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Inspiration
The launch of Sputnik shook the American public's faith in its standing in the world regarding science and technology. Being "beaten" by the Russians during the cold war served as a motivating wake-up call, shocking the country out of complacency and serving as the catalyst for many programs, including an intense interest in improving science and technology by identifying and educating the best and brightest students in American schools. -
Information
United States Commissioner of Education Sidney Marland jr. submitted a report entitled Education of the Gifted and Talented to congress in 1972 which was significant not only for establishing how little practicing educators understood about the field, but was the first high-profile effort to define categories of giftedness. The report led to the creation of the federal Office of Gifted and Talented Education. -
Instruction
Dr. Sandra Kaplan led the Curriculum Council of the National/State Leadership Institute on the Gifted and Talented in developing the principles of differentiation, which described the components of the curriculum that should be differentiated to meet the educational needs of the gifted and talented. This led to the recognition that gifted instruction should be matched to need, an insight that later influenced mainstream education as well. -
Investment
The Javits Gifted and Talented Students Act goes into effect, creating new research departments and providing grants for programs designed to meet the educational needs of gifted and talented students, including educator training. Federal legislation that made gifted education a priority and provided grants and resources to states that followed suit was an instrumental driver of the expansion of state programs for the gifted throughout the 1990's and continuing to the present. -
Illumination
This second major government report on the status of gifted education in the United States once again highlighted the unmet needs of gifted students, calling it a "quiet crisis." The recommendations in the report, along with updated definitions of the gifted and talented, provided a template that states have used in expanding the definition of gifted and talented and utilizing that additional detail to inform the services that these students should receive. -
Imperatives
The National Association for Gifted Children publishes Gifted Program Standards to provide guidelines for educators in programs offering gifted and talented education. Standards are provided in six key areas and provide examples of desired student outcomes and the evidence-based practices that will lead to those outcomes.