Transcript Document

Talent Development
as an Emerging
Framework for
Gifted Education
Paula Olszewski-Kubilius
Center for Talent Development
Northwestern University
The Julliard Effect: Ten
Years Later (NYT, Dec., 2004)
• What many of the Juilliard class have learned over the last decade is that when it comes
to making a career, talent is rarely the most important quality. It takes discipline, focus
and energy - and connections, often formed at Juilliard.
• "Just because you play really well," he said, "that's not enough. You need vision, you
need persistence, you need passion for what you do, and you need to provide
something unique. "I've formed relationships with conductors and producers. We
found out what we like to do with each other in a changing market. Rather than be the
missing part of a puzzle, you can create a puzzle around you."
• Once at Juilliard, they discover the inherent paradox of being a classical musician. You
are called on to be expressive, imaginative, creative, somehow in touch with the
mystical reaches of art, an individual. But you are also called on to ply a craft with
exceeding skill, meshing a complex of minute physical activities in the service of black
markings on a page and the composers who wrote them, often submerging yourself in
the crowd. And you do it all with the purpose of making a living.
Fundamental Tensions in
Gifted Education
• Disconnect between childhood and adulthood
giftedness
• Lack of consensus about the goal of gifted
education
• Is there a unique pedagogy for gifted children
or just a need for good teaching?
• “Nature versus Nurture”—giftedness as being
versus giftedness as achievement
Current Forces Affecting
Gifted Education
• Tenuous commitment on the part of states and federal
government to gifted education
• National focus on minimal standards despite
excellence gaps
• Increasingly diverse student population
• Increases in income disparity among US citizens
• Rising child poverty rate
• New research attesting to the malleability of
intelligence
Definitions
• Giftedness is a developmental process that is
domain specific and malleable. Although the path
may begin with demonstrated potential,
giftedness must be developed and sustained by
way of training and interventions in domainspecific skills and programs and deliberate
development of the psychological and social skills
needed to pursue difficult new paths. The goal of
this developmental process is to transform
potential talent during youth into outstanding
performance and innovation in adulthood. (Subotnik,
Olszewski-Kubilius & Worrell, 2011).
NAGC
Redefining Giftedness for a New Century: Shifting the Paradigm
• Gifted individuals are those who demonstrate outstanding levels of
aptitude (defined as an exceptional ability to reason and learn) or
competence (documented performance or achievement in top 10% or
rarer) in one or more domains. Domains include any structured area of
activity with its own symbol system (e.g., mathematics, music, language)
and/or set of sensorimotor skills (e.g., painting, dance, sports).
• The development of ability or talent is a lifelong process. It can be
evident in young children as exceptional performance on tests and/or
other measures of ability or as a rapid rate of learning, compared to
other students of the same age, or in actual achievement in a domain. As
individuals mature through childhood to adolescence, however,
achievement and high levels of motivation in the domain become the
primary characteristics of their giftedness. Various factors can either
enhance or inhibit the development and expression of abilities.
What’s Different About Talent
Development?
Giftedness: Role of General and
Specific Abilities
Giftedness is General
OR
Giftedness is Domain Specific
Dai, 2010
Scientist
Lawyer
General
Ability
Engineer
Graphic
Artist
Ability Matters…
• All tests, even ability tests, reflect previous
opportunity to learn and level of developed
talent (Lohman)
• IQ scores can increase with the provision of
opportunity, especially for children from
poverty—intelligence is not fixed
• Predictive validity of IQ for creative
achievement in adulthood is low: IQ does
predict later school performance
Ability Matters….
• Domain specific abilities-i.e. mathematical or verbal
ability (SMPY research, Lubinski & Benbow) DO
predict later school achievement and adult creative
and scholarly accomplishments
• There is no threshold for specific academic abilities;
higher levels are associated with higher adult
accomplishment
• Greater variability in terms of specific abilities among
higher IQ individuals
• Use of specific abilities is common in performing arts
domains
Law, Administrative, Executive and Management, Medical
Doctors
Mathematical
Ability
Verbal
Ability
Astronomy and Physics, Mathematics and Statistics,
Computer and Information Sciences, MBA, Engineering,
Economics
Verbal Ability
Mathematical Ability
(Spatial Ability)
Social Sciences, Biological Sciences, Arts, History,
English Literature
Mathematical Ability
Verbal Ability
Traditional
View of
Giftedness
• General ability (IQ)
is primary
Talent
Development
Individual
differences
In ability are the
foundation of
gifted
education
• General ability is
foundational, specific
abilities are
increasingly important
• Importance of general
and specific abilities
varies by domain of
talent and age
Giftedness is
Developmental
• Stage 1—Ability or
Potential
• Stage 2—
Competency
• Stage 3—Expertise
• Stage 4–- Artistry,
Creative or Scholarly
Productivity
Talent Development
Is A Process
Expertise
Artistry,
Scholarly or
Creative
Productivity
Competency
Ability/Potential
Levers are opportunity, effort, practice, study, motivation
Trajectories for Different Domains of
Talent
Achievement
Traditional
• An individual can be
gifted irrespective of
achievement
Talent Development
• Potential and ability
defines giftedness in
younger children
• Exceptional achievement
defines giftedness by
secondary school
What About UnderAchievers??
• Should be identified early and provided
assistance and interventions (Siegle, The
Underachieving Gifted Child, Prufrock Press)
• Twice exceptional children need to be
identified and provided appropriate supports
for both their giftedness and disability (see
NAGC position paper on Twice-Exceptionality,
www.nagc.org)
Giftedness as....
