achievement and teacher expectation; and (3) that in preliminary find-
ings, Bright IDEA 2 is increasing the number of children identified for
gifted programs and is changing the dispositions of teachers to have higher
expectations for all of the children they teach.
The Future
Project Bright IDEA goes against the grain of some approaches that stress
tight scripting of lessons, limited teacher flexibility, and an emphasis on
memorization and test preparation. Bright IDEA works within normal
classroom constraints and does not extend the school day or school year or
include extra tutoring or other special services. The strategies are designed
to work with all content areas in kindergarten through 2nd grade and to
succeed with all children. This approach could possibly revolutionize the
way gifted students are identified. If all teachers, especially K–2 teachers,
are trained to recognize gifted intelligent behaviors and how to grow these
behaviors, the research supports that gifted and advanced classes will
reflect the diversity of student populations. A challenge for gifted educa-
tion is to reexamine elementary identification programs to include a sys-
temic way of identifying, nurturing, and monitoring the growth of gifted
intelligent behaviors in all children beginning the first day in kindergarten
and continuing through high school. The infrastructure created by Art
Costa and Bena Kallick with the Habits of Mind has provided the “how”
to create this component in gifted education programs.
One of our teachers told the story of an African child, adopted and
brought to her kindergarten class as soon as she arrived in the United
States. She had been raised in an orphanage and had never worn clothes,
had no language or social skills, had not been held, and had never seen
the outside world. By spring this child was speaking English and reading
and writing stories that would certainly identify her as gifted. The teacher
said that the child may have done well in any class, but she felt that the
Bright IDEA class made the difference in her level of achievement and
her ability to reach her early potential.
Ron Tzur, a mathematics university professor and evaluator of Bright
IDEA 2, said, “The two core notions behind Bright IDEA are that every kid
has talent and that intelligence can be nurtured and the teacher’s role is to
nurture it. Bright IDEA tailors gifted methodologies for regular classroom
Habits of Mind in North Carolina 329