Educating Gifted Students

Are U.S. schools neglecting the brightest youngsters?

Introduction

Public schools have gone to greatlengths in recent years to improve educational services for students who had previously been neglected, such as low-income pupils or youngsters with disabilities. But they have paid less attention to providing special instruction and programs for gifted students. Advocates of gifted and talented education say schools are failing in their responsibility to help their brightest pupils achieve their full potential and are squandering a valuable national resource needed to compete in a global economy. But critics of gifted education say special programs for gifted youngsters benefit only a small, predominantly white and middle-class minority of students and divert resources and political support from broader educational reform.

(Photo Credit: Council for Exceptional Children)

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