What Does It Mean To Be Gifted?

Future-Ed, the education think tank at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, has asked me to do a deep dive into what “gifted” education means, how it works, the politics around it, and how we serve advanced learners without sacrificing educational equity, a crucial goal of our public education system.

For my ongoing research on a book and a magazine project, I am interviewing people who, 50 years ago at age 12, were identified as having a one-in-10,000 level of intelligence. My question: How did that work out? Did that designation affect their life? In what ways?