Dr. Joseph S. Renzulli is a leader and pioneer in gifted education and applying the pedagogy of gifted education teaching strategies to all students. The American Psychological Association named him among the 25 most influential psychologists in the world. He received the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Award for Innovation in Education, considered by many to be “the Nobel” for educators, and was a consultant to the White House Task Force on Education of the Gifted and Talented. His work on the Three Ring Conception of Giftedness, the Enrichment Triad Model and curriculum compacting and differentiation were pioneering efforts in the 1970s, and he has contributed hundreds of books, book chapters, articles, and monographs to the professional literature, many of which have been translated to other languages. Dr. has received more than $50 million in research grants and several million dollars of additional funding for professional development and service projects.
Dr. Renzulli established UConn’s annual Confratute Program with fellow Educational Psychology Professor Sally Reis. This summer institute on enrichment-based differentiated teaching has served more than 35,000 teachers from around the world since 1978. Dr. Renzulli also established the UConn Mentor Connection, a summer program that enables high-potential high school students to work side by side with leading scientists, historians, and artists and other leading edge university researchers. He is also the founder along with Dr. Reis of the Joseph S. Renzulli Gifted and Talented Academy in Hartford, Connecticut which has become a model for local and national urban school reform for high potential/low income students.
His most recent work is an online personalized learning program that provides profiles of each student’s academic strengths, interests, learning styles, and preferred modes of expression. This unique program also has a search engine that matches multiply coded resources with student profiles. Teachers also use the program to select and infuse high engagement enrichment activities into any and all standardized curriculum topics.
The Keynote Topic:
The Schoolwide Enrichment Model: A Comprehensive Plan For Identifying and Developing The Creativity, Giftedness, and Talents of All Students
Joseph S. Renzulli
The University of Connecticut
This session will provide an overview of The Schoolwide Enrichment Model and specific instruments and procedures for identifying student strengths through a process called Assessment For Learning. A process for modifying the curriculum for high achieving students will be described and the major focus of the presentation will be on infusing “high-end learning” into total school improvement efforts while simultaneously challenging high achieving students. Examples and short video clips of students’ creative and productive products will be used to provide practical applications of where the model has been used in a variety of schools with students of different ages and demographic backgrounds.
The model, which is based on more than 40 years of research and development, is a comprehensive system for promoting two major goals: (1) the promotion of an investigative mindset and the development of creative/productive giftedness, and (2) the development of a school culture that promotes enjoyment, engagement, and enthusiasm for learning on the parts of both students and teachers. Specific strategies for creative and investigative learning include using enrichment clusters based on student interests and using technology to develop both a total talent portfolio for each student and easy access to online enrichment-based resources.