Rationale for the 2014-2020 NCRGE Research
Recent studies of gifted and talented programs indicate that the extent and quality of services available to gifted students varies from state to state, district to district, and even from school to school within school districts. Overall, the field knows little about how gifted and talented programs are implemented in schools, how long students participate and at what level of intensity, and whether these programs are effective in improving students’ academic outcomes. In addition, students of particular racial and ethnic backgrounds (i.e., African American, Hispanic or Latino, and Native American), students from lower income families, and students from small-town or rural communities are disproportionally underrepresented in gifted and talented programs. These students are less likely to be identified as gifted and talented in early elementary school, and those who are identified are less likely to have access to or persist in programs or activities for gifted and talented students as they progress through the K-12 system.
Every child has a right to learn something new every day. Unfortunately, for many gifted and talented students this ideal is never realized (Siegle, 2008; 2013). The extent and quality of services available to gifted students varies from state to state and even from school to school within education districts (National Association for Gifted Children & Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted, 2013). The reasons for these discrepancies include limited financial resources allotted to educating gifted and talented students (Purcell, 1994), differing definitions of giftedness (Sternberg & Davidson, 2005), perceptions of elitism that foster resistance to providing services to gifted students (Renzulli & Reis, 1997), conflicting opinions about best practices, and limited research on the effectiveness of programs for gifted students (Plucker & Callahan, 2014).
Every child has a right to learn something new every day.
Through research, development, evaluation, and national leadership activities, the National Center for Research on Gifted Education (NCRGE) can provide the research necessary to increase our understanding of identification policies and procedures, instructional approaches, program curricula and content, and stakeholder involvement that contribute to gifted and talented students fulfilling their academic potential. Our emphasis is on understanding effective practices with underserved populations. We network with national organizations and service providers to deliver outreach opportunities and an interactive digital portal for researchers, practitioners, and parents.
For more than a quarter century, the field of gifted education has wrestled with two separate, but related issues: 1) a widespread failure to identify and serve underserved populations and 2) limited data documenting “what works” with gifted students. Failing to answer these questions has resulted in inconsistent and often ineffective programming services for gifted and talented students and the under identification of some populations that result in low performance of underrepresented groups. What results is a condition in which many gifted students’ talents are unrecognized and underdeveloped. Some students have been overlooked and therefore denied opportunities to develop their talents because they were born into poverty, had a certain color of skin, learned to first speak in a language other than English, or lived in a rural or urban area. As Borland (2005) noted, “the practice of gifted education is rife with inequities that have been extremely difficult to eliminate” (p. 11). Such educational inequities have limited these gifted individuals’ opportunities to fulfill their potential. The neglect results in what Plucker, Burroughs, and Song (2010) described as a growing “excellence gap” in K-12 education. Gifted students emerge from all cultures, races, classes, and backgrounds; however, the achievement patterns of these different groups vary widely.
Gifted students emerge from all cultures, races, classes, and backgrounds; however, the achievement patterns of these different groups vary widely.
Unfortunately, currently almost half (44%) of low-income students who are classified as high achieving when they enter first grade can no longer be classified as such by the time they reach fifth grade (Wyner, Bridgeland, & Diiulio, 2009). Students from families in the top quartile for socioeconomic status are five times more likely to be in a gifted program than students from families in the bottom quartile (Borland, 2005). High achieving, lower-income students drop out twice as often as high achieving, higher-income students (Wyner et al., 2009). Gifted students of poverty are less likely to attend prestigious colleges, graduate from college, and receive graduate degrees (Wyner et al., 2009). African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and English Language Learners (ELL) are severely underrepresented among the top performing 1%, 5%, and 10% of students at all levels of the educational system from kindergarten through graduate and professional school (Miller, 2004). Over two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson expressed the goal within a system of education “to avail the State of those talents which nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich but which perish without use, if not sought for and cultivated.” Nationally, the goal has yet to be met.
A nation’s prosperity can be charted to a large extent by the contributions of its most gifted and talented citizens. When a nation fails to recognized and develop the talents of a large percentage of its population, it limits its ability to compete in the future. Plucker, Hardesty, and Burroughs (2013) suggested that “the failure of the U.S. educational system to properly nurture students from disadvantaged backgrounds may be an important contributor to the low proportion of U.S. students entering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields” (p. 3). Our nation’s fortune is dependent upon the brightest students in today’s classrooms and the educational opportunities they currently receive. As the renowned educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom discovered almost three decades ago in his research on eminent individuals, “No one reached the limits of learning in a talent field on his or her own….What the families and the teachers do at different times and how they do it clearly sets the stage for exceptional learning in each talent field” (Bloom, 1985, p. 509). Through the research we are conducting, we can identify program components that successfully stimulate advanced academic knowledge and skills with an operative commitment to reaching traditionally underserved students.
