An Evolving Field

The Vision of

Michael C. Pyryt History of the Talent Search regional talent searches. Interactions with the Dean of Education at North- Michael Pyryt is Director of the Centre for Gift- Although Julian Stanley had period- western University and the Provost of ed Education and Associate Professor of ic involvement in gifted education in the Duke University led to the establishment Applied Psychology at the University of Cal- of the Center for Talent Development at gary. He has a wide range of research interests 1950's, his commitment crystallized in in gifted education including identification the late I960's through the exposure to Northwestern University (CTD) and the approaches, creativity, instructional planning, several mathematical prodigies. One Talent Identification Program (TIP) at and several aspects of social-emotional devel- student, an eighth grader in a public Duke. The Rocky Mountain Talent opment including self-concept, perfectionism, Search was established at the University Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration, school in , was using Fortran and career planning. He is co-editor of AGATE: to help graduate students analyze their of Denver. SMPY took responsibility for Journal of the Gifted and Talented Education dissertation data. Influenced by the writ- the Middle-Atlantic states, New Eng- Council of the Alberta Teachers' Association, ings of Leta Hollingworth, Dr. Stanley land, the West Coast, Alaska, and associate editor of the Journal for the Educa- administered the Scholastic Aptitude Hawaii. Today, over 300,000 students in tion of the Gifted and on the editorial advisory board of the Gifted Child Quarterly and The Test (SAT) to this student. When the the participate in one of Journal of Secondary Gifted Education. E-mail: student's score on the mathematics por- the regional talent searches. [email protected] tion of the SAT was higher than the average score of undergraduate students at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Stanley Diagnostic Testing Followed approached Dr. Carl Swanson, a By Prescriptive Instruction renowned biologist and Hopkins' Direc- (DT/PI) tor of Admissions, and secured the stu- dent's admission to The Johns Hopkins In the 1970's, Dr. Stanley intro- University at age 14. The success of the duced DT/PI (Diagnostic Testing fol- student and those of a few others led Dr. lowed by Prescriptive Instruction) to the Stanley to approach the Spencer Foun- field of gifted education. At the begin- dation for funding to study the develop- ning of a course such as algebra, a stu- ment of mathematical and scientific dent would be given a standardized talent. Following a meeting with the Julian Stanley algebra examination such as the Cooper- President of the Spencer Foundation, ative Algebra I test to see how much Dr. Stanley wrote a 4.5 page proposal algebra the student already knew. Tests that resulted in a 5-year $266,100 grant were corrected and an error analysis was Downloaded By: [University of Calgary] At: 01:28 12 April 2011 Prologue in 1971 to identify mathematically and conducted to determine what concepts a scientifically gifted youth, to describe student needed to learn. Instruction was The world of educational research their characteristics, and to facilitate provided only on those concepts. When will forever remember Julian Cecil Stan- their educational development. This was the instructor was confident that mastery ley for his monumental contribution the beginning of the Study of Mathe- had been achieved, the student would be (with Donald Campbell) of a monograph matically Precocious Youth (SMPY), given a parallel form of the standardized on experimental and quasi-experimental which Dr. Stanley founded together test. If a student obtained the mastery research design (Campbell & Stanley, with two graduate students (Dan Keat- criterion, normally the 90th percentile, 1966) that served as the "Bible of ing and Lynn Fox) and supported with the student would move to the next level Research Methodology" since its publi- the grant. The initial work is described course and begin with the appropriate cation. The world of gifted education in Mathematical Talent: Discovery, standardized test as a pretest. will forever remember Julian Stanley for Description, and Development (Stanley, his remarkable vision in creating and Keating, & Fox, 1974). Using this technique, students could developing the Talent Search Model. I greatly accelerate their progress. In one had the privilege of studying with Dr. The first talent search in 1972 informal experiment, 15 mathematically Stanley during my senior year at The involved 450 students from Baltimore precocious youth served as tutor/mentors in the 1974- and the surrounding area, who scored at to younger students who had scored at the 1975 academic year. This article high- the 95th percentile on in-grade achieve- 50th percentile on the standardized Alge- lights the key points from an interview I ment tests. The continued growth of the bra I test. Meeting with students in groups conducted with Dr. Stanley at the talent search and the need for testing of five and with prepared materials, the request of Roeper Review. sites that were accessible to students led mentors were able to help two-thirds of Dr. Stanley to recognize the need for the students attain the 85th percentile

