All aboard or standing on the shore? Gifted educators and the educational reform movement

Abstract

Many curricular and instructional changes have been proposed and implemented as part of educational reform efforts aimed at improving general education for all students. To continue to serve gifted students in this new climate, educators of the gifted may want to consider new roles and responsibilities. One important role is to help general educators implement reforms in ways that maximize the promise and minimize the problems of those reforms for gifted students. With reform efforts now directed to areas that have long been the province of educators of the gifted, a second responsibility is sharing the expertise gained from years of experience. A third focus is finding ways to work more collaboratively with colleagues in general education at the school, district, and university level.