In Remembrance of Marcia Gentry: Major Themes Emerging in a Special Issue in Her Honor

ABSTRACT

In this final essay, we summarize some of the main themes of this special issue of the Roeper Review dedicated to the scholarly and educational contributions of Marcia Gentry. Our goal is to provide a broad sweep of her contributions: Specifics can be found in the individual articles. We cover as themes (a) the term “gifted,” (b) identification, (c) abilities, (d) opportunity, (e) twice-exceptionalities, (f) gifted programs, and (g) systemic failures, followed by our brief conclusions. Marcia was one of the truly great contributors to the field of gifted education, and her legacy will live long after her untimely death.

KEYWORDS:

• equity
• giftedness
• identification
• Marcia Gentry
• Project HOPE
• talent development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert J. Sternberg

Robert J. Sternberg is Professor of Psychology at Cornell University and Honorary Professor of Psychology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. His PhD is from Stanford and he holds 13 honorary doctorates. He is a past winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Psychology and has won the William James and James McKeen Cattell Awards from the Association for Psychological Science. His latest books are Adaptive Intelligence (Cambridge University Press, 2021), and (with Judith Glück) Wisdom: The Psychology of Wise Thoughts, Words, and Deeds (Cambridge University Press, 2022). His textbook with Judith Glück, The Psychology of Wisdom: An Introduction, is also with Cambridge (2022). [email protected]

Sally M. Reis

Sally M. Reis holds the Letitia Neag Chair in Educational Psychology, is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, and was the former Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Connecticut. She also served as Principal Investigator of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. Her scholarship on academically talented students and strength-based pedagogy is diverse and broad, as summarized by her numerous articles, books, book chapters, monographs, and technical reports. Her specialized research interests are related to diverse populations of talented students, education of students with both talents and disabilities, gifted girls and women, and using enrichment and strength-based pedagogy to enhance education for all students. Email: [email protected]