164: Scott Peters on Rethinking Gifted Education

Today it’s a great pleasure to have Dr. Scott Peters on the podcast. Dr. Peters is an associate professor of educational foundations and the Richard and Veronica Teller Endowed Faculty Fellow of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where he teaches courses on measurement and assessment, research methodology, and gifted education. His research focuses on educational assessment, gifted and talented student identification, disproportionality within K-12 education, and educational policy. He is the first author of Beyond Gifted Education: Designing and Implementing Advanced Academic Programs and the co-author (along with Jonathan Plucker) of Excellence Gaps in Education: Expanding Opportunities for Talented Students, published by Harvard Education Press. In this episode we discuss: Advocates vs. scientists in the field of gifted education Does teacher training in gifted education have any effect on self-reported teaching in the classroom? How the desire for good advocacy in gifted education can bias good science The real need to advocate for kids who aren’t being challenged in the regular classroom The absurdity of teaching children based solely on how old they are Is there room at the table for all different perspectives in the gifted education field? The problem with the “gifted” label How can you balance excellence with equity? How to close the “excellence gap” in gifted education What domains should be included in gifted education? The importance of “frontloading” opportunities in school Acceleration vs. enrichment What happens when addressing underrepresentation is the main goal of gifted education? The value of using local norms for gifted student selection Is complete excellence gap reduction a reasonable goal of gifted education? Scott’s plan for addressing excellent gaps in gifted education