Apply for the Belin-Blank Recognition Award

We are excited to introduce the Belin-Blank Recognition Award for Talent Development!

Recognizing the tremendous efforts of educators within the field of talent development and gifted education has always been important to the Belin-Blank Center. In the past, we honored that work through a yearly ceremony hosted on the University of Iowa campus (see picture below). Going forward, we would like to establish this award as a way to recognize the innovative efforts happening in schools around the state and to support educators in growing talent development opportunities for their students.

David Belin shakes hands with an awardee at the 1998 Belin-Blank Center Recognition Ceremony.

Thanks to an endowment from Henry B. and Jocelyn Wallace of Scottsdale, Arizona — outstanding advocates for gifted students and longtime supporters of the Belin-Blank Center — we can offer multiple awards of up to $5,000 for individual teachers, educational programs, schools, or districts with a goal of providing awards to a mix of urban and rural settings throughout Iowa. Educators can apply for this award to grow an existing program or to create a new one.

To apply, educators or other school personnel should complete the short application survey before the July 31 deadline. Awardees will be notified by mid-September.

Timeline

April 22: Application Survey opens
July 31: Last day to submit Application Survey
Mid-September: Awards announced

For more information or questions, contact recognition@belinblank.org

Coming Up at the Belin-Blank Center

Summer Writing Online (Grades 9–12)

Summer Writing Online (SWO) is an immersive, three-week program designed to stretch participants as writers. Instructors include playwright, director and teaching artist Nina Morrison and Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate Andrew David King. Students around the world are encouraged to apply — SWO offers a “Workshop East” and “Workshop West” to fit all US time zones. At the end of the program, students showcase their work in a virtual ceremony.

“I loved it. I made such great friends and did writing that I never thought I would be able to do.” —SWO alum

SWO takes place July 8–26, 2024. To learn more about SWO, visit belinblank.org/swo

Twice-Exceptional Summer Academy (Grades 9–11)

The Twice-Exceptional Summer Academy is a two-day semi-residential experience for high-ability and neurodivergent high school students. The program is meant to help prepare students for success in college and provide opportunities to socialize with other twice-exceptional students. It also provides information and community support for the parents of twice-exceptional adolescents.

June 2–3
June 23–24

2e Neuroscience Day Camp (Hosted by the Iowa Neuroscience Institute)

Participants will have opportunities to complete a lab experiment, spend the day with graduate students in neuroscience and related fields, and meet one-on-one with faculty leaders. This is a great (and free!) opportunity for neurodivergent high school students interested in STEM!

June 17

Academy for Twice-Exceptionality Information Sessions

April 26: On-Campus

Bucksbaum Early Entrance Academy Information Sessions

April 26: On-Campus

AP Summer Institute (APSI)

June 24–27 (On-Campus)
July 8–11 (On-Campus)
July 22–25 (Online)

Belin-Blank Talent Development Fellowship

July 14–18

Professional Learning Courses / TAG Endorsement

Fall IOAPA Registration is Open

Fall 2024 registration for Iowa Online AP Academy (IOAPA) is now open! Do you have Iowa students in 6th grade or above? IOAPA is here to empower you with free access to asynchronous advanced courses. The aim of this program is to bridge the gap, ensuring that every student has the opportunity to explore challenging subjects.

Why IOAPA?

Access for All: IOAPA opens doors that might otherwise remain closed. We believe that every student deserves a chance to excel, regardless of their school district’s offerings.
Empowering Rural Schools: By providing advanced courses online, IOAPA lightens the load for rural schools. No more limitations due to classroom availability or staffing constraints.
Support: IOAPA staff and our course vendors are here to help you every step of the way, from planning to deciding how best to document your students grade. Also, visit our website, you can find a wealth of information, including our course catalog, important dates, registration, and information about getting started, along with support materials designed to help you and your students make decisions about course selections.

Explore Our Course Catalog:

High School Students (16 AP Courses):

AP Biology
AP Calculus AB
AP Chemistry
AP Computer Science A (Java)
AP Computer Science Principles
AP English Language and Composition
AP English Literature and Composition
AP Environmental Science

AP French Language and Culture
AP Macroeconomics
AP Microeconomics
AP Psychology
AP Spanish
AP Statistics
AP U.S. Government
AP U.S. History

Middle School Students (15 Advanced Courses):

Algebra I
Algebra II
Biology
Computer Science Python Fundamentals
Creative Writing
Environmental Science
Geometry

Physical Science
Precalculus
Probability and Statistics
Psychology
Spanish I
U.S. History since the Civil War
U.S. History to the Civil War

Ready to Register? Follow These Steps:

Step-by-Step Registration:

Visit Our Website:
- Head to belinblank.org/ioapa.
- Review the Getting Started information.
Register Your School:
- Principals, take the lead! Register your school by clicking “Register” here.
- Assign the two on-site roles (can be held by the same person):
  - Site Coordinator: Oversees IOAPA activities at your school.
  - Mentor: A certified teacher who guides students through the program.
Nominate Students:
- After registration, you’ll receive an automated email with a link to nominate students.
- Identify the students who will participate in IOAPA courses.
Student Self-Enrollment:
- Nominated students receive an email inviting them to enroll in their chosen courses.
- Remind them to check their junk mail folders—important emails sometimes end up there!
- Students complete the enrollment process and click “Submit.”
College Board Requirements:
- Register your school with the College Board.
- Complete the AP Course Audit process for Online/Distance Learning courses by the end of January. This allows you to label courses as “AP” on students’ transcripts. Detailed instructions for Project STEM courses can be found on our website.
AP Exam Ordering:
- Encourage high school students to take the AP exam.
- Order all AP exams by the College Board’s deadline.
- Keep an eye out for emails about applying for our IOAPA AP exam scholarships.

As always, please feel free to reach out to us at ioapa@belinblank.org with any questions or concerns.

Earn Your TAG Endorsement at Iowa

As a leader in professional learning, the Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa is here to help you earn your Talented and Gifted (TAG) Endorsement! Here are just a few reasons to chose Iowa for your TAG-endorsement needs:

100% online curriculum
Flexible practicum experience 
Emphasis on acceleration, mental health, rural and small schools, and twice-exceptionality
Ability to transfer up to 6 s.h. of coursework from other institutions
Financial assistance available (including needs-based stipends and workshop vouchers)

Are you ready to get started this summer? Here are our Summer ‘24 offerings:

3 s.h. Courses

BBC:4137: Introduction to Educating Gifted Students
- Study a variety of key concepts and issues related to advanced learners and appropriate programming for this unique population.  
- May 20 – July 12

1 s.h. Workshops

BBC:4111: Evaluation of Gifted Programs
- Course Description: Apply practical strategies and tools to conduct an effective, comprehensive evaluation of a program for advanced learners.
- Dates: June 3 – June 28
BBC:4118: Meeting Emotional Needs of Talented Students
- Course Description: Focus on the unique emotional needs of talented students, including twice-exceptionality. 
- Dates: July 8 – August 2
BBC:4119: Meeting Social Needs of Talented Students
- Course Description: Focus on the unique social needs of talented students, including those who are twice-exceptional.
- Dates: May 20 – June 14
BBC:4033: Talent Development in the Arts and Athletics: Models and Methods
- Course Description: Examine multiple general and domain specific talent development models relevant to arts and athletics. 
- Dates: June 3 – June 28
BBC:4035: Talent Development in the Arts and Athletics: Psychosocial Trials and Benefits
- Course Description: Understand and integrate the multiple psychosocial issues (both the challenges and benefits) experienced during varying stages of the talent development process. 
- Dates: June 24 – July 19

Academic Credit Options (Restricted)

BBC:4031: Belin-Blank Talent Development Fellowship (1 or 2 s.h.)
- Course Description: Belin-Blank Fellowship participants will survey key concepts, ideas, and issues concerning the development of talent (and its potential) in K-12 students.
- Participants can earn 1 or 2 s.h.; credit options will be discussed during the program
- Restricted to participants in the Belin-Blank Talent Development Fellowship
BBC:4188: Practicum in Teaching and Curriculum Development: Gifted Education
- Course Description: Develop a supervised, independent culminating project that is practical in nature in preparation to work in programs and/or services for advanced learners.
- Restricted to undergraduates earning their TAG endorsement
BBC:4189: Practicum in Gifted/Talented Education
- Course Description: Develop a supervised, independent culminating project that is practical in nature in preparation to work in programs and/or services for advanced learners.
- Dates: May 28 – July 8
- Restricted to nondegree students earning their TAG endorsement
BBC:5080: Teacher Training for Advanced Placement Courses (2 s.h.)
- Course Description: Advanced Placement Summer Institute participants will explore the course framework, the AP exam, and the new resources for the chosen AP area.
- Dates: July 24 – August 2
- Restricted to participants in the Belin-Blank Center’s APSI Workshop

The cost of one semester hour of undergraduate credit is $376, and the cost of one semester hour of graduate credit is $626. Information on financial assistance is available upon request from educators@belinblank.org.

Ready to register? Follow the instructions here to enroll in an online course! Visit our website for more information on professional learning opportunities!

Talking with a Student About Academic Acceleration

When educators and parents begin discussing the possibility of a grade skip for a student, it’s essential to involve the student in the conversation. Rather than waiting until after the decision is made, we should proactively prepare the student as the discussion is happening. Both parents and teachers can engage with the student about acceleration. When beginning these discussions, it’s important to think about the student’s age. Younger students need less information, older students will benefit from a comprehensive discussion.

Starting the Conversation: Instead of directly asking, “Do you want to leave your class and go to another one?” educators and parents can initiate the conversation by asking broader questions:

“What aspects of school do you enjoy?”
“Which parts of your school experience could be improved?”
“If you were in charge of the school, what changes would you make for yourself?”

These open-ended questions pave the way for an open discussion about grade acceleration. As you continue having these conversations, show the student you value their opinion. You might say,

“We want to know what you think.”
“How do you feel about trying a higher grade?”
What questions do you have?”

As you begin the discussion, you can highlight the positives. The benefits of a grade skip include:

Advanced Learning: “Moving up a grade means you’ll learn more advanced things.”
New Friendships: “You’ll be with older kids who share your interests.”
Exciting Opportunities: “You’ll have new experiences and opportunities.”

It’s also very important to address the student’s concerns and acknowledge their worries. You might say,

“It’s normal to feel nervous about change.”
“You might miss your current classmates, and that’s okay.”
“We’ll support you every step of the way.”

While we value the student’s opinion and the information they share, we recommend excluding the student from the formal team meeting where acceleration decisions are discussed with parents and educators. Having the student present during this meeting may hinder an honest and open dialogue among adults.

If a student expresses resistance to acceleration, it’s essential to understand their reasons. It might be as simple as a student feeling nervous because she doesn’t know how to open a locker. However, if the student is adamant about not accelerating, it won’t be successful. We may need to find other ways to provide academic challenges.

Involving students in the decision-making process empowers them and ensures a more informed and thoughtful approach to acceleration. Reiterate your support and confidence: “We’ll talk with your teachers and counselors. We’ll make the best decision together.”

Resources

Acceleration Institute

Integrated Acceleration System

Blogs about acceleration: https://tinyurl.com/AccelerationBlogs

Subscribe to the Belin-Blank blogs about acceleration: https://mailchi.mp/belinblank.org/acceleration

Talking with Students about Taking an Above-Level Test

Staff members at the Belin-Blank Center often recommend that bright students take an above-level test. The students with whom we work often do extremely well on grade-level tests taken in school. The grade-level tests don’t provide enough information about the extent of the students’ talents. To learn more about their capabilities, the students need to take a more challenging test, which is often an above-level test. For example, I-Excel and ACT help us to have a better understanding of a student’s aptitudes in math, science, English, and reading. I-Excel, which contains content typically offered to 8^th graders, is offered to bright 4^th-6^th graders. ACT, usually taken by 11^th and 12^th graders, is given to bright 7^th – 9^th graders.

