Gifted Education Centers

National Centers and International Centers

In the United States, two gifted education centers serve as national centers. The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented was established in 1990 through monies awarded by the Jacob K. Javits Gifted Program Fund through the U.S. Department of Education. Originally, the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented was a consortium of four universities: the University of Connecticut, the University of Virginia, the University of Georgia, and Yale University. Currently, the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented is a cooperative effort between the University of Virginia and the University of Connecticut. The center has been charged with conducting research to determine best practices for identifying and serving gifted students, particularly those from underserved populations, as well as designing curriculum and assessments to assist with meeting the needs of gifted students. Professional development and programming are also areas examined by the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. As with most other gifted education centers, the researchers here conduct both qualitative and quantitative studies.

The second national center, the Center for Gifted Education Policy in Washington, D.C., was established in 2002 by the American Psychological Association. The Center for Gifted Education Policy concentrates its efforts on young people who are talented in academics, sports, the performing arts, the professions, or other domains. [Page 382]Advocacy, public awareness, and research aimed at refining the talents of these young people are the focus of this center. One of its most popular features is a listserv whose membership includes most of the prominent researchers and practitioners in the field of gifted education. Many topics have been discussed and often parents and graduate students pose questions, ask for assistance in finding particular research or help with a specific issue.

The Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development was originally a national center, but has recently expanded its focus to gifted education beyond as well as within U.S. borders. Begun as a program for increasing the knowledge of giftedness among regular classroom teachers, the Belin-Blank Center has during the last 20 years become a comprehensive center providing professional development, a wide variety of summer programs for youth, an international talent search, a counseling center, an early college admission program, and a strong research program that has particularly focused on acceleration and the provision of international research symposia. Many other countries have gifted education centers, such as the Centre for Gifted Education at the University of Calgary.

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