A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (Javits Center)

ED Program Office: OERI/At-Risk Institute

ED Agency Contact: Beverly Coleman

Award Number: R206R50001

Start Date: 06/01/1990

End Date: 09/30/2005

Expected Total Award: $24,449,951

Center Director:

Joseph S. Renzulli
The University of Connecticut
2131 Hillside Road, Unit 3007
Storrs, CT 06269-3007

Phone: 860-486-4676

Fax: 860-486-2900

Affiliated Organizations:

University of Virginia
Yale University

Overview of Center Program:

The work of The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT) is guided by emerging research about the broadened conception of human potential and the need to develop "high-end learning" opportunities for all of America's students. Programs and services designed to challenge the highest levels of learning and creativity; to promote high expectations, rigorous standards, and greater engagement with subject matter should be an integral part of every school's overall program. We believe that the nation's largest reservoir of untapped talent can be found among those young people who, by reason of economic circumstances and all of the problems that surround poverty in America, have not been given equal opportunity and encouragement to develop their potentials to the fullest. Accordingly, our orientation and related research has been to apply the strategies of high-end learning to total school improvement and to focus our research on developing gifts and talents in young people based on a broad array of both traditional and emerging indicators of potential for high performance.

NRC/GT Research Agenda:

The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Education Program gives highest priority to identifying and serving high potential students who may not be identified through traditional assessment criteria, including individuals of limited English proficiency, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from economically disadvantaged groups. Since 1990, theory-based models of identification, alternative assessment, programming, evaluation, professional development, curriculum, and intelligence have been the hallmarks of our quantitative and qualitative research portfolio. Our new research agenda addresses questions such as the following:

• What are the personality and behavioral characteristics of gifted underachievers?
• To what extent can teachers modify reading practices for above average reading students in regular classroom settings?
• What variables predict high achievement on international assessment of mathematics and science?
• What is the degree of consistency between teachers' philosophies about giftedness and classroom practices?
• What is the impact of differentiation of curriculum and instruction on students?
• What are the effects of state testing on schools and teachers relative to curriculum and instruction?
• To what extent will creative and practical abilities be of increasing importance to giftedness, with increasing age and across domains (reading/writing performance, mathematics/scientific performance, music performance, and gifted students with learning disabilities)?

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