We have a few suggestions to offer to families and educators who would like to talk with their students about taking an above-level test.

These bright students are used to getting everything, or almost everything, right on standardized tests they take in school. This testing experience will be different. We’re giving them a test that was designed for older students because we want to give them a challenge and to have a better understanding of their capabilities. We want to measure the extent of their aptitudes in math, science, English, and reading, so we can make recommendations about educational programs that might be appropriate for them. We want to know what they don’t know, so we can devise programming specific to what they are ready to learn.

This test will be harder than most tests they have previously taken. We don’t expect them to get everything right. In fact, many students will not be able to finish the entire test. That is fine. What we want to do is to give the students a challenge.

This is a low stakes test. By that, we mean that there are no negative consequences if a student doesn’t do well on the test. Students should feel proud of themselves for being invited to take this challenging test. Only some students are invited to do this.

How parents and family members talk about testing matters. If you put a lot of emphasis on the test, your child will pick up on it and feel more anxious. It’s helpful if you’re a bit more relaxed about it and frame it as a learning opportunity. You might consider statements such as:

“You’re taking this test so we can see what you are ready to learn;”

“We want to give you a challenge;” and

“We’re proud of you for trying this hard test.”

Letting them know that some students approach it like a puzzle they want to solve, and many of the students tell us they had fun taking the test may also be helpful. We want students to do their best, but we also want them to know it is very common not to finish one or more sections of the test. It is likely they won’t know everything on the test. This is expected and okay.

About a week before the test, it is helpful to look at the sample test or practice test to become familiar with the format of testing. There is no need for students to study for an above-level test.

Our best advice for test preparation? Get a good night’s sleep the night before the test and eat breakfast. It may also be helpful to bring a healthy snack and a drink for break time during the test.

Once the family receives the test scores and the score report, we recommend talking with the student in general terms about their performance on the test. We do not recommend sharing specific scores with them, since it’s easy for young students to misunderstand or misinterpret test scores.

Above-level testing provides an excellent opportunity for bright students. In just one or two hours of testing, we can learn important information about the student’s academic abilities, which allows us to make appropriate recommendations about the types of educational challenges that might benefit the student. Objective test results are useful for families and teachers to advocate for the student, develop a plan of study, differentiate curriculum, or make decisions about subject acceleration or grade-skipping.

Training Video About Acceleration:

Includes Access to the Integrated Acceleration System

Are there students in your school who might benefit from acceleration, but you’re not really sure where to start? The Belin-Blank Center has produced a training video about the Integrated Acceleration System for educators who need to gather the appropriate information for making the decision about a grade skip for a student. The Integrated Acceleration System is an online system that: helps educators and families gather the right information, targets the important factors, and produces a report indicating a recommendation concerning whether acceleration is a good fit for a particular student.

This online professional development session focuses on:

Best research-based practices in utilizing academic acceleration,
How to use the online Integrated Acceleration System, and
Suggestions to facilitate communication among the relevant team members and to monitor the student’s transition to acceleration.

Cost of the webinar is $59. When you purchase a webinar, it includes a free access code to the Integrated Acceleration System (valued at $69), so you can try out the System and determine its suitability for your needs. Sign up now.

Subscribe to our blog about acceleration.

Advanced Placement Opens Doors

The Belin-Blank Center has provided challenging programs for decades. Research suggests that when bright students’ readiness is matched with curriculum and instruction, they are more engaged at school. Advanced Placement^® classes are just one vehicle we use to bring out the best in students.

Advanced Placement (AP)^® is a program created by the College Board College in the United States and Canada. AP^® offers a college-level curriculum to students while in high school. The AP^® curriculum for various subjects is created for the College Board by a panel (including college-level educators) with expertise in a specific field. Many colleges and universities grant placement and/or credit students based on AP^® exam scores. For a high school course to have the designation, it must be audited by the College Board.

There are several benefits of taking Advanced Placement^® classes. AP^® classes serve as excellent preparation for college. Their content aligns with introductory college courses. AP^® classes on a transcript communicate to college admissions that a student is motivated and ready for college’s rigors, especially at selective colleges and universities. AP^® classes bolster the strength of an application and could help raise it to the top of the pile of applicants. The content and instructional strategies in AP^® classes foster engagement, which is especially important for students tackling rigorous coursework. Finally, students can often translate a good score on the end-of-term AP^® Exam into tuition savings, as many colleges will count such scores towards a student’s general education requirements. Research has found that students who take at least one AP^® class are more likely to perform better in their first year in college than peers who did not take one (regardless of whether they took an AP^® exam or not).

Please visit the Advanced Placement^® link of the UI Admission website for more information on Advanced Placement^® and the University of Iowa.

Iowa Online AP Academy

Geography can seriously impact the availability of advanced coursework. Offering AP® courses in rural schools is often difficult due to small class sizes and a lack of resources. The Belin-Blank Center’s Iowa Online AP® Academy (IOAPA) partners with the State of Iowa to provide free access to various online advanced courses for Iowa students who do not have access to these courses in their schools. IOAPA offers fifteen different AP^® classes (e.g., Biology, Chemistry, Statistics, US History, and English Literature) to almost 100 Iowa schools this semester. Registration for the Spring 2023 semester is open now. Please visit the IOAPA website for more information.

Check Out IOAPA

The Belin-Blank Center is also proud to be the only approved AP® training site in the state. Each summer, we offer Advanced Placement® Summer Institute (APSI) for teachers to acquire AP® preparation from expert consultants and network with like-minded educators. In Summer 2023, we will offer three weeks of APSI (two on-campus and one online). Like the philosophy of access to AP® for students through IOAPA, the Center commits to providing an online APSI option, so teachers seeking training can attend regardless of location. The APSI offerings for Summer 2023 include Biology, Calculus AB, Chemistry, Computer Science & Principles, English Language, English Literature, Government & Politics, Macroeconomics, Psychology, Spanish Language & Culture, Statistics, US History, and World History. Please visit the APSI website for more information, including requirements for the Iowa teacher grant that covers most of the APSI registration fee.

Learn About AP Summer Institute

Professional Development for Spring and Summer 2023

“Teachers benefit from professional development trainings that are focused, purposeful, provide examples of what the targeted expectation should look like, and allow teachers the opportunity to apply what they have learned and implement it into their instruction”
(Keely Blair P’Pool, 2021, p. 100)

That is why professional development has been an integral part of the Belin-Blank Center since 1980, when Dr. Nicholas Colangelo, founding director of the Center, was first talking with Connie and David Belin and Jaqueline and Mike Blank about how to best support gifted and talented children.

Winter Session

Over winter break, the Center will offer EDTL:4085:0WKA Current Readings & Research in Gifted Education (December 21, 2022 – January 13, 2023), allowing “just-in-time” professional learning on topics of most interest to participants.

Spring Semester

In Spring of 2023, the Center is offering three-semester-hour extension classes (Identification, Program Models, Curriculum Concepts) and a two-semester-hour class about Administration and Policy Issues. A variety of workshops are also available. Check belinblank.org/courses after the Thanksgiving holiday to see everything that is available.

Summer Professional Development Options

Belin-Blank Fellowship

The Belin-Blank Center will host the 43^rd Connie Belin & Jaqueline N. Blank Fellowship Program in Gifted Education, July 16 – 21, 2023, on campus at the University of Iowa. One of the longest-running professional learning programs in the country, the Fellowship allows those with little background in gifted education and talent development to immerse themselves in ways to identify and understand gifted students, including those who have been traditionally underrepresented, and ways to develop students’ talents. This is the time for parents and teachers of the gifted to find allies in their schools, urging those who have an interest and would benefit from the program to apply for the Fellowship, free of cost to participants (although participants do need to cover the cost of travel to Iowa City). Room and board, as well as presentations from experts in the field, are all part of the Fellowship. Teacher leaders / instructional coaches are especially welcome! Anyone wanting to earn academic credit can enroll in CSED:5237:0WKA. Look for application materials in mid-January (belinblank.org/fellowship)!

Online Coursework

Summer of 2023 will offer both PSQF:4123:0EXW Academic Acceleration and the CSED or EDTL:4137:0EXW Introduction to Educating Gifted Students (both three-semester-hour extension classes), as well as multiple online and asynchronous one-semester-hour courses, offered in a workshop format. Everything available will be posted at belinblank.org/courses early in December.

Belin-Blank Chautauqua

As well as online opportunities, the Belin-Blank Chautauqua (belinblank.org/chautauqua) will take place in June 2023. Over the two weeks from June 12 – 17 and June 19 – 24, participants will have an opportunity to participate in up to six workshops that will include two days of either face-to-face interaction on campus in Blank Honors Center or via Zoom (participants may choose the option best for them). Those who enroll at the graduate level for all three workshops in either week—or both—receive an automatic tuition scholarship from the Belin-Blank Center for one of three classes (i.e., three workshops for the cost of two; six for the cost of four). Chautauqua offers opportunities in the Psychology, Programming, and Administrative strands, making earning the endorsement easier than ever. Chautauqua classes differ from summer to summer, allowing those interested in the endorsement (belinblank.org/endorsement) to complete all of their work through Chautauqua over two summers. Between online and Chautauqua opportunities, endorsement candidates can complete all of their work before the next academic year.

Get Registered for Credit

To participate in endorsement classes, you must register one time each year with Distance and Online Education as a non-degree seeking student. For the purposes of the State of Iowa Endorsement in Talented and Gifted Education, you may register as either a graduate or undergraduate student regardless of your professional status. In other words, if you won’t benefit in other ways from the graduate credit, you can save tuition dollars. Once you have your HawkID and password, you can follow the directions to register for the courses that interest you the most (belinblank.org/educators/reg).

This Fall at the Belin-Blank Center

Don’t miss any of the helpful information for talented students, families, and educators this semester!

FOR EDUCATORS

Professional Learning Courses / TAG Endorsement:
- Conceptions of Talent Development: October 17, 2022
- Practicum in Teaching & Curriculum Development in Gifted Education: October 24, 2022
- Practicum in Gifted/Talented Education: November 14, 2022
Webinars:
- The Integrated Acceleration System: Making Decisions about Grade-Skipping: September 13, 2022, 4:00-5:30pm

FOR STUDENTS & FAMILIES

Bucksbaum Early Entrance Academy Information Sessions

On Campus: September 12 or October 11, 2022
Online: November 8 or December 6, 2022

Academy for Twice-Exceptionality Information Sessions

On Campus: 10:00 am on October 18, 2022,
Online: 6:30 pm on August 31, September 28, or November 9, 2022

Learn to Develop Talent in Any Domain

Talent needs to be recognized and fostered within all domains and fields, so its focus must expand beyond K-12 classrooms and business. To that end, the Belin-Blank Center, in collaboration with the University of Iowa College of Education, has developed a Graduate Certificate in Talent Development. This certificate is hinged upon a broad perspective of talent development, and it will prepare professionals in any domain to recognize and develop talented people in whatever their field may be.

What is talent development? Talent development is a systematic process that supplies the necessary skills and training, so an individual’s talent area(s) is actualized. Discovering and developing talent fosters equity when casting and considering a broader “net” and when the process includes proper support and accommodations.

We are excited about this professional learning opportunity because of its potential to partner with multiple departments at the University of Iowa and professionals from various fields. While we predict the Graduate Certificate in Talent Development will attract K-12 pre-service and in-service educators, we drafted it to be relevant for individuals outside of education (e.g., the arts, STEM, athletics, or leadership).