62/Roeper Review, Vol. 28, No. 2 Roeper Review Winter 2006, Vol. 28, No. 2, 62-63. after one day of instruction. Using this dents can take university-level courses tions of his life were held in September technique, students enrolled in three- for credit while in high school. Advanced at the Vantage House in Columbia, week summer courses in high school Placement enables students who perform Maryland, where he resided, and in biology, chemistry, and physics were able well enough on a particular Advanced November at the convention of the to master the content in these courses as Placement Examination to earn universi- National Association for Gifted Chil- demonstrated by their scores on the Col- ty credits at an earlier age. Residential lege Entrance Examination Board high schools, such as the Texas Acade- dren in Louisville, Kentucky. I am Achievement Test in biology, chemistry, my of Mathematics and Sciences at the grateful that I had the opportunity to and physics (Stanley & Stanley, 1986). University of North Texas and the attend the celebration in Columbia and Advanced Academy of at the publicly acknowledge the tremendous University of West Georgia, enable par- impact Julian Stanley had on my career On Radical Acceleration ticipants to have an accelerated academic at the celebration at NAGC. Julian C. experience as well as the social, cultural, Stanley will be remembered as an indi- In the beginning, radical accelera- and recreational benefits of being part of vidual who exemplified the meaning of tion (entering university two or more a cohort. Dr. Stanley also believed that the term, "a scholar and a gentleman." I years earlier than is typical) was an inter- various competitions such as Internation- feel blessed to have studied with some- vention that Dr. Stanley pioneered for al Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics mathematically precocious youth. At the Olympiads could be beneficial for math- one who was both incredibly brilliant time, there were few alternatives. Today, ematically and scientifically talented stu- and incredibly gracious. there are many worthwhile options. dents. Judicious use of these options There are now numerous summer pro- enable a student to enter university with REFERENCES grams available to challenge mathemati- a rich high school experience and a size- Campbell, D. T., & Stanley, J. C. (1966). Experimental cal and verbally talented students. It's able number of university credits that can and quasi-experimental designs for research. Chica- critically important that there be articula- be applied to a baccalaureate degree. go: Rand McNally. Stanley, J. C., Keating, D. P., & Fox, L. H. (Eds.). (1974). tion with a student's community school Mathematical talent: Discovery, description, and so that students who master a course in development. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Univer- three weeks are permitted to enroll in the Epilogue sity Press. next course in the curricular sequence. Stanley, J. C., & Stanley, B. S. K. (1986). High-school biology, chemistry, or physics learned well in three Dr. Stanley was a strong supporter of Julian Cecil Stanley passed away weeks. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 23, dual enrollment programs in which stu- on August 12, 2005 at age 87. Celebra- 237-250.

Special Issue "THE NEUROSCIENCE OF GIFTEDNESS"

Researchers in the neurosciences and those involved in gifted education would benefit greatly from increased dialogue and collaboration. Neuroscientific findings have the potential to inform understanding of learning and giftedness, just as research questions, experiences, and perspectives from gifted education can help inform and enhance scientific inquiry. Present translations of Downloaded By: [University of Calgary] At: 01:28 12 April 2011 neuroscientific information available to educators are characterized by over-generalizations and misinterpretations of existing data. Other potential contributions remain buried in scientific jargon, unavailable in an accessible format to those interested in giftedness, talent, and creativity. This issue will build stronger bridges between neuroscience and gifted education.

Submission Deadline: May 26th, 2006 Follow the submission guidelines posted in the back of this issue.

For more information contact the guest editor: Dr. M. Layne Kalbfleisch KIDLAB Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study School of Computational Sciences & College of Education and Human Development George Mason University phone: 703.993.3516 http://krasnow.gmu.edu/kidlab

Winter, 2006, Roeper Review/63