Is Gifted Education Still Viable?

By Jonathan A. Plucker

Most people believe that developing the talents of our children is an important and valuable goal. In fact, it is hard to imagine standing up at a school board meeting and saying, "Why are we wasting all of this time and money on helping students develop their talents?" Yet as ludicrous as that sounds, it happens all the time during debates over the appropriateness of gifted education programs.

These debates occur in classrooms, faculty lounges, parent-teacher conferences, and school board and faculty meetings around the world. When economies are growing, the debates are less common and gifted programs flourish; when times are tough, the debate often becomes ferocious and the programs are eliminated. As an advocate for gifted education (and one who has seen many children benefit from gifted programs), I only recently asked myself a very important question: Are programs for educating gifted students still necessary and viable?

At first, my answer was a resounding yes. By providing our brightest students with an intellectually challenging environment, we are helping develop some of our country's most valuable economic and social resources. In addition, the criticism that these programs steal resources from other students is based on weak research evidence. Indeed, gifted education has enriched the general education program in our schools, since many educational techniques and strategies were initially designed and tested in gifted programs. The needs of our most talented students are no less important than the intellectual needs of other students, and gifted education reminds us of our educational responsibility to help...