Our one-of-a-kind Graduate Certificate in Talent Development is open for Fall 2022 registration.

This meaningful learning experience can be completed 100% online or in a hybrid fashion. It is research-based, provides elective course choices within and outside education, and culminates with an interest-based project. If you have any questions, contact Randy Lange at randolph-lange@uiowa.edu

Come learn with us!

To learn more or register, visit our website.

Learn More

AP Summer Institute – Online!

Advanced Placement (AP) coursework is one of the most recognized forms of acceleration. There are many benefits to taking an AP course, including providing the appropriate level of challenge for talented students.

Advanced Placement classes help develop college-level academic skills. The classes are made up of students and educators with a strong commitment to excellence in learning and problem-solving. These are all qualities necessary in college. Many students who enter college are shocked at the amount of work and study time involved. Taking AP classes in high school will better prepare them for challenging college classes.

The Belin-Blank Center is proud to be an approved site to provide AP summer training for teachers. To accommodate as many teachers as possible, we are offering an online session (August 1-5, 2022). The seven AP trainings offered online are Computer Science & Principles, English Language & Composition, English Literature & Composition, Physics I, Psychology, Spanish Language & Culture, and Statistics.

We would love to work with you this summer! Learn more and sign up here.

Join us!

NEW! Graduate Certificate in Talent Development

The Belin-Blank Center is pleased to announce our new graduate certificate in talent development! It addresses talent development from a broad perspective and considers multiple fields. This certificate will be open to current, degree-seeking students at the University of Iowa and non-degree students (e.g., full/part-time personnel in teaching and/or a wide range of professions). The Graduate Certificate in Talent Development will provide a synthesis of theory and multiple perspectives across various areas of study and provide opportunities for registrants across fields to engage and interact with the common goal of how to best match individuals with appropriately enriching experiences (within and outside of school).

The purpose of the Graduate Certificate in Talent Development is to increase understanding of talented individuals, the process of talent development and the creative process, and to prepare advocates for talented individuals. The Graduate Certificate in Talent Development will provide a research-based foundation for cultivating talent and encouraging best practices, especially in K-12 schools. The emphasis on talent development is moving away from simplistic “pull-out” programming within schools and exploring more sophisticated conceptions of the development of expertise in specific fields and domains. The proposed certificate intends to train professionals across fields to develop talent among artists, athletes, business leaders, musicians, and STEM, to name a few.

The Graduate Certificate in Talent Development will be available in Fall 2022. It consists of 14 semester hours and can be earned completely online. Its three-fold learning approach is composed of:

1) required coursework (6 semester hours),

2) interest-based elective coursework (6 semester hours – can reside in any UI department), and

3) a culminating independent Capstone Exploration Project (steered completely by student interest).

If you have any questions, please contact Randy Lange (randolph-lange@uiowa.edu).

We would love to learn with you!

Professional Learning Makes All the Difference

by Dr. Laurie Croft, Associate Director for Professional Development

Gifted and talented students have unique social-emotional needs AND unique academic needs. Professional learning allows educators to understand and address those unique needs, and that facilitates student success in school and in life in a wide variety of ways. Peterson (2009) suggested that giftedness can actually be a risk factor for poor personal and educational outcomes. Comprehensive preparation to interact with and support the various challenges faced by gifted learners facilitates appropriate affective and academic development.

Belin-Blank Chautauqua 2022

The Belin-Blank Chautauqua provides six classes for professionals, who can take any or all. Allowing educators to spend time with others who share their focus on the nature and needs of gifted students—either in person on campus or via Zoom—each class meets from 9:00 – noon and 1:00 – 4:00 pm for the first two days of each class. Participants finish up any readings and final projects over the next couple of weeks, working online and independently.

All classes fulfill one of the strands required for the State of Iowa Talented and Gifted Endorsement and count toward the total number of 12 required credits. Enrolling in Chautauqua allows an educator to complete half of the endorsement this summer, and the different Chautauqua schedule from summer to summer allows a participant to complete the endorsement program the next year.

Those who enroll in all three graduate credits the first week receive a full tuition scholarship for one class; those who enroll in all six credits receive a full tuition scholarship for two classes, one each week. In other words, the Belin-Blank Center covers the cost of two of the six classes; the Center understands the value of professional development!

Chautauqua Courses in 2022

Chautauqua courses include the following in Week I:

Thinking Skills (EDTL:4072:0WKA), Jul 11 – 29, taught by Dr. Laurie Croft;

Topics: Executive Functioning for Learning and Life (new in 2022; EDTL:4096:0WKB), Jul 13 – Aug 2, taught by Dr. Kristine Milburn; and

Counseling and Psychological Needs of the Gifted (RCE:4125:0WKA, Jul 15 – Aug 4, taught by Dr. Debra Mishak.

Chautauqua continues in Week II:

Gender Issues and Giftedness (RCE:4123:0WKA), Jul 18 – Aug 5, taught by Dr. Haley Wikoff;

Topics: Infusing Language Arts with Creative Thinking (EDTL:4096:0WKC), Jul 20 – Aug 5, taught by Gwen Livingstone Pakora, MA; and

Staff Development for Gifted Programs (EPLS:4113:0WKA), Jul 22 – Aug 5, taught by Lori Danker, MA and MSE.

Learn more about Chautauqua at belinblank.org/chautauqua.

Advanced Placement Summer Institute

Teacher Training in Advanced Placement Courses (EDTL:5080:0WKA), available to those participating in the University of Iowa Advanced Placement Summer Institute. The Belin-Blank Center provides a 50% tuition scholarship, allowing participants to earn two hours for the cost of one graduate credit. The APSI takes place on campus from Jun 28 – Jul 1. Contact educators@belinblank.org about information to override the restriction on enrollment.

APSI participants benefit from earning another credit hour for Differentiation at the Secondary Level (EDTL:4074:0WKA), Jul 11 – 29, taught by Dr. Kristine Milburn. APSI participants receive a 50% tuition scholarship for this class, as well.

Fully Online and Asynchronous Courses

In addition to Chautauqua courses this summer, the Center, in partnership with the University of Iowa College of Education, is offering additional online courses that are fully asynchronous. Professional learning opportunities began at the end of May, but they continue in July, including:

Leadership Skills for G/T Students, K – 12 (EDTL:4029:0WKA), taught by Dr. Beth Maloney;

Differentiation at the Secondary Level (EDTL:4074:0WKA), Jul 11 – 29, taught by Dr. Kristine Milburn.

The practicum experience, required for the endorsement is available every semester, including summer.

For more information about all the summer professional learning opportunities available, visit belinblank.org/courses.

Visit belinblank.org/educators/reg for all the information you need to get registered as a non-degree seeking Distance and Online student.

Message from the Director: Opening Doors for Talent Development

by Dr. Susan Assouline, Belin-Blank Center Director

“You’re a girl; you don’t need to take calculus.”

I’ve never forgotten those words stated by my high school counselor when I inquired about registering for calculus my senior year. That was then. I didn’t even question the statement. Not taking calculus in high school probably closed some doors for me, but other doors — education and psychology – opened.

Many decades have passed since then. Legislation prohibiting discrimination based on sex or “…any other classification that deprives the person of consideration as an individual[i]” has opened doors to more opportunities for more people. We are all better off because of those legalities. Nevertheless, much work remains concerning nondiscrimination, societal racism, and social justice. Furthermore, we have not fully addressed the most significant issue facing students, families, and educators: inequality in educational programming, especially in access to gifted education. The gifted programming inequalities in schools nationwide are society’s way of saying, “You’re a _________; you don’t need access to gifted programming.” Educators, researchers, and psychologists can do better.

This spring, the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) dedicated an entire issue of their flagship journal, Gifted Child Quarterly, to equity in gifted education. I applaud my colleagues who contributed to that special issue, which catalyzed the entire field to reflect and act. We can all make a difference in addressing this pernicious problem in education, which reflects a broader problem related to discrimination and lack of respect for diversity. At the Belin-Blank Center, we continuously aspire to offer services and programming focused on talent development through our student programs and professional development opportunities. We seek to recognize the strengths and potential of a diverse student population more fully.

As a high school junior, I didn’t know then the impact of being excluded from an educational opportunity based on one educator’s bias about girls and advanced math. Now I recognize that that experience was the entry point to a career as an educator, administrator, and researcher dedicated to ensuring that we extend opportunities to all who would benefit from them.

Bias, whether implicit or explicit, leads to exclusion and discrimination that has long-term consequences. It denies marginalized communities and people opportunities that would positively contribute to their lives and to society. Each of us has the power to chip away at discrimination through our words and our actions.

There has been improvement for some, but there is much more to do. I have hope because of a new generation of educators. This generation has greater awareness of the vastness of human potential, which we should not limit based on “classification that deprives the person of consideration as an individual.” As we look to the future, professional educators must ensure that inclusion and equity become focal points of practice and policy. We aim to lead the way.

[i] The University of Iowa prohibits discrimination in employment, educational programs, and activities on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, pregnancy, disability, genetic information, status as a U.S. veteran, service in the U.S. military, sexual orientation, gender identity, associational preferences, or any other classification that deprives the person of consideration as an individual. The university also affirms its commitment to providing equal opportunities and equal access to university facilities. For additional information on nondiscrimination policies, contact the Director, Office of Institutional Equity, the University of Iowa, 202 Jessup Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242-1316, 319-335-0705, oie-ui@uiowa.edu.

Professional Learning at the Belin-Blank Center

Nelson Mandela is credited with saying, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” At the Belin-Blank Center, we are among those who believe that this is true. Our tagline, after all, is Nurturing Potential – Inspiring Excellence.

We also know that these years of the pandemic have included the most difficult days for any teacher today. We are committed to providing professional learning to support the needs that teachers of the gifted have, both as they earn the TAG endorsement, and after they are working with students’ evolving needs.

The Belin-Blank Center offers traditional three-semester-hour classes throughout the academic year, and one, (Academic Acceleration, PSQF:4123:0EXW), in the summer. We also offer one-semester-hour classes in a workshop format throughout the year, including the winter session and over the summer.

Workshops provide educators an opportunity to focus on one topic (“Thinking Skills” or “Gender Issues”), and they last for three weeks. Workshops have no additional fees added to the tuition, providing some savings. Some educators find it advantageous to register with Distance and Online Education as non-degree-seeking undergraduates, even though they obviously have degrees, in order to save tuition dollars. Many others prefer to register as graduate students so they can count the hours toward other opportunities in their district.

This summer, the Belin-Blank Center will collaborate with various departments in the College of Education to offer sufficient hours to complete the State of Iowa Talented and Gifted Endorsement. Participation in Chautauqua provides six of the required hours. Fully online classes, including the individualized practicum experience, provide the additional hours.

Over the next two weeks, we will update our professional learning schedule with the classes available this summer. You can also get started this spring to free up some time to relax over the summer! Visit belinblank.org/courses to see what is currently available.

Get Registered

To participate in our classes, you must register one time each year with Distance and Online Education as a non-degree seeking student. Once you have your HawkID and password, you can follow the directions to register for the courses that interest you the most. Follow belinblank.org/educators/reg. All of our classes fulfill the strands required for endorsement.

Questions?

Advanced Placement Summer Institute and Belin-Blank Summer Fellowship

Summer has traditionally been a season for teachers to refuel and refresh. Many times, the “refueling” portion centers on acquiring new learning through professional development. The Belin-Blank Center will be offering multiple learning opportunities in Summer 2022. Two excellent examples are our Advanced Placement Summer Institute and the Belin-Blank Fellowship. You are invited to both!

