Renzulli's Talent Pool Strategy

1. Renzulli'sTalent Pool Strategy • Most popular programming model • Liberal approach • 15-20% of school population is identified as being gifted according to ability, achievement, or rating or nomination information • In professional communities with a large number of high-ability students, Talent Pool may consist 25% of school population or even 100% • Intent is to be inclusive

2. Renzulli'sTalent Pool Strategy • 5 Main identification related attractions: • Students identified by multiple criteria – test and non-test • More students have access to opportunities, resources, and encouragement • Teachers are continuously identifying students for independent projects, not just at the beginning of the school year. • Reduced charges of elitism • Problem of deciding who should be admitted and who should not be is eliminated. When in doubt, admit the student into the gifted program.

3. Renzulli’s Strategy

4. Renzulli'sTalent Pool 5 StepIdentification Plan • Step 1 – Test Score Nominations • Selected through standardized IQ tests and/or achievement tests • Students who score above the 92nd percentile are automatically admitted • Will select about 50% via this Step • Step 2 – Teacher Nominations • Teachers nominate other students who display characteristics of high motivation, high creativity, unusual interests or talents, or special areas of potential or superior performance.

5. Renzulli'sTalent Pool 5 StepIdentification Plan (continued) • Step 3 – Alternate Pathways • For those students not nominated in Steps 1 or 2… • Includes: self-nominations, parent nominations, peer nominations, creativity test results, product evaluations, etc. • Admission decided by screening committee which interviews the students, teachers, and parents as well as previous school records • Students can be admitted for a trial bases

6. Renzulli'sTalent Pool 5 StepIdentification Plan (continued) • Step 4 – Special Nominations (safety valve #1) • List of students nominated circulates to all teachers • Allows previous-year teachers to nominate students who are not on the list • Allows resource teachers to make recommendations • Step 5 – Action Information Nominations (safety valve #2) • Students can pursue a topic, idea, or area of study which they are extremely interested in or excited about • May be used to nominate non-Talent Pool students for projects • Nominations reviewed by screening committee

7. Advantages of Renzulli'sTalent Pool Approach • More students have opportunity to participate • Identification flexible and multidimensional • Identification is year around • Motivated students self-select • Reduced charges of elitism • Need for hard-and-fast decisions eliminated • Altered identification criteria can not eliminate a student from being considered gifted • No need for IQ or multiple criteria

8. Gifted Multidisciplinary Team Members • Student’s parents • Certified school psychologist • Persons familiar with the student’s educational experience and performance • One or more of the student’s current teachers • Persons trained in the appropriate evaluation techniques • (When possible) persons familiar with the student’s cultural background • A single member of the GMDT may meet two or more of the qualifications

9. Thank You! Timothy J. Runge, Ph.D., NCSP trunge@iup.edu http://www.iup.edu/rural