Historical Overview of Adult Gifted Education in the United States

Organization Background

There is an abundant amount of research focusing on gifted students at the K-12 level. Those of us working with gifted students in university settings face many of the same challenges faced by our colleagues in the elementary and secondary schools. There is, however, insufficient research on giftedness at the collegiate level (Rinn & Plucker, 2004) or beyond (Perrone, Perrone, Ksiazak, Wright, & Jackson, 2007). Additional research is needed to focus on these collegiate populations and beyond the college classroom. While much attention has been given to the education of gifted children and adolescents, very little work has been done on the teaching of gifted adults, especially those in teacher education. Kristin, Stephen, Tracy, Amy, & Vannatter, 2010) questioned gifted adult participants who enrolled in honors courses in college about their experiences in these courses (both positive and negative). They found that one fourth of the adults reported honors classes to be challenging and rewarding (Kristin et al., 2010). A small percentage of students (12-16%) liked the small class size, and enjoyed the social interaction but found the coursework overwhelming (Kristin et al., 2010). A few of the honors programs (5.9%) that were studied (Kristen et al., 2010) revealed that gifted and talented students had provided for an earlier graduation date, a faster paced learning experience, and a sense of accomplishment. The study also showed that the students found that programs could be disappointing when they were not designed for specific fields of study (Kristen et al., 2010).