Advanced Placement Summer Institute

Who: Middle School & High School Teachers; Gifted Coordinators

What: APSI is 30 hours of content-rich training. It is designed to strengthen both instruction and core curriculum. While it seems to target new or current AP teachers, the strategies will bolster the teaching repertoire of middle school teachers and gifted coordinators. Academic credit is available and includes a 50% tuition scholarship. Contact educators@belinblank.org with questions.

When: There are two options! The Summer 2022 on-campus session is June 28 – July 1; the fully online session is August 1 – 5.

Where: The on-campus courses are held at the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City. The online classes allow you to learn from anywhere with an internet connection.

Why: The Belin-Blank Center is committed to professional development for educators!

For more information about the AP course content offered and the Iowa teacher grant scholarship):

belinblank.org/apsi

Belin-Blank Summer Fellowship

Who: The program, in its 42^nd year, is designed for educators with limited expertise working with gifted and talented students. This summer, priority will be given to those in instructional coaching roles in a school.

What: The Belin-Blank Fellowship is a unique opportunity for a select number of educators, nominated by their schools, to receive professional learning in gifted education through a five-day summer residential workshop at the University of Iowa. The program aims to help educators new to gifted education (especially those in an instructional coaching role) understand the characteristics and needs of gifted individuals so they can better teach and develop the potential of gifted and talented students.

When: The Summer 2022 Fellowship will be held June 20 – June 24.

Where: The Belin-Blank Fellowship Program will be held on the campus of the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Room, board, and materials are provided as part of the Fellowship; academic credit is available and includes a 50% tuition scholarship. Contact educators@belinblank.org with questions.

Why: The Belin-Blank Center has been committed to professional development for educators since 1980, even before the Center became a center!

The application process will be open by Monday, February 14^th.

For more information:

belinblank.org/fellowship

Belin-Blank Chautauqua

“The Chautauqua Institution is truly a national treasure. It is a place for contemplation and a place for reflection, a place where platitudes and slogans can be set aside and be replaced by thoughtfulness and introspection.” (E. Spitzer)

As someone who taught U.S. History for several years, I always loved talking about the Chautauqua movement popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Chautauqua was an adult education movement, and people from all over the country would gather to learn about a wide variety of topics. Chautauqua was loved as a social movement as well as an educational opportunity.

The Belin-Blank Center was the first TAG endorsement program in the State of Iowa to offer sufficient online course offerings to allow candidates to complete the entire program. As fewer and fewer opportunities exist for teachers to collaborate in professional learning in a face-to-face format, the Center decided to offer its own version of the Chautauqua (belinblank.org/Chautauqua).

For several years, the Belin-Blank Center has dedicated two weeks in July to an accelerated professional learning format. By participating in Chautauqua, a teacher can complete half of the State of Iowa Talented and Gifted Endorsement one year and complete the second half the next summer.

The Belin-Blank Chautauqua offers a full scholarship for one class each week to anyone who enrolls in all three classes during one week (or for two classes to anyone who enrolls in all six classes during the two weeks).

This summer, Chautauqua begins on July 11, and each of the six one-semester-hour classes that begin during Chautauqua has a unique format.

The first class meets from 9:00 am – noon and 1:00 – 4:00 pm (Central Daylight Savings Time) on Monday, July 11, and Tuesday, July 12. The format will include a Zoom option. Some instructors may Zoom in for the class, and at least some of the participants may Zoom in for those meetings, too. Although this was fully face-to-face on campus in the past, we’ll be flexible about the meeting time this summer and, perhaps, in the future! The workshop will last for three weeks (July 11 – July 29), with all the work that follows those first two days taking place online, via our ICON online course platform. The additional work typically includes readings, one or two additional questions for online discussion, and a final project.

The second class meets from 9:00 am – noon and 1:00 – 4:00 pm on Wednesday, July 13, and Thursday, July 14. The class continues on ICON after that for three weeks (July 13 – August 2).

The third class during Week I of Chautauqua meets on Friday, July 15, and Saturday, July 16. The class continues on ICON after that for three weeks (July 13 – August 4).

Week II looks much the same!

Over the course of the two weeks of Chautauqua, no classes are repeated from the previous summer, ensuring that the endorsement can be completed. Over the two weeks, classes are offered from each of the strands required for the endorsement.

Chautauqua is a wonderful option for those who want to take one workshop on a new subject, useful for their school. It’s an equally terrific option for those who want to complete their endorsements over two summers. We’ll be updating the schedule soon.

We look forward to seeing you in July 2022!

Save the Dates for Professional Learning

SAVE THE DATES! The Belin-Blank Center will host several professional learning opportunities for educators in Summer 2022.

The Belin-Blank Fellowship Program is a unique opportunity for a cadre of educators to learn more about the area of gifted education, through a five-day summer workshop. Its purpose is to help teachers learn better methods for working with gifted children in their classrooms. The program is designed to help educators provide an appropriate program for gifted students, develop in students a heightened sense of social responsibility in the use of their talents, and provide leadership in gifted education. For Summer 2022, priority will be given to those in instructional coaching roles. The dates for Summer 2022 are June 20-24. Applications will be available on our website in mid-February.

Want to prepare for teaching an AP class? The Belin-Blank Center will be hosting BOTH on-campus and online Advanced Placement Summer Institutes (APSI). The on-campus APSI will be held at the University of Iowa in Iowa City from June 28 – July 1. The online APSI will take place from August 1-5.

The planned ON-CAMPUS classes are:

Biology, Calculus AB, English Language & Composition, English Literature & Composition, Government & Politics, Human Geography, Psychology, US History, and World History

The planned ONLINE classes are:

Computer Science Principles, English Language & Composition, English Literature & Composition, Physics I, Psychology, Spanish Language & Culture, and Statistics.

Stay tuned for more professional learning opportunities in spring and summer 2022. We hope you will plan to join us!

Preparing for an Acceleration Meeting: What’s an Educator to Do?

One of the students in your school is being considered for acceleration, and you are facilitating this discussion. You have talked about this with the family and other teachers, strategized with administrators, gathered the data, and scheduled a meeting. What are the final steps you need to complete as you prepare for this meeting?

The regular classroom teacher who is invited to attend the meeting may not have had any significant training in gifted education or academic acceleration, but they would have been exposed to surface level concepts such as academic rigor, Bloom’s Taxonomy, or the wide variability among their students in terms of their academic abilities; these ideas direct our thinking to considering options such as acceleration for individual students. Resources such as Volume 1 of A Nation Empowered and the educator page of the Acceleration Institute website will provide an introduction to acceleration and answer basic questions about the short-term and long-term impact of acceleration. Parents or guardians and school administrators would also benefit from similar introductory materials (e.g., see the parent’s page).

The team of individuals who come together to talk about acceleration for a particular student generally includes the parent or guardian, an administrator, the current classroom teacher, receiving (future) teacher, gifted teacher or coordinator, and others who have information and knowledge relevant to the discussion. Whether you’re using the Integrated Acceleration System or another tool to help guide you through the process of making decisions about acceleration, you’ll want to consider these items before the team meets:

Answer team members’ questions through individual meetings or via email/phone. Make sure they have informative resources such as the ones listed above.
It is likely the current classroom teacher has already been talking with gifted education staff about the student concerning strategies and options for meeting the student’s needs. Your support might be needed in these discussions.
Determine the purpose of the meeting. Is it to introduce acceleration as an option or to make a decision about acceleration?
It is important to present to the parents the options that have already been made available to their student. These might include special projects the student has completed, distance learning options, and/or flexible grouping for high-ability readers. Highlighting strategies that have already been in place starts the meeting off on a positive note.
Pre-plan possible options. For example, consider what additional supports might be offered to the student and regular classroom teacher if the decision is not to accelerate the student. Consider when and how the student will be advanced to the next grade, if the decision is made to accelerate. Consider how subject acceleration might be implemented if that is the option chosen for the student.
- Key “If We Grade Skip” questions might be: What scaffolding might be needed? What coordination (e.g., desk in the room, name added to classroom charts, consumables acquired) needs to be addressed? What closure might be needed in the current grade? Which grade level state testing will be administered? Who will be the receiving classroom “buddy”?
- Key “If We Do NOT Grade Skip” questions might be: What are the student’s key strengths and areas requiring growth? Is the student a candidate for subject acceleration? What classroom differentiation as well as outside of school enrichment opportunities might be appropriate? How might the parents/guardians be assured that the student will be challenged in school?
Make a list of topics to be discussed at the meeting, such as:
- Discuss the data that were collected, including standardized testing results and informal information about what the student does in the classroom and at home.
- Discuss the student’s approach to something novel and challenging.
- Give stakeholders the opportunity to share what they know about the student.
- Prepare questions that will get the family involved in the discussion, such as “Tell us about your child?” “What do you see at home?” Ask what they might have observed from the past year or previous years.
- What does the student do outside of school? These might include online opportunities, community activities, museum visits, public speaking opportunities, and/or mentorships.

Sample Team Meeting Agenda

11:00 AM – Introductions and brief general overview of the tool used, the Integrated Acceleration System, and its purpose

11:10 AM – Overview of Integrated Acceleration System Sections A-D.

11:15 AM – Discuss items of interest from previously completed sections.

11:25 AM – Discuss achievement, ability, and aptitude testing information. Consider strengths and opportunities for growth.

11:35 AM – Discuss Questions for the Meeting from the Integrated Acceleration System.

11:45 AM – Review the email list of who will receive the student report. Generate the report. Read the recommendations and discuss them. Make a decision.

12:00 PM – Plan next steps (including any additional data that needs to be collected)

12:15 PM – Determine who will monitor the transition, if the decision is to accelerate the student.

Special thanks to Randy Lange for a productive discussion that informed this blog.

Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

Introducing the Academy for Twice-Exceptionality

The college experience is an excellent opportunity for academic and personal growth. It is also a time that comes with unique challenges for first-year students. Academic expectations, time management, prioritization, staying healthy, and feeling disconnected are just some of the potential struggles. These areas can be more amplified and burdensome for twice-exceptional students. Twice-exceptional students have the potential for high achievement and also have one or more learning disabilities.

Twice-exceptional students are arguably an underrepresented population in gifted and talented education. Too often, this unique population is missed or denied access to programs and services for advanced learners. Experts at the Belin-Blank Center found that more than 50% of the twice-exceptional students in one study would have benefited from acceleration in school. As the number of students with learning disabilities attending the University of Iowa increases, resources and services to assist and support this population become very important.

Using its expertise in twice-exceptionality, the Belin-Blank Center is collaborating with other UI offices, including Student Disability Services, to establish the Academy for Twice-Exceptionality for individuals with high ability and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or who identify as Autistic. Too often, the school experience for twice-exceptional students is laden with walls and barriers.

The recent emphasis on inequity and injustice in schools has resulted in courageous conversations about the underrepresentation of specific populations in programs and services for advanced learners. Many times, individuals addressing the need for positive change in schools use a metaphor of mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Two goals of the Belin-Blank Center’s Academy for Twice-Exceptionality are to support twice-exceptional students (an underrepresented population) and to tear down the walls and barriers facing these students, replacing them with mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors.

Mirrors (Finding Community)
The Academy for Twice-Exceptionality aims to dispel any sense of not belonging. A group living situation in one of the campus residence halls is crucial to fostering relationships with others like themselves. Through a weekly meeting with other Academy students, individuals have a place to “see” others who are like them and are reaching for the same goal – success in college. The feelings and perceptions regarding the collegiate experience will undoubtedly be different for twice-exceptional students. Through discussions facilitated by the Belin-Blank Center staff, students will learn with and from one another about ways to address issues that arise.

Windows (Learning Opportunities)
As a world-class institution, the University of Iowa seems to have limitless possibilities for its students. The numerous options include programs and degrees, extracurriculars, campus services, fitness and wellness, and student research. With this incredible breadth of opportunities, students can become overwhelmed, especially twice-exceptional students. The Academy for Twice-Exceptionality includes individual sessions with a staff member to assist students in better navigating a large university by pointing them in the right direction.

