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History of Gifted
Education and Intelligence Theories
Formal gifted programs in the United States can be traced back to
1918. In 1924, "The Education of the Gifted" was published
by the University of Chicago Press. Guy Whipple, Chairman of the
Committee of the Society that was responsible for this volume (the
second in a series), provided a brief historical summary of the
interest in and concern for the education of gifted individuals,
observing that perhaps the first systematic approach to providing
for "bright pupils" was developed by the Superintendent
of Schools in St. Louis, Dr. William T. Harris. In his reports for
1868-69 and for 1871-73, Harris commented on the advantages of promoting
pupils at short intervals, as short as five weeks in the lower grades
and of accelerating gifted pupils through the grades. He noted that
the plan provided gifted pupils with more challenging work and prevented
them from acquiring habits of laziness.
In the historical evolution of concern for
education of gifted students, the public is alternatively supportive
and antagonistic toward the gifted/talented. Periods of intense
concern about their educational welfare are often followed with
periods of apathy, antagonism, or lack of concern. During the post-Sputnik
1950s there was a great deal of interest in action on behalf of
the gifted. The 1960s were a decade of turmoil during which large
numbers of able students were encouraged to enroll in science programs
early in the decade while attention turned to other pressures later,
such as school integration, compensatory education, and Vietnam
and the disenchantment of youth. The 1970s saw renewed attention
to the gifted, due to federal legislation targeting gifted students
and the issuing of the Marland report which documented the deteriorated
condition of gifted programs. The 1980s were marked by well-established
programs for the gifted/talented in many American schools, educational
provisions for underprivileged minorities, and less reliance upon
Intelligence Quotients as measures of giftedness. The 1990s saw
the educational pendulum swing back the other way with programs
for the gifted being cut because, in some cases, they are not considered
"politically correct". In other cases, gifted programs
have been eliminated due to economic slowdowns and budget cutting,
or the lack of state mandated gifted services.
Some of the Important Contibutors to the
Field of Gifted Education
Leta Stetter
Hollingworth (1886-1939)
Psychologist and educator, Leta Hollingworth, published more than
thirty studies of the gifted and was the first advocate of multiple
criteria in the identification of the gifted. She was the first
counselor of the gifted and the first to study their emotional and
social development, and she taught the first course in gifted education
in 1922-23, thereby inaugurating the field. She designed the first
program for emotional education/the affective curriculum. She battled
to refute beliefs of her time that females were innately inferior
in intelligence to males. She initiated one of the most famous experimental
programs for gifted learners at the Speyer School in New York City.
She is most remembered for the publication two books:, Gifted Children:
Their Nature and Nurture (1926) and Children above 180 IQ-Stanford-Binet.
The latter remains the most comprehensive longitudinal study ever
conducted of children in this range of abilities. Dr. Hollingworth
found that the IQ range of 125-155 was socially optimal, and that
children above 170 IQ were at higher risk for social and emotional
problems because their intellectual abilities were so far beyond
those of their same age peers. Among her findings was the fact that
many exceptional children suffered from adjustment problems due
to two things: inept treatment by adults and lack of intellectual
challenge. In examining children with exceptionaly high IQs, Leta
Hollingworth confirmed, "Isolation is the refuge of genius,
not its goal" [Hollingworth, 1942] Sixty years ago Hollingworth
noted that "In the ordinary elementary school situation, children
of 140 IQ waste half of their time. Those above 170 IQ waste practically
all of their time" (Hollingworth, 1942, p. 299)
Raymond Cattell
- (1905-1998)
Designed a series of intelligence tests that were widely utilized,
improving on earlier versions by Binet. Best known for his personality
tests such as a 16 PF, HSPQ, CPQ (Children’s Personality Questionnaire),
CAQ (Clinical Analysis Questionnaire), Eight State Scales, he also
designed non-verbal tests and presented a theory of fluid and crystallized
intelligence which is now widely applied.
Fluid Intelligence: Intelligence which allows us to learn new things,
regardless of past experience. (Innate Intelligence)
Crystallized Intelligence: Ability to solve problems based upon
previous experience.
Joseph Renzulli
- 1936 - Three Ring Model and Schoolwide Enrichment Model
Developed the Schoolwide Enrichment Model, which evolved from his
original Enrichment Triad Model, and is based upon a vision that
"schools are places for talent development." The model
uses the pedagogy of gifted education to make school more challenging
and enjoyable for all students. The Schoolwide Enrichment Model
"blueprint" for total school improvement serves as a practical
plan for K-12 teachers and administrators to make this vision a
reality. While detailed enough to provide educators with the means
to successfully implement the program, the model provides the flexibility
for each school to develop its own unique program in accordance
with local resources, student population, and faculty interests
and strengths. Two major objectives of the Schoolwide Enrichment
Model include: providing a broad range of advanced-level enrichment
experiences for all students and using student responses to these
experiences as stepping stones for relevant follow-up. To read more
click
here.
Howard Gardner
- 1943 - Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Arguing that "reason, intelligence, logic, knowledge are not
synomous. . .", Howard Gardner (1983) proposed a new view of
intelligence which, despite the fact that it was not designed as
an educational prescription, is rapidly being incorporated in school
curricula. In his Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Gardner described
intelligence as multifacted, and expanded the concept of intelligence
to also include such areas as music, spatial relations, and interpersonal
knowledge in addition to mathematical and linguistic ability. To
read more click
here.
Robert Sternberg
- 1949 - Triarchic Theory and Implicit Theory
Sternberg does not believe that intellectual giftedness can be represented
by a single IQ number. He developed the Triarchic Theory of Human
Intelligence. The Triarchic Theory includes Analytic Giftedness
(the kind of giftedness measured by typical IQ tests), Synthetic
Giftedness (which has to do with creativity, insightfulness and
intuition), and Practical giftednes (which involves applying abilities
to everyday pragmatic situations). Sternberg also defined an implicit
theory of giftedness that specifies five conditions that gifted
people must have in common. The five conditions are excellence,
rarity, productivity, demonstratability and value. To
read more click
here.
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