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300
Plato targets advanced thinkers - 300 BCE
Ancient Greek philosopher Plato was one of the first in recorded history to target advanced thinkers and child prodigies for special learning opportunities. -
Charles Spearman develops statistical test
Charles Spearman, an English psychologist, creates "factor analysis of intelligence." This relationship between measurements of cognitive performance is dubbed by American psychologist Julian Stanley as "the vital underpinning of modern testing." -
Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon create intelligence test
Alfred Binet, a French psychologist, and Theodore Simon, then a medical student, collaborated to create what many consider to be "the first true intelligence test." The test, later known simply as the Binet-Simon Scale, attempted to establish differences between normal and abnormal children. -
Lewis Terman and IQ tests
Lewis Terman, an American psychologist, revised the Binet-Simon Scale and worked to improve classification of developmentally disabled children. He popularized the "IQ Test," or intelligence quotient test and believed that intelligence was inherited. He also believed in "eugenics," or the practice of improving the genetic quality of humans. -
Sputnik scares America into action
Amid the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the latter country took a first step into space exploration by launching a small satellite known as Sputnik. Among its responces, American leaders approved $1 billion as part of the National Defense Education Act to bolster education across the U.S. Educators used this money to improve educational opportunities for gifted students. -
Nation at Risk
President Ronald Reagan's National Commission on Excellence in Education releases report, "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform." Among other things, the report shakes up Americans by claiming that U.S. public schools were failing and that American students were being surpassed by those in other developed countries. The report urged increased services for gifted and called upon the federal government to create educational standards. -
No Child Left Behind
Congress approves federal legislation known as the No Child Left Behind Act. The controversial Act iimplements requirements aimed at improving accountability for districts and schools across the country. Among other things, the Act redefined "gifted" as: "Students, children, or youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity or in specific academic fields ..." -
A Nation Deceived report
The Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa released a report known as "A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America's Brightest Students." The report, which has since undergone a 10th year update, concluded that many schools across the U.S. were holding gifted and talented students back by ignoring research that showed accelerated educational opportunities for some were essential to their educational success.