Sliding Glass Doors (Support for Reaching Goals)
The Belin-Blank Center established the Academy for Twice-Exceptionality with one fundamental purpose. We aim to provide better access for success at the University of Iowa for students with high ability and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or who identify as Autistic. Twice-exceptional students can do great things, especially with support. The support features that are unique to this Academy help to “slide” open the door of access to all that the University of Iowa offers. Specific areas targeted include adjustment to campus life, communication, creating a sense of community, living independently, organization, self-advocacy, and setting goals. Through this Academy, we are committed to opening the University of Iowa’s “door to possibilities” and walking alongside students through it.

We are confident that the Academy’s combination of well-planned support structures and regular communication with families converts the goal of success in college to reality for twice-exceptional students. Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors are commonly found in a home. This Belin-Blank Center Academy strives to create a “sense of home” for twice-exceptional students at the University of Iowa.

Are you interested in finding out if the Academy for Twice-Exceptionality is the right match for you? The Belin-Blank Center would love to share more with you. Contact us today to connect and start the conversation.

Visit Our Website

Email Us

STEM Research Mentorship Opportunities for Students & Teachers

We are pleased to share two fantastic opportunities for high school student researchers and their teachers!

Mentorship for High School Student STEM Researchers

JSHS is offering a virtual mentoring program for high school students involved in STEM research.

Is this mentorship for me?

Any student who starts a research project and intends to submit their research at the regional Junior Science and Humanities (JSHS) competition can participate. This resource is free for students and supported by JSHS.

How can mentors help?

Mentors share their expertise and advice to help guide and encourage you throughout your research.
Mentors can provide assistance and feedback on your original research concepts.

How will I work with my mentor?

Chronus is a virtual mentoring platform that houses the JSHS virtual mentorship program. Through Chronus, you will be able to:

View mentor profiles and find mentor matches based on shared interests.
Connect with mentors for flash (one-time consultation) or long-term mentoring (on-going mentoring) year-round.
Receive valuable resources that help you get the most out of your mentorships.
Set up virtual meetings, ask questions, and manage your mentorships online or through the Chronus app.

How do I sign up?

Visit https://virtualmentoring.jshs.org/chronus to register today or reach out at admin@JSHS.org!

Mentorship for High School STEM Teachers

For STEM teachers, the Advancing Science Research Teaching (ASRT) program is accepting applications for their free, in-person, educational outreach program. This program is designed to equip high school teachers with the knowledge, insights, and activities to increase the amount, type, and scope of science research projects for their high school students.

Is the ASRT program for me?

The ASRT program is customized to help high school teachers who provide science research opportunities within a traditional STEM classroom setting, or helping those with a small, growing research program/club, or even helping those with more established Science Research Programs/Clubs. High school teachers may apply individually or as a group.

How are participants selected?

Applicants will be evaluated by a committee from Regeneron and/or ZEISS, based on a number of different criteria including, but not limited to:

Their interest in increasing the number of activities that build understanding & critical thinking, technology-based skills, networking skills, presentation skills, and lifelong skills.
Their interest in increasing the number of high school students who carry out projects and participate in regional, state, national and international science fairs.
Their interest in increasing the quality/level of the projects that their high school students are involved in.
Their interest in increasing the types/categories of the projects that their high school students are involved in.
Their level of support from the school community and their administration for creating science research/STEM opportunities for high school students.

How do I apply?

Visit https://forms.gle/W3335h1vRFP6aojVA to apply by November 14, 2021. The FAQ section of the www.ASRTprogram.com website has additional information.

Learn More About JSHS!

Message from the Director: At the Edge of Knowledge, What do Students Need?

The needs of gifted students come from their strengths, not their deficits.

I’m paraphrasing, slightly, what Executive Director of Western Kentucky’s Center for Gifted Studies, Professor Julia Link Roberts, expressed last month during Denver University’s annual Gifted Education Conference. This simple yet elegant statement captures the essence of the Belin-Blank Center’s model for serving gifted and talented students from grade 2 through college. Our strength-based model features various systems for discovering domain-specific talent and then developing that talent. A strength-based model is synonymous with talent development.

Although highly effective, there is one critical group of educators who neither implement nor advocate for a strength-based model in which talents are developed. The group is comprised of the vast majority of faculty in colleges of education across the country; the same individuals who prepare future teachers and counselors.

This was the situation decades ago when I was preparing to be a science teacher, and it remains true today. For example, students with strengths in science reasoning need to be able to do what scientists do – create hypotheses, conduct research, experience success…and fail, and start all over again. It’s the rare science classroom where students with strengths in scientific reasoning have regular opportunities to experience “science” during the school day. The same is true for individuals with talent in mathematics.

To some extent, the lack of emphasis on talent development in schools explains the popularity of university-based summer programs among parents and students. Every summer, tens of thousands of elementary, middle, and high school students across the country take advantage of myriad programs and courses that build on their strengths and nurture the development of their talent. The Belin-Blank Center’s programs are among these. Our students explore their interests and stretch their intellectual muscles in the Blank Summer Institute, the Perry Research Scholars Institute, the Secondary Student Training Program, Summer Art Residency, and Summer Writing Residency and find respite from the lack of challenge during the school year.

Educators who participate in the Belin-Blank Center’s summer professional development can observe talented pre-college students in programming that is uniquely strength-based and talent-development focused. Our hope is that by observing a strength-based classroom, educators will see the importance of taking this model into their own classrooms during the academic year. This is one of the most critical lessons from their professional development experience because for every student who attends a summer program in a university setting, there are several others who are equally talented but don’t have this opportunity.

Education doesn’t have to be strengths vs. deficit. In fact, every program we offer, including outreach programming such as the STEM Excellence program, now in its sixth year of implementation in nine rural schools across Iowa, is an excellent example of a thriving strength-based program that aims to develop the math and science talents of middle-school students.

Our work in twice-exceptionality offers additional evidence that understanding a student’s strengths is as important as understanding their challenges. Individuals with a diagnosed disability or disorder face challenges (deficits) that can – and must – be addressed. However, this should be done in alignment with developing their strengths.

The strength-based approach is the essence of our collaborative twice-exceptional research agenda with our Iowa Neuroscience Institute partners. This work uses an unprecedented amount of data from our Assessment and Counseling Clinic to better understand the relationship between high ability and challenges in learning, social-emotional development, or behavior. Indeed, understanding the role of cognitive strengths within the context of learning and social-emotional difficulties is a critical aspect of the research we are conducting. It is only with a sample of twice-exceptional individuals, who have both intellectual strengths and cognitive challenges, that each of these can be controlled for, allowing researchers to examine their effects both independently and combined.

We are looking forward to bringing together researchers, clinicians, educators, and parents to learn about the research on twice-exceptionality at the Summit on the Neuroscience of Twice-Exceptionality this July. We invite you to join us in discussing new, unprecedented studies of twice-exceptionality, the future of research in this field, and the possibilities available for collaboration among institutions, gifted education organizations, and talent development centers in order to advance our understanding of this unique population and their strengths and challenges.

The needs of gifted students – and the professionals who are involved in their education – come from strengths not deficits. Yet, for the foreseeable future, deficit models in education will likely dominate our thinking – and funding. I recommend that we “lean into” the current deficit model and use it as a platform to reveal the many advantages to including a strength-based approach in gifted education and talent development. We will continue to share our perspective and research findings, and we hope to see you at one of our events or programs soon.

Meeting Your Goals for the Precocious Teens in Your Life with Real-World Data Sets

You can create engaging learning experiences for teens by making it possible for them to conduct original research and connect with a larger scholarly community through citizen science. While collecting original data has tremendous merit, sometimes barriers to the necessary equipment or resources for effective data collection are challenging to navigate. Publicly available real-world data sets are one way to circumvent these obstacles and get teens researching—for real.

Did you know that there are more than 244,000 data sets publicly available to anyone on data.gov? This website has data from a wide variety of sources from agriculture, climate, and ecosystems, to manufacturing, energy, and finance. Looking at the available data, you and your teen might wonder how public parks might affect a neighborhood’s resilience to natural disasters. With a research question in mind, teens are ready to learn how to design their investigation and then dig into those data!

Perhaps you have teens interested in developing a deeper understanding of how life in the United States compares to life around the world. Through international datasets from the United Kingdom (https://data.gov.uk), Australia (https://data.gov.au/), Singapore (https://data.gov.sg/), for example, teens can mine data to answer specific questions and better understand international relationships and trends. Many teens are passionate about global and social justice issues. UNICEF publishes data on the lives of children from around the world, and the World Health Organization publishes global human health data. Societal viewpoints can be analyzed using data sets available from the Pew Research Center.

If economics and mathematics are where a student’s interest lies, then have them check out the international financial data released by the International Monetary Fund, weekly Dow Jones Index data, or sales datasets from stores such as Walmart.

Our technology-based lives generate datasets that may surprise teens! There are publicly available data on reddit user comments and Airbnb worldwide locations even challenges its users to “Discover what insights lie hidden in our data.” Wikipedia, Google, and Amazon make their data available, too.

Student research doesn’t have to involve a lot of expense or fancy equipment. With nothing more than a laptop and an internet connection, students can produce high-quality original research from their bedrooms or the classroom. Publicly available data sets abound and they can be the spark that ignites a lifetime of STEM curiosity.

For more information on student research, be sure to check out our other posts on this topic!

How Student STEM Research Can Help Teachers…and their Students

One of the common characteristics of gifted students is a deep curiosity about the topics they are interested in. They may spend hours scouring Google for more information, ask complex questions in class, or observe how the topic relates to one they learned about in another class.

As a classroom teacher, this level of interest can be exciting to witness. However, it may also present logistical challenges when trying to simultaneously maintain curriculum standards and balance the various learning needs of a classroom full of students.

High school student STEM research can help solve both of these challenges. These projects offer a way to implement the Science and Engineering Practices of the new Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and help students develop 21^st-century skills, while also naturally differentiating instruction through inquiry and student choice.

The performance standards of the NGSS emphasize the role of students actively generating conceptual understanding while engaging in the practices of science. In this way, the NGSS reflect the idea that understanding the practices of science is just as important as the content knowledge itself. Research projects also help students develop important skills necessary for success in the 21^st century. According to P21, essential life and career skills needed today include flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills, productivity and accountability, and leadership and responsibility. Student research projects offer a chance to practice each of these skills.

Student research also helps the classroom teacher engage students in science content by allowing them to pursue an individual inquiry into a problem or generate new knowledge about a topic of their choice. Having the opportunity to choose an individual project exposes students to design and problem solving skills, as well as hands-on, minds-on, and collaborative learning.

Teachers can differentiate instruction for students who are enthusiastic about diving even deeper into their topic by encouraging them to submit their projects to various high school student research competitions. These offer students an authentic audience to which to present their work and a chance to win accolades, prizes, and even college scholarships for their work. Competing for a prize adds a level of student engagement by having a real, tangible benefit to completing their projects and putting together a well-written research paper and presentation.

Research competitions, such as Iowa’s regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS), provide students an opportunity to engage with experts who will critique their work, and valuable experience presenting and communicating science to a broad audience. These events often offer students a chance to interact with STEM professionals, listen to presentations on other students’ research, or go on tours that expose them to real-world research environments and various STEM careers. This connects students to the STEM community and exposes them to the culture of science.