2014-2020 Research Team
Dr. Del Siegle, PI
Center Director
Professor, University of Connecticut
2014-2020
Dr. E. Jean Gubbins
Associate Director
Professor in Residence, University of Connecticut
2014-2020
Dr. D. Betsy McCoach
Professor, University of Connecticut
2014-2020
Dr. Carolyn M. Callahan
Professor, University of Virginia
2014-2020
Dr. Christopher Rhoads
Associate Professor, University of Connecticut
2014-2020
Dr. Daniel Long
Research Scientist, University of Connecticut
2017-2020
Dr. Vonna Hemmler
Post Doc, University of Virginia
2018-2020
Dr. Allison W. Kenney
Post Doc, University of Connecticut
2018-2020
Previous Research Team Members
Dr. Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead
Associate Professor, University of Connecticut
Year 2014-16
Dr. Rashea Hamilton
Research Associate I, University of Connecticut
Year 2015-18
Dr. Jeb Puryear
University of Connecticut
Year 2016-17
Dr. Annalissa Brodersen
University of Virginia
Year 2014-18
Dr. M. Shane Tutwiler
University of Connecticut
Year 2015-17
Dr. Joseph Renzulli
Professor, University of Connecticut
Year 2014-17
Dr. Rachel Mun
(2015-16)
Research Associate I, University of Connecticut
Dr. Yaacov Petscher
Research Associate, Florida State University
Year 2014-17
Dr. Frank Worrell
(2014-16)
Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Catherine A. Little
(2014-15)
Associate Professor, University of Connecticut
Dr. Jonathan Plucker
(2014-15)
Professor, University of Connecticut
Dr. Tawnya Knupp
(2014-15)
Research Associate II, University of Connecticut
2014-2017 Advisory Board (Phase 1)
Dr. Camilla Benbow, Vanderbilt University - A member of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel who also served on the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation
Dr. David Figlio, University of Wisconsin-Madison - Orrington Lunt Professor of Education and Social Policy and Director of the Institute for Policy Research; also Associate of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Deborah Gist, Rhode Island Commissioner of Education - Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education (and formerly the State Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia).
Dr. Larry Hedges, Northwestern University - A national leader in educational statistics and evaluation and Professor of Statistics and Education and Social Policy, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University.
Dr. Yvette Jackson, National Urban Alliance for Effective Education - Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, founded at The College Board and Columbia University.
Dr. David Leal, University of Texas at Austin - Professor of Government and Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin (and an expert in Latino education issues).
Dr. Sidney Moon, Purdue University - Former associate dean and director of the Gifted Education Resource Institute (GERI) at the College of Education, Purdue University.
Dr. Julia Link Roberts, Western Kentucky University - Founder of the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science, which Newsweek has twice ranked the best public high school in the U.S.
Dr. Rena Subotnik, APA - founder of the Katz Rosen Center for Gifted Education Policy at the American Psychological Association (G&T)
Dr. Lynne Vernon-Feagans, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill - William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Early Childhood, Intervention and Literacy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Dr. Frank C. Worrell, Berkeley - Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, and holds affilate appointments in the Psychology Department (Social and Personality area), and with the Center for Child and Youth Policy, the Center for Race and Gender, and the Center for Latino Policy Research.
2017-2020 Advisory Board (Phase 2)
Dr. Camilla Benbow, Vanderbilt University - A member of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel who also served on the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation
Dr. Laura Giuliano, University of California-Merced - Associate professor of economics and served as Senior Economist for Labor and Education on the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Dr. Luke Keele, Georgetown University - Associate professor in Public Policy. He studies studies applied statistics and causal inference with applications in the social and medical sciences.
Dr. Sidney Moon, Purdue University - Former associate dean and director of the Gifted Education Resource Institute (GERI) at the College of Education, Purdue University.
Dr. Sharon Rallis, University of Massachusetts - The Dwight W. Allen Distinguished Professor in Educational Policy and Reform in the Department of Educational Policy, Research & Administration in the College of Education, as well as the director of the Center for Education Policy, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Dr. Lisette Rodriguez - Executive Director of Miami-Dade Advanced Academic Programs.
Dr. Elizabeth Shaunessy-Dedrick, University of South Florida - Professor in the Department of Special Education, and serves as the Coordinator of the Gifted Education Program.
Dr. Rena Subotnik, APA - Founder of the Katz Rosen Center for Gifted Education Policy at the American Psychological Association (G&T)
Dr. Frank C. Worrell, Berkeley - Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, and holds affilate appointments in the Psychology Department (Social and Personality area), and with the Center for Child and Youth Policy, the Center for Race and Gender, and the Center for Latino Policy Research.