Talent Developmen

t as an Emerging

Framework for Gifted Education

Paula Olszewski-KubiliusCenter 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 domain-specific 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).

NAGCRedefining 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

General

Ability

Scientist

Graphic

Artist

Engineer

Lawyer

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

MathematicalAbility

Verbal Ability

Law, Administrative, Executive and Management, Medical Doctors

Mathematical Ability(Spatial Ability)

Verbal Ability

Astronomy and Physics, Mathematics and Statistics,

Computer and Information Sciences, MBA, Engineering, Economics

Mathematical Ability

Verbal Ability

Social Sciences, Biological Sciences, Arts, History, English Literature

• General ability (IQ) is primary

• General ability is foundational, specific abilities are increasingly important

• Importance of general and specific abilities varies by domain of talent and age

Individual differences In ability are the foundation of gifted education

Ability Traditional View of

Giftedness

Talent Development

Giftedness is Developmental

• Stage 1—Ability or Potential

• Stage 2—Competency

• Stage 3—Expertise

• Stage 4–- Artistry, Creative or Scholarly Productivity

Ability/Potential

Competency

Expertise

Artistry, Scholarly or Creative Productivity

Talent Development Is A Process

Levers are opportunity, effort, practice, study, motivation

Trajectories for Different Domains of Talent

AchievementTraditional

• 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 Under-Achievers??

• 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

• 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….

Doing/Becoming• Giftedness is

achieved….as result of learning, practice, and social and technical support, subject to further development and change over time

Dai, 2010

Achievement

Ability or IQ25%

OtherNon Cognitive75%

Psychosocial Skills Are Critical

Psychosocial Skills That Support Talent Development• Openness to new

experience

• Self-efficacy

• Self-confidence

• Grit

• Growth mindset

• Emotional regulation

• Coping skills for failure, disappointment

• Resiliency

• Comfort with intellectual tension

• Ability to handle competition and critique

• Psychological independence from parents, teachers

Some social-emotional attributes seen as enduring characteristics of all gifted individuals and defining of and inherent within giftedness

• 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

Gifted children have unique social, psychological and emotional needs

Psychosocial Development

Traditional View of

Giftedness

Talent Development

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 & accommodationsLong term goal of talent development

• Short term outcome is responding to student’s immediate needs for greater challenge and faster pacing and intellectual peer group

• Long term outcome not often specified

• 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

• Cultivating domain specific talents to a high degree

Happy, healthy, productive, creative gifted adults

The Outcomes of Gifted Education Traditional

View of Giftedness

Talent Development

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

Early exposure and playful engagement through family activities, formal enrichment activities, enrichment in school

School-based and outside-of-school programs that develop foundational knowledge and skills at appropriate (accelerated) pace

Independent research and projects, mentorships, apprenticeships, authentic work in domain

Talent Developme

ntProcess

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-of-school 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 under-identified 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

Potential

Competency

Expertise

Scholarly productivity/Artistry