Iowa’s regional JSHS allows teachers to bring non-competing students as delegate attendees. Students who attend as delegates have the opportunity to see the top projects presented, attend lab tours, and interact with research professionals and other student-scientists from around the state. The top presenters advance to the national competition, where they join student researchers from around the nation to compete for substantial scholarships. There are also opportunities for hands-on workshops, panel discussions, career exploration, research lab visits, and student networking events. Last year, Iowa high school students took home a 1st place win at the national competition and more than $20,000 in scholarships! Next year, it could be your student.

Iowa student Cheryl Blackmer won 1st place at Nationals in 2018!

And for those students who are interested, be sure to check out other opportunities for student research, such as the Perry Research Scholars Institute, Secondary Student Training Program, Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, Google Science Fair, and opportunities through the Army Educational Outreach Program.

Gifted Education Awareness Month: Go-To Resources on Academic Acceleration

Governor Reynolds declared the month of October to be Gifted Education Awareness Month. The Iowa Talented and Gifted Association (ITAG) proposed many activities to celebrate giftedness in your school and district! Here on our blog, we revisited some of your all-time favorite posts all month long.

First, we encouraged you to think about who your talented students are and what they need to stay challenged and engaged at school. Then, we gave away the best-kept secret in gifted education and shared why we should all be advocates for academic acceleration. Finally, we discussed educational assessments, including twice-exceptional assessments, and explained when and for whom they might be helpful.

Although October is coming to a close, we know that for advanced learners, and their families and educators, every month is gifted education awareness month. To carry you forward from here, we are sharing some of our most helpful resources. We hope you can return to these again and again as you continue to advocate for your own gifted students.

Go-To Resources on Academic Acceleration

A Nation Deceived, published in 2004, is still relevant today. It highlights disparities between the research on acceleration and the educational beliefs and practices that often run contrary to the research. We highly recommend Volume 1, which contains responses to common myths about acceleration.

ne-cover-vol-1-full

The update to that publication, A Nation Empowered, came out in 2015. You can download the free pdf here or obtain a paper copy or Kindle version here. Volume 1 contains many stories about acceleration, and those seem to resonate with people. Volume 2 contains the up-to-date research supporting acceleration.

The Acceleration Institute website has many, many resources on academic acceleration for parents, educators, policy makers, and researchers.

20 Forms of Acceleration When most people think of acceleration, they think of either skipping a grade or moving ahead in a particular subject. But did you know there are at least 20 different types of acceleration within the broad categories of grade skipping and subject acceleration?

Thinking about early entrance to kindergarten? These resources will be helpful.

What about early entrance to college? Start here and then head over to the Bucksbaum Academy website.

How do you make an informed decision about skipping a grade? The Iowa Acceleration Scale is a highly recommended tool.

Screen Shot 2018-10-16 at 4.07.28 PM.png Do you have a talented math learner? Be sure to check out the book, Developing Math Talent, by Susan Assouline & Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik (published by Prufrock Press, 2011). Build student success in math with the only comprehensive parent and teacher guide for developing math talent among advanced learners of elementary or middle school age. The authors offer a focused look at educating gifted and talented students for success in math.

To help answer questions about which students are ready for subject acceleration, consider investigating I-Excel, an online, above-level test for high-ability 4th-6th graders. I-Excel offers the research-supported power of above-level testing in a convenient online format.

If you’re wondering whether your child is ready to be accelerated, these tips for parents can help guide you. This Tip Sheet from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) will also be helpful.

Does your school need to create or update its policy on academic acceleration? Guidelines for Developing an Academic Acceleration Policy are available in a free download. This document supports schools in creating a comprehensive and research-based acceleration policy that is compatible with local policies. (And be sure to keep an eye out for an update to this publication, Developing Academic Acceleration Policies: Single Subject and Whole Grade, in late 2018!)

If you’re a fan of podcasts, you can listen to Dr. Ann Shoplik talking about acceleration on Mind Matters, and Dr. Megan Foley-Nicpon discussing twice exceptionality on Bright Now by Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY). Or check out our own podcast, The Window, and listen to our founder, Dr. Nicholas Colangelo, engage thought leaders on issues relating to maximizing human potential and directing talent toward a larger social good. Screen Shot 2018-10-16 at 4.08.59 PM

We know that TAG educators can sometimes feel a bit isolated from their other colleagues in gifted education. If you are looking for a group of like-minded professionals and experts to connect with and share ideas, be sure to subscribe to the Gifted Teachers’ Listserv.

Connect with your state and national organizations, the Iowa Talented and Gifted Association (ITAG) and the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC). The Iowa Department of Education’s Gifted and Talented webpage also has helpful resources and information about important legislation affecting gifted education. Not in Iowa? Find information about your state gifted association, statistics, and policies concerning gifted education here.

For a comprehensive look at all things gifted education, grab a cup of coffee and settle down to peruse Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page and the Davidson Institute for Talent Development’s database. The Hoagies’ Gifted Blog Hop on acceleration was so excellent, it was offered a second time (with fresh content) in “Acceleration, Again.”

Follow our own @AnnShoplik and @LCroft57 on Twitter, who often tweet about topics related to acceleration and gifted education, and read through the hashtags, #nationempowered, #gtchat, and #gifteded.

And finally, be sure to connect with the Belin-Blank Center on social media (you can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) and subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated all year long!

Gifted Education Awareness Month: Academic Acceleration

This month, we’re bringing back some of our most popular blog posts to celebrate Gifted Education Awareness Month! Today, Dr. Ann Shoplik, Administrator for the Acceleration Institute, explains why it’s so important to advocate for academic acceleration! “Acceleration” can be an intimidating word for some, but did you know that there are at least 20 different forms of academic acceleration?

20 Forms of Acceleration — The word “acceleration” actually refers to over twenty different educational interventions! (Source: *A Nation Empowered*: Evidence Trumps the Excuses Holding Back America’s Brightest Students*)

Why am I an Advocate for Academic Acceleration?

The short answer to this question is that I am tired of gifted students being under-challenged in school. They need the intellectual stimulation that comes from rigorous courses taught at a reasonably advanced level, and acceleration can provide that stimulation. The longer answer is, I am familiar with the research. No educational option for gifted students has the research support that academic acceleration has. In other words, the research is clear and unambiguous: Acceleration works. Gifted students benefit from acceleration. Gifted students are not negatively impacted socially if they are moved up a grade or advanced in a particular subject. Gifted students who accelerate turn out to be higher-achieving, higher-paid adults. In other words, the effects of acceleration are positive, short-term, and long-term. So why wouldn’t I be an advocate for academic acceleration?

Now that we have the information that is summarized so clearly and succinctly in the comprehensive 2015 publication, A Nation Empowered, it’s time to put that information to work. There are at least 20 different types of acceleration, including grade-skipping, subject matter acceleration, distance learning, and dual enrollment in high school and college. There are many forms of acceleration, and that means that we can tailor accelerative opportunities to the needs of individual gifted students. Acceleration means allowing gifted students to move ahead in school, at a pace appropriate to their needs. Acceleration can be implemented individually, in small groups, and in large groups. Each type of acceleration can be used to match the level, complexity, and pace of the curriculum to the readiness and motivation of the student.

Educators and parents do not have to be afraid of implementing acceleration. Tools are available to help them make well-informed decisions. These tools include the book already mentioned, A Nation Empowered, and they also include the Iowa Acceleration Scale (developed to help the team consider all aspects of acceleration, including academic development, social development, physical development, and school and parental support for the decision), IDEAL Solutions (developed to assist educators and parents as they consider subject matter acceleration in STEM subjects), and university-based talent search programs, which help identify students and give them challenging courses they can take in the summer or via online learning opportunities.

If you are interested in advocating for acceleration for an individual student or you’re attempting to change policies in your school or district, consider starting with the information found at the Acceleration Institute website. It includes the tools already mentioned in this article, and many more. Don’t miss the PowerPoint presentation on acceleration, which you can download and share with other educators and families.

We have the research and we have the tools to help us make good decisions about implementing acceleration for academically talented students. Now, we need the courage to act.

Originally posted by Ann Lupkowski Shoplik on March 22, 2016

*Southern, W.T. and Jones, E.D. (2015) Types of Acceleration: Dimensions and Issues. In S.A. Assouline, N. Colangelo, J. VanTassel-Baska, and A. Lupkowski-Shoplik (Eds.), A Nation Empowered: Evidence Trumps the Excuses Holding Back America’s Brightest Students (pp. 9-18). Cedar Rapids, IA: Colorweb Printing

October is Gifted Education Awareness Month!

Ask to have gifted students present their achievements at the October school board meeting
Communicate with other staff about how to best work with your gifted students
Attend the ITAG Conference Parent Night

How will YOU celebrate?

Beyond ITAG’s suggestions, our team hopes you celebrate by thinking about who your talented students are and what they need to stay challenged and engaged at school. One way to do this is by selecting students for above-level testing to find out what they already know and, more importantly, what they are ready to learn next. Another way is to help students sign up for advanced courses, such as those available through the Iowa Online AP Academy (IOAPA).

As you may know, IOAPA and the Belin-Blank Exceptional Student Talent Search (BESTS) have teamed up to provide identification and programming services in order to help Iowa teachers find talented middle school students and develop their abilities. For more on how BESTS and IOAPA work together, check out our IOAPA-BESTS blog roundup. In order to use above-level testing scores to inform eligibility for IOAPA courses, make sure to begin the above-level testing process soon. There are four basic steps for participation in BESTS:

Find the students who are ready for additional challenge; these are the students who will be recommended for participation in BESTS. Typically, students who have earned scores at or above the 90^thpercentile on grade-level standardized tests, such as the Iowa Assessments, are strong candidates for above-level testing.
Notify the students identified in Step 2 and their families about the opportunity to participate in BESTS.
Contact assessment@belinblank.org as soon as possible to set up testing. Note that if you have 7^th-9^th grade students in need of above-level testing, they will be taking the ACT, and there are specific deadlines for registration; visit belinblank.org/talent-search for specific information. I-Excel testing sessions for current 4^th-6^th graders are more flexible to schedule, but it’s still important to reach out soon to ensure that the process can be completed in time for your desired test date(s).
Inform students and parents about test results and the recommended course of action following testing. Families receive above-level test score reports and an extensive interpretation of results that can help with these discussions.

As part of this process, you may be wondering ‘What do gifted students look like? Who are good candidates for above-level testing or advanced courses?’ High grades are a traditional means to determine giftedness, but grades and assessment scores are not the only avenue. For instance, many gifted students are bored in class, and therefore may stop trying or may create classroom disruptions. In order to expand your school’s view on gifted qualification, make sure to look at class performance along with psychosocial factors, and socioeconomic and cultural factors. This blog post discusses identifying gifted students from underserved backgrounds.

However you choose to observe Gifted Education Awareness Month, we hope you’ll consider us a resource and partner in supporting Iowa’s brightest students and developing their talent!

Congratulations, JSHS Student Researchers!

Last month, students from across the state of Iowa attended the Iowa Regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS), hosted by the Belin-Blank Center at the Marriott Hotel in Coralville, Iowa.

JSHS is a collaborative effort with the research arm of the Department of Defense and is designed to challenge, engage, and publically recognize high school students conducting scientific research in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). JSHS aims to prepare and support students to contribute as future scientists and engineers – conducting STEM research on behalf of, or directly for, the Department of Defense, the Federal research laboratories, or for the greater good in advancing the nation’s scientific and technological progress.

Students completed an original research project and submitted a research paper to the regional competition. The authors of the top 18 papers were invited to compete for scholarships and recognition by presenting their results before a panel of judges and an audience of their peers. Students also toured various labs and facilities at the University of Iowa to hear about cutting edge research, potential career paths, and student opportunities.