Being
Doing/Becoming
• Giftedness is possessed:
giftedness is biologically
constitutional, an
enduring personal quality
that ultimately explains
gifted behavior and
outstanding achievement
over time—it is who you
are….
• Giftedness is
achieved….as result of
learning, practice, and
social and technical
support, subject to
further development and
change over time
Dai, 2010
Psychosocial Skills Are Critical
Achievement
Ability
or IQ
25%
Other
Non Cognitive
75%
Psychosocial Skills That Support
Talent Development
• Openness to new
experience
• Coping skills for failure,
disappointment
• Self-efficacy
• Resiliency
• Self-confidence
• Comfort with intellectual
tension
• Grit
• Growth mindset
• Emotional regulation
• Ability to handle
competition and critique
• Psychological
independence from
parents, teachers
Traditional
View of
Giftedness
Some socialemotional
attributes seen as
enduring
characteristics of all
gifted individuals
and defining of and
inherent within
giftedness
Talent
Development
Gifted children
have unique
social,
psychological
and emotional
needs
• Not inherent in being gifted
• Needs result from interaction
between gifted individual &
environment, influenced by
culture and opportunity
• Psychosocial skills are critical to
talent development and these
change with domain of talent
and stage of developed talent
• Emphasizes deliberate
cultivation of psychosocial
skills to support giftedness and
high achievement within
domains
Outcomes of Gifted
Education Programs
• The anticipated social roles that people of high
potential will play should be the main rationale
for both supporting special programs and
designing learning experiences that will
prepare today’s students for responsible
leadership roles in the future. (Renzulli, 2012)
Parent’s Commentary
• Speaking just for myself, I am frustrated when I see
comments about how "gifted programs" have failed if
their graduates turn out to be "ordinary" and don't
turn out to be distinguished or "successful" by some
outside standard. I want to grab these authors by the
lapels and scream "that's just the point!” I don't
expect my children to become "great". I just want
them to survive school with their spirits mostly intact.
• We should identify gifted students to find those for
whom regular classroom instruction is inappropriate
so the level and pace of instruction can be modified
and they don't go crazy sitting in class.
Immediate
needs--classroom
level
differentiation &
accommodations
Long term goal
of talent
development
Traditional
View of
Giftedness
Talent
Development
Happy, healthy,
productive,
creative gifted
adults
• Short term outcome
is responding to
student’s immediate
needs for greater
challenge and faster
pacing and
intellectual peer
group
• Moving students to the
next level of talent
development—i.e.
developing potential
into competency,
competency into
expertise and expertise
into creative
achievement in
adulthood
• Long term outcome
not often specified
• Cultivating domain
specific talents to a
high degree
Implications for Practice:
Domain Specific Abilities
• *IQ test and general ability tests are useful,
especially with young children and with students
who have had limited opportunities to learn, e.g.
low income students
• *Domain specific assessments need to be used no
later than middle school but a variety of
assessments can be used, depending upon the
domain, e.g. tests, auditions and judgments by
professionals and experts, portfolios
• * Important to match identification to domain of
talent
Implications for Practice:
Developmental Trajectories
• *Students need different kinds of
instruction/programming at different stages of
talent development
• *Schools need to develop articulated
sequence of programs K-12 within major
domains that enable students to move ahead
at a faster pace (acceleration) and provide
continuous skill development regardless of
where they start
Talent
Development
Process
Independent research and projects,
mentorships, apprenticeships,
authentic work in domain
School-based and outside-ofschool programs that
develop foundational
knowledge and skills at
appropriate (accelerated)
pace
Early exposure and playful
engagement through family
activities, formal enrichment
activities, enrichment in
school
Stages of Talent
Development
Ability/Potential
Competency
Expertise
Early exposure and playful
engagement through family
activities, formal enrichment
activities, early enrichment in
school
School-based and outside-ofschool programs that develop
foundational knowledge and skills
at appropriate (accelerated) pace
Independent research and
projects, mentorships,
apprenticeships, authentic work in
domain
Implications for Practice:
Ability is Malleable
• Engage in ongoing assessment for giftedness so
as to identify late bloomers and students whose
talents emerge later due to poverty or lack of
early opportunity
• *Create multiple opportunities and multiple paths
for students to enter gifted programs (e.g. testing
and portfolios)
• *Intensely frontload opportunities in early years
for students from poverty and other underidentified gifted students
Implications for Practice
• Provide earlier exposure to some fields, such
as philosophy or engineering, typically not
studied until college
• *Provide more varied program models for
secondary students (e.g. mentorships,
research opportunities, apprenticeships)—
beyond AP and IB.
Implications for Practice:
Psychosocial Skills are Critical
• *Psycho-social skills that support high
achievement and commitment to excellence must
be actively and deliberately cultivated via
programming, counseling, and mentoring of
students
• *Involve parents in assisting with psycho-social
skill development at home and outside of school
• **Emotional support from educators and parents
for students choosing a path of high achievement
is critical
Implications for Practice: Outcome is
Scholarly/Creative Productivity
• *Provide opportunities to engage in creative
production early
• *Cultivate attitudes and mindsets crucial to
creativity (e.g. openness, risk-taking)
• *Deliberately teach creative problem solving
skills and heuristics
• *Help students appreciate the rewards of a
creative career
Scholarly productivity/
Artistry
Expertise
Competency
Potential