EDUCATION.PURDUE.EDU
LAUNCHING THE FUTURE IN EDUCATION
VOL. 1
GIFTED EDUCATION RESOURCE INSTITUTE ADVANCES THROUGH LEADERSHIP Purdue’s Gifted Education Resource Institute (GERI) continues to build upon the scholarship of founder John Feldhusen and to provide leadership in the field of gifted education. Research by director Marcia Gentry is identifying ways to discover and nurture high-ability students from low-income and/or culturally diverse families. She is providing leadership for research, professional development and student enrichment in 15 states, five countries and three Native American reservations. Gentry’s goal is to discourage stereotypes about giftedness and work toward improved ways to identify and develop a student’s individual talents. She said, “We find talents among groups of children who are typically overlooked.” Geography, culture, poverty, and access to technology are all barriers to identifying talent. Gentry and her colleagues are committed to overcoming these barriers. One area of Gentry’s research is based in the concept of cluster grouping and gives credence to the adage that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” The Total School Cluster Grouping Model (TSCG) is focused on meeting the needs of students identified as gifted, while also improving teaching, learning, and achievement of all students. Research on TSCG has shown that student Research from schools implementing TSCG has shown that 1) student achievement increases, 2) teachers begin to use gifted education strategies with all students, and Navajo students attended Purdue this summer
3) more students are identified as highachieving than low-achieving. Recent research also has shown that TSCG improves achievement and increases the numbers of students identified as gifted who come from economically disadvantaged families and from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. With support from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Gentry has been able to provide scholarships for high-potential youth from low-income families to attend GERI Saturday and Summer youth programs and develop an assessment tool, the HOPE Scale, to help teachers identify high ability students. With continued funding, the research has expanded to include Native American students. Fifty gifted Native American students from the Navajo Nation, the Standing Rock Reservation, and the Red Lake Reservation attended GERI’s 2-week residential enrichment camp on the Purdue campus this summer. “Research on identifying and serving highpotential youth who come from underserved populations can help unlock human potential and influence the educational pathways and career trajectories of these youth who frequently lack access to highquality educational opportunities,” Gentry said. “In GERI we believe this work is important to to help these youth actualize their potential.”
FROM THE DEAN
The words “back to school” hold special meaning to alumni of the College of Education. Whether or not you are working currently in education, there is something about this time of year that signals new beginnings and lures us to buy new pens and notebooks – either paper or electronic! It’s also a new beginning for Purdue in terms of presidential leadership as we prepare to welcome Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels as Purdue’s twelfth president. As with any new leadership, we must be active advocates for our college and take the opportunity to introduce the new president to the good and important work that we do and provide perspective on our profession. We have a lot to be proud of in the college as we strive to be the standard-bearer of teacher education, administration, and educational research. Let me share some highlights. • Last spring the annual US News and World Report survey ranked Purdue’s College of Education #37 out of 238 schools. In our own survey, 92% of the administrators who hired Purdue teacher education graduates said our candidates were well-prepared to be effective teachers. • We place a greater emphasis on math and science than any other teacher preparation program in Indiana. We continue to research how to teach math and science in ways that are relevant to 21st century learners, engaging young learners with technology and hands-on science. • Finally, we are piloting a co-teaching model to replace traditional student teaching with a true partnership with P-12 schools. Many of our graduates have told us how valuable they have found their Purdue education to be in the workforce. Today, we continue to provide our students with the kinds of field experiences, professional interactions, scholarship support and enrichment activities that make our graduates so successful. Hail Purdue ~
Maryann Santos de Barona