Enrichment Theories

Enrichment Theorists

Renzulli developed the enrichment triad model and subsequently developed the schoolwide enrichment model (SEM) in cooperation with Sally Reis. In the SEM, the role of the student is transformed from that of a learner of lessons to that of firsthand inquirer, fully engaged in the joys and frustrations of creative productivity. The SEM has three components for providing services to students: the total talent portfolio, curriculum modification and differentiation, and enrichment. These three services are delivered across the regular curriculum, a [Page 323]continuum of services, and a series of enrichment clusters. Once students are identified for the talent pool, they are eligible for these services. First, interest and learning-style assessments are used with talent pool students, in the development of a total talent portfolio for each student. Second, curriculum compacting and other forms of modification are provided to all eligible students for whom the regular curriculum must be adjusted. This elimination or streamlining of curriculum enables above-average students to avoid repetition of previously mastered work and guarantees mastery while creating time for more appropriately challenging activities. Third, a series of enrichment opportunities organized around the enrichment triad model offers three types of enrichment experiences through various forms of delivery, including enrichment clusters. Type I, II, and III enrichments are offered to all students; however, Type III enrichment is usually most appropriate for high-potential and gifted children. This approach is a comprehensive system of enrichment.

Another early theorist was Frank Williams, author of the Williams model: cognitive-affective interaction model for enriching gifted programs. The main focus of the Williams model is on divergent thinking or creativity. The model has eight educational objectives, four of which are cognitive in nature (fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration) and four of which are affective (curiosity, imagination, risk-taking, and complexity). Williams emphasizes the importance of specific instructional strategies aimed at encouraging students' divergence and stresses the importance of applying these strategies in the regular curriculum. Williams also discussed the interaction between a continuum of cognitive-affective and a second continuum of convergence-divergence, emphasizing the interactions between divergence and cognitive ability and divergence and affective ability.

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