JSHS 2018-12.jpg

After an intensive day of presentations, the judges had the difficult task of selecting five finalists based on their research papers and presentations:

1st place: Megan Ertl (Beckman Catholic High School) – “Quantification of Muscle Accelerations to Interpret Individual Fatigue as an Industrial Application

2nd place: Cheryl Blackmer (Ballard High School) – “Development of a LAMP Assay for the Detection of Powassan Virus”

3rd place: Pranav Chhaliyil (Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment) – “Metagenomics Analysis of Bedtime Oral Cleaning by the Novel GIFT Method, Shows a Reduction in Dental-Damaging Bacteria”

4th place: Aaron Wills (Central Lee High School) – “Engineered Environmental Containment: “Using Lemna minor L. to Reduce Nitrate Levels in Aquatic Environments”

5th place: Brianna Cole (Valley High School) – “Cumulative Effects of Recurrent Amygdala Kindled Seizures on Respiratory Function”

JSHS 2018-50

Additional presenters, who were winners by virtue of having their papers accepted, included Allison Brasch (Waterloo West High School), Mason Burlage (Beckman Catholic High School), Ava Depping (Madrid High School), Serenity Haynes (Central Lee High School), Sean Kluesner (Beckman Catholic High School), Pearl Krieger Coble (Winfield-Mt. Union High School), Kayla Livesay (Van Buren High School), Kathryn McCarthy (Sioux City East High School), Evylin Merydith (Keokuk High School), Tyler Montgomery (Kennedy High School), Elizabeth Smith (Waterloo West High School), Laura Stowater (Algona High School), Shelby Westhoff (Beckman Catholic High School).

The top five finalists will attend an expense-paid trip to the JSHS National Symposium next month in Hunt Valley, MD to present their research and compete for additional prizes.

To see all the fun we had, including tours of the IIHR – Hydroscience & Engineering, Iowa Flood Center, and Additive Manufacturing-Integrated Product Realization Laboratory (AMPRL) in the University of Iowa Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, check out our full photo album! Congratulations to all, and good luck at Nationals!

Curious About Research?

Do you know academically talented teenagers who show curiosity or promise in doing research, or are you one yourself? Then you need to know about the Perry Research Scholars Institute (PRSI), where students can experience lots of different types of research happening at a top public research university!

Students in grades 8–10 (academic year 2017–2018) may apply for the Perry Research Scholars Institute (PRSI), a two-week residential summer academic program at the University of Iowa’s Belin-Blank Center.

At PRSI, students will participate in seminars with university faculty, tour their research facilities, and study their publications. While students will spend some of their time learning advanced lab techniques, they will not be conducting original research in this program. Rather, they will be granted an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at research while it’s happening, in fields such as anthropology, business, education, engineering, medicine, psychology, sustainability, and more. This “backstage pass” approach will help students develop an understanding of research that extends well beyond bench science.

During off-hours, students can expect plenty of fun getting to know other bright teenagers who are also interested in research! They will even experience an authentic taste of life on a university campus, complete with two weeks of living with a roommate in the residence halls. Evening activities include special seminars, off-campus field trips, and cultural and recreational activities. Social events are scheduled, and students will be granted access to the University of Iowa libraries, computer facilities and study areas.

Don’t miss this unique chance to see how research works, up close and personal; experience college life for two weeks; and meet new friends with similar abilities and interests! Applications are open through March 16 at www.belinblank.org/students. The program will run from July 8–July 20, 2018.

summer program students looking at university science research

Looking for more research programs for high school students? Check out the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) and the Secondary Student Training Program (SSTP). PRSI is great preparation for programs like these!

A Visual Guide to Middle School IOAPA Courses

With the introduction of our middle school courses in Fall 2015, many students and teachers may still have questions about the types of courses offered by the Iowa Online AP Academy, who these classes might benefit, and how to select students who will be prepared for and challenged by online coursework.

Based on the information and experiences we have gathered so far, we are excited to provide a visual guide to our middle school classes! These data are based on middle school Iowa Online AP Academy (IOAPA) courses taken during the fall 2015 semester.We hope they will be helpful as you and your students consider plans to register for 2016-17 courses through IOAPA.

If you are looking for more information about IOAPA’s middle school classes, check out our past posts on middle school courses and above-level testing, or visit our website. Make sure to check back here soon for our high school courses recap!

Teachers: What Are You Learning This Summer?

The Belin-Blank Center will provide a variety of options this summer – both for experienced and new/new-to-GT teachers!

Belin-Blank Fellowship: Apply by March 4

We invite teachers who do NOT have a background in gifted education to join us June 22-26, 2015 for the 35th Annual Belin-Blank Fellowship, an intensive week-long learning institute for educators interested in gifted and talented learners. Facilitated by Dr. Laurie Croft, the Fellowship includes guest presentations from professionals such as Dr. Susan Assouline, Director; Dr. Megan Foley Nicpon, Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology, Dr. Nicholas Colangelo, Director Emeritus and Dean of the College of Education, and Dr. Randy Lange, Adjunct Instructor and Enrichment Coordinator, LaGrange (IL) District 102. The application and letter of support from an administrator should be submitted online.

Belin-Blank Chautauqua

In July, the Belin-Blank Center is hosting the second Chautauqua series in Iowa City. Chautauqua I (July 13-18, including class on Saturday) and Chautauqua II (July 20 – 25, including class on Saturday) will feature six separate workshops on campus with additional online components.

Chautauqua I

Creativity: Issues and Applications (M-T)
Programming/Curriculum for High-Ability Students: Facilitating Student Research Projects (W-Th)
Differentiating Projects with Technology (F-S)

Chautauqua II

Neuroscientific Implications for Gifted (M-T)
Special Topics: Effective Instructional Strategies for Gifted Education (W-Th)
Evaluation of Gifted Programs (F-S)

Participants who enroll at the graduate level for all three workshops in either week—or both—will again receive an automatic tuition scholarship from the Belin-Blank Center for one of three classes (three workshops for the cost of two; six for the cost of four).

Limited housing will be available at Burge Hall, adjacent to Blank Honors Center, for those enrolling in all three workshops during either Chautauqua. Contact Melissa Keeling at 800-336-6463 or melissa-keeling@uiowa.edu for registration information. Single rooms are available for $57/night; double rooms are $40/person/night.

More details will be available online early in March.

Summer Classes

In addition to face-to-face classes during Chautauqua I and II this summer, the Center provides a variety of online classes in professional development.

Online classes include:

Programming and Curriculum for High Ability Students: Real-World Problem Solving
Ethnic and cultural Issues and Giftedness
Cognitive/Affective Needs of the Gifted
Differentiated Instruction for the Gifted
Differentiation at the Secondary Level
Current Readings & Research in Gifted Education
Special Topics: Writing for High-Ability Learners

The Belin-Blank Center also hosts the Advanced Placement Teacher Training Institute (APTTI) during the week of July 6 – 10. Participants may enroll for two hours of credit; the Center provides an automatic tuition scholarship for 50% of the graduate-level tuition. As well, APTTI participants may enroll in Differentiation at the Secondary Level for a third hour of credit (APTTI participants will also receive the scholarship for this credit hour).

All workshops, on campus or online, fulfill requirements for the State of Iowa Talented and Gifted Endorsement. Early in March, more information will be available on our website.

Down Under and to the Left…

Australia Trip — (L to R) Dr. Susan Assouline, Associate Director of the Belin-Blank Center; Professor Emirita Miraca Gross; Ms. Bronwyn MacLeod

Greetings from down under! I’m spending the week in Sydney with gifted colleagues, Professor Emirita Miraca Gross (center), and Ms. Bronwyn MacLeod (right), where I have the honor of serving as the international guest lecturer for the 23^rd session of the University of New South Wales COGE (Certificate of Gifted Education). It’s easy to adjust to the change in climate (it’s summer and there are many hours of sunlight . . . ). The time difference is a bit more challenging. But this group of educators is bright and passionate and very energizing which makes the minor inconveniences well worth it.

Another adjustment is walking on the left side of the street, hallway, and stairs, or even just figuring out where the up/down escalators are (hint: think left). Shifting to the left was the (unintentional) theme of my first lecture: Definitions of Giftedness and Talent: Key Influences and Influencers. We started with a historical perspective, which connected us with the development of IQ tests and a psychometric approach to thinking about giftedness . . . and we concluded with a discussion based upon the comprehensive monograph by Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius, and Worrell (2011), “Rethinking Giftedness and Gifted Education: A proposed Direction Forward Based on Psychological Science,” in Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

We’re off to a great start. Today (or tomorrow, depending on where you are in the world), we’ll tackle twice-exceptionality – and we’ll have pictures of the members of COGE.

B-BC Well-Represented in Journal of Applied School Psychology

The October-December 2011 Journal of Applied School Psychology was a special issue focusing on school psychologists who work with gifted students. The issue was co-edited by the Belin-Blank Center’s Megan Foley Nicpon (who also co-authored the introduction to the issue). Also in the special issue is an article on twice-exceptionality and its implications for school psychologists by the Center’s Susan Assouline and Claire Whiteman.

How Do You Predict Achievement in Twice-Exceptional Students?

The Belin-Blank Center’s Susan G. Assouline, Megan Foley Nicpon, and Lori Dockery recently published an article in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. In the article, “Predicting the Academic Achievement of Gifted Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” the authors report promising results for the WISC-IV Working Memory and Processing Speed Indices and the WISC Perceptual Reasoning Index as predictive of achievement for twice-exceptional students.

How Well Are We Educating Our Gifted Children?

The National Association for Gifted Children released its 2010-2011 biannual report on the status of gifted education in the United States. Check out Tamara Fisher’s great blog post on the new report, which includes some of the main findings from the report.

B-BC Partners with Russian Educators

The Belin-Blank Center recently hosted 13 administrators from the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Moscow. The visit allowed the university administrators to learn more about policies and practices at The University of Iowa and benefit from the wide array of expertise here, especially in the College of Engineering. A second group of administrators from NUST will be visiting in late April.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

B-BC’s Laurie Croft Tours Schools in India

Dr. Laurie Croft of the Belin-Blank Center recently visited several schools in India:

We visited this school on 27 September—these students are tribal children who stay at the Kamshet Campus, a residential program supported by the government and by private foundations. Dr. Narayan Desai has given the students a Mensa exam to determine who could benefit from enriched or accelerated academic programs, and I was their special guest, awarding certificates for those who achieved the highest scores on the exam.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Do You Have a High-Ability Student Looking for a Challenge?

During the fall semester, Challenge Saturdays provides engaging weekend classes for students in Des Moines and Iowa City.

These classes are designed for high-ability elementary- and middle-school-aged students who are current members of the Belin-Blank Exceptional Student Talent Search (BESTS). Students who are not part of BESTS but who are of high ability are also encouraged to attend.*

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In small classes, students receive direct instruction and do advanced work. Students choose one class only. The class meets five times. Financial assistance is available.

Learn more and register here.

*Students who are not part of BESTS generally register for BESTS – but in the meantime, parents provide a copy of the child’s most-recent ITBS scores. If test data is not available, a teacher recommendation may be submitted. To register a non-BESTS student, first sign up for a class. Following registration, send the above information to Bridget Pauley, 600 Blank Honors Center, Iowa City, IA 52242 or fax it to her attention at 319-335-5151.

We Had An Amazing Summer!

Thanks to everyone who was a part of it!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What Are You Doing This Summer?

So much fun and I hope to come back next year :D

Are you (or a student you know) still looking for something to do this summer? The Belin-Blank Center still has a few openings for summer camps:

Grades 2-6: CHESS

Grades 6-8: JSA

Grades 9-11: NSI

Crystal E. Owens, West Des Moines, IA, Places at National Science Competition

Crystal E. Owens (West Des Moines, Iowa) placed 3rd in her research category and received a $4,000 scholarship at the United States Army-, Navy-, and Air Force-sponsored 49th National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS), held April 27-May 1, 2011, in San Diego, California.

