Ph.D.
Commentary
Charter Schools, Advanced Education
In defense of New York City's selective high schools
This post was originally published in a slightly different form by the CUNY Institute for Education Policy.
