Susannah Richards
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT
When I was a gifted and talented teacher in Iowa, I was frequently looking for research that would help me justify service and program options for students. Fortunately, I stumbled upon the resources from The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT). If I needed information on acceleration, grouping practices, or a summary of good programming options, the reports from the NRC/GT provided research-based recommendations that addressed both the needs of gifted and talented students and programming options.
More importantly they provided me with summaries and fact sheets that were easy to share with colleagues, administrators, teachers, and parents. Practitioner guides were invaluable in helping me disseminate information about curriculum compacting, creativity, mentors, gifted students and cooperative learning, and ability grouping.
Since NRC/GT print materials are not copyrighted, it was easy for me to disseminate materials to any audience. I kept NRC/GT print materials close at hand and could copy them at a moment’s notice. I hope that when you need information you remember that materials from the NRC/GT combine research with practical application. Don’t miss any opportunity to take advantage of NRC/GT materials.
A few of the newer NRC/GT materials include Project Start: Using a Multiple Intelligence Model in Identifying and Promoting Talent in High-Risk Students and the following Practitioner’s Guides: What Educator’s Need to Know About Bilingual Children, What Parents and Communities Need to Know About Bilingual Children, and three separate age-level brochures on What Parents Need to Know About Recognizing and Encouraging Interests, Strengths, and Talents.
- The NRC/GT is made up of five universities—University of Connecticut, University of Virginia, Yale University, Stanford University, and City University of New York, City College. (University of Connecticut, University of Virginia, Yale University, and University of Georgia participated from 1990-1995).
- Practitioner guides are colorful tri-fold brochures that highlight practical research.
- Several practitioner guides are available in both English and Spanish.
- NRC/GT products are sold on a cost-recovery basis and can be purchased for as little as $.50 for a single practitioner guide; monographs range from $5.00-$20.00 with many at the $10.00 level.
- You can print abstracts of NRC/GT research monographs from the web site at nrcgt.uconn.edu/research-based_resources.
- Over a dozen gifted related web sites are linked from www.gifted.uconn.edu. Over 120 web sites link to www.gifted.uconn.edu.
- Counseling, parenting, preparing for college, and mathematics education are a few of the topics featured in NRC/GT publications.
- Monographs include executive summaries that highlight major findings.
- Curricular Options for “High-End” Learning (videotape and reproducible handout packet) includes great teaching ideas for different content areas and a summary of curriculum compacting.
- Staff associated with the NRC/GT have made 1,481 presentations as of March 1999.
- You can find articles on cluster grouping, the Schoolwide Enrichment Model, and other gifted related articles on our website.
- The NRC/GT includes 366 Collaborative School Districts in 52 states and Guam, Virgin Islands, and Columbia.
- Thus far, the NRC/GT has been mentioned in the press 506 times with a total circulation rate of 77 million.
- NRC/GT publications are the result of a collaborative effort of dozens of researchers, hundreds of teachers, and thousands of students from around the country, Guam, Virgin Islands, and Columbia.
- NRC/GT has generated 470 articles/books papers since 1990.
- There are five video training tapes that illustrate research studies. Each tape includes a reproducible handout packet or a facilitator’s guide.