Crystal Owens accepting the Iowa Regional JSHS First Place Award from Major Mike Belin.

Owens, a senior at Valley High School, competed in the Life Sciences category of competition with her research project, “Zea Mays Seed And Plant Orientation: Impacts On Emergence, Stereoscopy, And Grain Yield.”

Owens progressed to the national symposium after competing in and winning first place in the Iowa Regional JSHS, held February 24-25, 2011, in Iowa City. Approximately 12,000 high school students participated at the regional level, and the top 96 presenters from the 48 regional symposia (representing all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the DoD Dependents Schools of Europe and the Pacific) were invited to participate in the national symposium in San Diego.

Congratulations to Crystal and everyone who participated in JSHS this year!

The Belin-Blank Center will be hosting the 2012 Iowa Regional JSHS on March 1-2, in Iowa City. We encourage Iowa high school students to pursue STEM-related research projects, the results of which can be submitted for presentation next March.

B-BC Recognizes Top-Performing Advanced Placement (AP) Schools

Dr. Nicholas Colangelo, Director, Belin-Blank Center

One of the things I like best about my job as director of the Belin-Blank Center is recognizing Iowa’s schools for their efforts at developing the talents of high-ability students.

The just-released 2011 Iowa AP Index does just that. It recognizes the top 50 Iowa schools in terms of AP exams given. The Index says “well done” to these schools for seeing to it that rigorous, college-level opportunities are available to students.

Congratulations to the top-performing Iowa high schools in this year’s 2011 Iowa AP Index! This year’s #1-ranked school is George Washington High School in Cedar Rapids. Rounding out the top 5 schools are Kennedy High School (#2, Cedar Rapids), Regina High School (#3, Iowa City), West High School (#4, Iowa City), and Ames High School (#5, Ames).

See iowaapindex.org for a list of the Top 50 schools, details on how the Index is calculated, and a discussion of the benefits of participating in the AP Program.

We congratulate all the Iowa schools that provided AP opportunities for their students, and we applaud students for stepping up to the academic challenge. We encourage high schools to continue their efforts at offering AP courses and other college-level curriculum (such as through dual enrollment and concurrent enrollment programs).

National Candidate’s Reply Date is Coming Up!

As many of you know, May 1st is the deadline for many students to make their final decision as to which college they will attend. For students entering college a year or more early, it is also the beginning of a form of academic acceleration: early entrance to college.

There are several early entrance programs across the country, one of which is the Belin-Blank Center’s National Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering (NAASE), which offers students an opportunity to start college after their junior year of high school.

For more information on early entrance to college, check out the Institute for Research and Policy on Acceleration’s Video Stories of Acceleration, which include interviews with NAASE students. And read Chapter 10: Early Entrance to College: Academic, Social, and Emotional Considerations from Volume II of A Nation Deceived, which is available for free download.

We’re Going to San Diego

Brian Douglas, Administrator, Finance & Technology

This past February, high school students from across the state traveled to Iowa City to participate in the Junior Science and Humanities Symposia Program.

This program was designed to engage high school students in science, math, engineering and technology through presenting their original research efforts, visiting research labs, and networking with peers to enrich their understanding of STEM opportunities beyond high school.

Five finalists from the Iowa region were selected to join 240 students from around the country in participating in the national symposium this weekend in San Diego. Finalists from the national symposium will receive military-sponsored undergraduate scholarships and participate in the London International Youth Science Forum this summer at London University.

Nearly 100 adult leaders, high school teachers, university faculty, ranking military officers and other guests will join in encouraging the future generation of scientists and engineers and celebrating their achievement in the sciences.

Best of luck to all of the participants!

Sen. Grassley Introduces Bill to Support Gifted and High-Ability Students

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced bipartisan legislation to support gifted and high-ability students, especially those who are underrepresented and underserved, on April 14.

The legislation, known as the TALENT (To Aid Gifted and High-Ability Learners by Empowering the Nation’s Teachers) Act (S. 857), will:

Require states and local districts that receive Title I funding – those that serve a high proportion of students from disadvantaged settings – to include gifted and talented and high-potential learners in their plans for using the federal funds.
Require states to report on the performance and learning progress of gifted students on their annual state report cards.
Take the critical step to make sure teachers, principals, and other school personnel are trained to recognize and serve gifted and high-ability students appropriately by supporting the development of best practice strategies and helping states and districts get those strategies into the hands of teachers through national dissemination efforts and professional development grants.
Collect appropriate data on high-ability students to enable policymakers and educators to make informed decisions.

The bill is sponsored by Grassley and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) in the Senate. The TALENT Act is expected to be introduced in the House of Representatives by Elton Gallegly (R-CA) and Donald Payne (D-NJ).

The Belin-Blank Center applauds Sen. Grassley for his leadership on the TALENT Act and thanks him for his long-standing support of high-ability students.

Please urge your Members of Congress to cosponsor this important piece of legislation.

Iowa’s Representatives

Iowa’s Senators

Chuck Grassley (Contact him with a thank you message!)
Tom Harkin

Outside of Iowa

Visit www.house.gov and www.senate.gov for email addresses and other contact information for your Members of Congress.

For more information about the TALENT Act, visit http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=7804.

Free Webinar on Math Acceleration

Dr. Susan Assouline, Associate Director, Belin-Blank Center

Register here for a free Webinar – You Already Know This: How to Use Your Teaching Skills & Current Resources with Math-Talented Students (Grades 3-7). On Thursday, April 14, from 3:30 to 4:15 PM (US CDT), Kate Degner, a doctoral candidate in math education, will demonstrate a technique for accelerating the math curriculum. I will give a brief explanation of the reports generated from our new online system for making informed decisions about math acceleration, IDEAL Solutions^® for Math Acceleration.

As you know, mathematically talented students have varying academic profiles. This aspect is described in Developing Math Talent (Assouline & Lupkowski-Shoplik, 2011); you can read about one very talented student, Zach, here.

The Belin-Blank Center Supports Acceleration

Dr. Maureen Marron,
Associate Research Scientist,
Institute for Research & Policy on Acceleration

For over a decade, the Belin-Blank Center has been committed to advocating for academic acceleration for high-ability students. We put our support behind acceleration because it is an effective intervention that benefits high-ability students academically and socially.

Since 2006, the Institute for Research and Policy on Acceleration (IRPA) at the Belin-Blank Center has served as a central location for acceleration research and advocacy. IRPA’s activities are designed to answer three questions:

1. What is acceleration? In A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students (download at no cost), we define acceleration, report on its effectiveness, and refute misconceptions.

2. Is acceleration the right choice for my student? IRPA has created instruments, books, and guides to assist with acceleration decisions, including IDEAL^® Solutions for Math Acceleration, the Iowa Acceleration Scale (3^rd ed.), and Developing Math Talent (2^nd ed.).

3. How can school policy be written to include acceleration? In 2009, we collaborated with the National Association for Gifted Children, and the Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted to produce Guidelines for Developing an Academic Acceleration Policy.

The Guidelines document (in print or online at no cost) presents recommendations in five key areas for developing an acceleration policy and provides an easy-to-use Checklist for Developing an Academic Acceleration Policy. Contact me (maureen-marron@uiowa.edu) to make arrangements for copies to share with your school board, administrators, or attendees at your state talented-and-gifted association conference.

This is an abbreviated explanation of IRPA’s activities. Please visit www.accelerationinstitute.org to learn more about acceleration and our activities.

40 Years of Talent Search

I love coincidences – and the co-occurrence of two events this weekend are particularly special for me. This weekend, scholars from all over the country are gathering at Johns Hopkins University to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Talent Search Model, which was originally established as the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY). Professor Julian C. Stanley (1918-2005) founded SMPY, “to find youths who reason exceptionally well mathematically and to provide them the special, supplemental, accelerative educational opportunities they sorely need and richly deserve for their own optimal development and the good of society.”

Also this Saturday, several hundred students will take the EXPLORE test as an above-level test. This opportunity is available through our talent search, BESTS. BESTS is part of the 40-year tradition that will be celebrated on the 25th and 26th of March. It is safe to say that without the establishment of SMPY four decades ago, well before some of the parents of today’s talent search participants were even born, many of the hundreds of thousands of students who have been impacted through the Talent Search would never have had the opportunity to fully develop their academic talents. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be blogging about the Talent Search and the research and programs that emanate from this extraordinarily robust educational model.

For more information about ways to advocate for math-talented students, check out the Belin-Blank Center’s new web-based service, IDEAL^® Solutions for Math Acceleration.

When it comes to STEM, does gender still matter?

Although it may seem surprising in light of the gains women have made in the last forty years, recent research shows that the gender gap in STEM fields still exists. According to the American Association of University Women, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics found that as of 2008, although more than half of biological scientists are women:

Just over 30% of chemists and material scientists are female
Women make up a little over 20% of computer programmers
Less than 7% of mechanical engineers are women

So why are women so underrepresented in STEM fields? While some people may assume that the gap is due to intrinsic ability or differences in interest, the research suggests that the real reasons are more complicated:

A recent study found that having a female instructor rather than a male instructor makes a big difference for female students in an introductory calculus, increasing class participation as well as the likelihood that a female student would ask the instructor questions outside of class.
Having female professors appears to provide a sort of “inoculation” against the stereotype that STEM fields are for men only. It’s therefore important that women be well-represented in STEM departments in colleges as professors, TAs, and older students in the program.
Other findings “…suggest that other characteristics such as gender differences in orientation toward people versus things (Lubinski & Benbow, 2007), the value placed on different occupations (Eccles, 2007), and commitment to child rearing, family (Halpern, 2007), and full-time work (Lubinski & Benbow, 2007) are responsible for the differences in occupational choices and career achievement levels of males and females in math and science fields.” (55-56, Olszewski-Kubilius & Lee)
“…although gender differences on cognitive tests may be small and disappearing when heterogeneous samples of students are studied, they appear to remain robust for gifted samples. These gender differences for gifted students have implications for the representation of the most able females in STEM professions.” (56, Olszewski-Kubilius & Lee)

What can parents, educators, and counselors do to help more girls find success in STEM?

Include female scientists and mathematicians in your history courses not as “special cases” but as equal contributors to their fields. Researchers emphasize that instructors need to make references to accomplished women in STEM in a “regular and low-key” way.
If a girl shows interest in STEM, encourage that interest – provide relevant activities, academic programs, enrichment, and acceleration.
Model genuine interest in STEM – excitement about learning is contagious.

Share this:

Summer Writing Online (Grades 9–12)

Twice-Exceptional Summer Academy (Grades 9–11)

2e Neuroscience Day Camp (Hosted by the Iowa Neuroscience Institute)

Academy for Twice-Exceptionality Information Sessions

Bucksbaum Early Entrance Academy Information Sessions

Professional Learning Courses / TAG Endorsement

Share this:

Share this:

Are you ready to get started this summer? Here are our Summer ‘24 offerings:

3 s.h. Courses

1 s.h. Workshops

Academic Credit Options (Restricted)

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Iowa Online AP Academy

Share this:

Winter Session

Spring Semester

Summer Professional Development Options

Belin-Blank Fellowship

Online Coursework

Belin-Blank Chautauqua

Share this:

FOR EDUCATORS

FOR STUDENTS & FAMILIES

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Mentorship for High School Student STEM Researchers

Is this mentorship for me?

How can mentors help?

How will I work with my mentor?

How do I sign up?

Mentorship for High School STEM Teachers

Is the ASRT program for me?

How are participants selected?

How do I apply?

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Go-To Resources on Academic Acceleration

Share this:

Why am I an Advocate for Academic Acceleration?

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: