<div dir="ltr">Here is a comment on the Chester Finn article about the need for gifted education on the American Psychological Association network list serve, from Joe Renzulli. I agree with him, having experienced the value of being the leader of a special school years ago!<div>
Jane</div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Subotnik, Rena</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rsubotnik@apa.org">rsubotnik@apa.org</a>></span><br>
Date: Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 5:15 PM<br>Subject: Re: [CGEPNETWORK] more about gifted education in the national press<br>To: <a href="mailto:CGEPNETWORK@lists.apa.org">CGEPNETWORK@lists.apa.org</a><br><br><br>





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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Hi Rena,<u></u><u></u></span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Thanks for the excellent piece by Finn on underserved high potential/low income students — wish he would have pushed this argument when he was assistant secretary!
  Because of my current work I especially appreciated his comments about the counter arguments offered by people who are critical of special schools and hope readers of your blog will see special schools as a major alternative to all the differentiation buzz
 going around, but that they will also be prepared to face some of the bombshells from people who have been harshly critical of my special school initiatives.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">As you know, I have been working with three urban school districts in replicating the very successful academy we started four years ago in Hartford, CT (98% Black
 and Hispanic) and the replications have been much more challenging than I anticipated. <span><b>  </b>Our academy in Hartford was the <i>only</i> urban school in the state to recently have been named as one of Connecticut's Schools
 of Distinction and we earned one of the highest ratings on the State Department of Education's School Performance Index last year.  More importantly, our kids have taken all kinds of honors in things like National History Day, Invention Convention, and other
 ways that our model focuses on the application of knowledge in addition to just improvements in test scores.  We have a very simple mission for our academies —<i> competitive</i> four year college or university matriculation and graduate and professional school
 aspirations following college.</span><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Getting back to Finn's insightful caution about critics of special schools for HP/LI students — these are some of the comments
 that have appeared in the blogesphere and even picked up by <i>The Washington Post</i> about my special school initiatives:  "Segregationist,"  "Absurd," "Revolting," "Unconstitutional," "Gross injustice," "Violates Brown vs. the Board of Education and Connecticut's
 Sheff vs. O'Neil State Supreme Court Decision."  A civil rights lawyer is actually threatening me but a Uconn Law/Education professor says there is no cause for concern.  In the meantime, these experiences have given me good background for a how-to article
 that I hope to get our once my replication-school experiences are completed.</span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">I am at this point, however, convinced that the field should proceed full-speed-ahead with special school initiatives by getting
 Finn's message across to administrators and policy makers.  It can only help when someone with his respect gets behind this — again, thanks for sharing this article.</span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Best wishes,</span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Joe  </span></span><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>

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<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Joseph S. Renzulli, Director</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>

<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented</span></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>

<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">University of Connecticut Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor</span></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>

<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Raymond and Lynn Neag Professor of Gifted Education and Talent Development</span></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>

<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Winner of the 2009 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education</span></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>

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<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Visit our award winning website
<a href="http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/" target="_blank">www.gifted.uconn.edu/</a> for information about our summer and academic year programs including Confratute, Three Summers Master's Degree Program, On-Line Courses, UConn Mentor Connection, Parenting Specialist Help, and
 the latest research from The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented.</span></span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">From:
</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><Subotnik>, "Subotnik, Rena" <<a href="mailto:rsubotnik@apa.org" target="_blank">rsubotnik@apa.org</a>><br>

<b>Reply-To: </b>"Subotnik, Rena" <<a href="mailto:rsubotnik@apa.org" target="_blank">rsubotnik@apa.org</a>></span></p><div class="im"><br>
<b>Date: </b>Sunday, January 5, 2014 8:58 AM<br>
<b>To: </b>"<a href="mailto:CGEPNETWORK@LISTS.APA.ORG" target="_blank">CGEPNETWORK@LISTS.APA.ORG</a>" <<a href="mailto:CGEPNETWORK@LISTS.APA.ORG" target="_blank">CGEPNETWORK@LISTS.APA.ORG</a>><br>
<b>Subject: </b>[CGEPNETWORK] more about gifted education in the national press<u></u><u></u></div><p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">from the (new) winter issue of National Affairs. And feel free to pass it on if you like.<br clear="all">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">--</span><span style><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">Chester E. Finn, Jr.<br>
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University & <br>
President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute<br>
1016 16th Street NW, 8th floor, Washington DC 20036<br>
Office: <a href="tel:202-223-5450" target="_blank">202-223-5450</a>; fax <a href="tel:202-223-9226" target="_blank">
202-223-9226</a><br>
Home: <a href="tel:301-656-4489" target="_blank">301-656-4489</a>; fax <a href="tel:301-718-7395" target="_blank">
301-718-7395</a><br>
Website: <a href="http://www.edexcellence.net" target="_blank">www.edexcellence.net</a><br>
Primary e-mail: <a href="mailto:cefinnjr@edexcellence.net" target="_blank">cefinnjr@edexcellence.net</a><br>
Secondary e-mail: <a href="mailto:cefinnjr@aol.com" target="_blank">cefinnjr@aol.com</a></span><span style><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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