Special Class for the Gifted Young: A 34-Year Experimentation With Early College Entrance Programs in China

Abstract

This article introduces the Special Class for the Gifted Young (SCGY), an early college entrance program in mathematics and science in China, which has been a focus for media coverage and public discussion of accelerated education in China. We first describe the admission policy and academic programming of SCGY and delineate its distinct features. Next we summarize findings regarding the long-term trajectories and accomplishments of its graduates. We then present our interview studies with graduates of SCGY and raise a set of questions for future research. The evidence shows that, when admission policy, academic programming, and student support are fashioned to optimize student learning and growing experiences, early college entrance programs can be effective ways of producing a pipeline of talents to the benefit of society while also benefiting the individuals involved.

Keywords:

• acceleration
• case study
• China
• college
• early entrance
• gifted education
• grounded theory
• honors class
• residential
• science
• STEM
• technology

Notes

¹ We thank Miraca Gross for making this point. See also Snow (1992).

Additional information

Funding

Studies reported in this article were supported by a grant awarded to the first author from the Institute for Research and Policy on Acceleration at the University of Iowa. The researchers were encouraged to exercise their independent professional judgment; therefore, the opinions expressed in this article do not represent those of the funding agency.

Notes on contributors

David Yun Dai

David Yun Dai is Professor of Educational Psychology and Methodology at University at Albany, State University of New York. Dr. Dai received his PhD from Purdue University and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, University of Connecticut. He also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from East China Normal University. Dr. Dai was the recipient of the Early Scholar Award in 2006 conferred by the National Association for Gifted Children and a Fulbright scholar to China during 2008–2009. Dr. Dai is internationally known for his scholarly work on gifted education, talent development, and creativity. He has published seven authored or edited books and over 80 journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Gifted Child Quarterly, Journal for the Education of the Gifted, and Roeper Review. [email protected].

Saiying Steenbergen-Hu

Saiying Steenbergen-Hu, PhD, is a research assistant professor and research director of the Center for Talent Development (CTD) of Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy. Dr. Steenbergen-Hu received the 2014 American Psychological Foundation’s (APF) Esther Katz Rosen Grant to conduct a study on executive functioning skills of highly gifted students identified through above-grade-level standardized achievement tests. Her research has covered a series of topics on the effectiveness of educational intervention on students’ academic achievement and social–emotional development. She is an author of more than a dozen refereed journal articles and book chapters. Her meta-analysis of the effects of acceleration on high-ability learners won the Gifted Child Quarterly Paper of the Year Award in 2012. She earned her PhD degree in educational psychology from Purdue University in 2009. She then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University from 2009 to 2013. Saiying Steenbergen-Hu is now at the School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. [email protected]