Losing our Way in the Maze of Federal Mandates and Standardization: Whatever Happened to Creativity as a Primary Goal of Gifted Education?

 Top 10 – 15% of students have been poorly served by the standards movement.  50% of gifted students are underachieving.  Flexible instructional grouping is important for both gifted students and students at the lower achievement levels.

Intellectual Play “I hope we live our lives in such a way that serious play is not an oxymoron but rather a natural and intuitive way to face the world. Carolyn Cotto, 2010 Valedictorian Falmouth Academy, Falmouth, MA

- Japanese Minister of Education to Sally Reiss

Reiss: Japanese test better. Americans value creativity.

 Singapore has better math and science scores. American kids test worse but do better in the real world.

Reiss: Singapore has an exam meritocracy. America has a talent meritocracy.

United States270 United Kingdom 100 Germany 70 Canada 10 China 2

Fareed Zaharia: “I went through the Asian educational system, which is now so admired. It gave me an impressive base of knowledge and taught me how to study hard and fast...

But when I got to the U.S. for college, I found that it had not trained me that well to think.”

American education at its best teaches you how to:  solve problems  truly understand the material  question authority  think for yourself and  be creative.

It teaches you to learn what you love and to love what you learn.

 These are incredibly important values, and they are why the U.S. has been able to maintain an edge in the creative industries and innovation in general. -Fareed Zaharia Time Magazine, November 14, 2011

 If students practice the traits of creative productivity, they will seek out that as adults. - Dr. Sally Reiss

Gifted programs should offer: Opportunities – to move faster, delve deeper, pursue interests

Resources – exposure to topics students may love

Encouragement – based on identification of talents, abilities & learning styles

 Pre-assess  Offer choice  Compact material  Consider learning styles  Provide creative opportunities

...Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.