Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences in intelligence, cognitive development, affect, motivation, self-regulation, and self-concept, as well as their role in learning. The field of educational psychology relies heavily on quantitative methods, including testing and measurement, to enhance educational activities related to instructional design, classroom management, and assessment, which serve to facilitate learning processes in various educational settings across the lifespan.
The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) was signed into law on September 2, 1958, providing funding to United States education institutions at all levels.
Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to persist as a trait into adult life, with various consequences studied in longitudinal studies of giftedness over the last century. There is no generally agreed definition of giftedness for either children or adults, but most school placement decisions and most longitudinal studies over the course of individual lives have followed people with IQs in the top 2.5 percent of the population—that is, IQs above 130. Definitions of giftedness also vary across cultures.
Gifted education is a sort of education used for children who have been identified as gifted and talented.
Educational research refers to the systematic collection and analysis of data related to the field of education. Research may involve a variety of methods and various aspects of education including student learning, interaction, teaching methods, teacher training, and classroom dynamics.
Julian Cecil Stanley was an American psychologist. He was an advocate of accelerated education for academically gifted children. He founded the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY), as well as a related research project, the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY), whose work has, since 1980, been supplemented by the Julian C. Stanley Study of Exceptional Talent (SET), which provides academic assistance to gifted children. Stanley was also widely known for his classic book, coauthored with Donald Campbell, on the design of educational and psychological research - Experimental and Quasi-experimental Designs for Research.
Tracking is separating students by academic ability into groups for all subjects or certain classes and curriculum within a school. It may be referred to as streaming or phasing in some schools.
Academic acceleration is moving students through an educational program at a rate faster or at an age younger than is typical. Students who would benefit from acceleration do not necessarily need to be identified as gifted in a particular subject. Acceleration places them ahead of where they would be in the regular school curriculum. It has been described as a "fundamental need" for gifted students as it provides students with level-appropriate material. The practice occurs worldwide. The bulk of educational research on academic acceleration has been within the United States.
Independent study is a form of education offered by many high schools, colleges, and other educational institutions. It is sometimes referred to as directed study, and is an educational activity undertaken by an individual with little to no supervision. Typically a student and professor or teacher agree upon a topic for the student to research with guidance from the instructor for an agreed upon amount of credits. Independent studies provide a way for well-motivated students to pursue a topic of interest that does not necessarily fit into a traditional academic curriculum. They are a way for students to learn specialized material or gain research experience.
Educational inequality is the unequal distribution of academic resources, including but not limited to school funding, qualified and experienced teachers, books, and technologies, to socially excluded communities. These communities tend to be historically disadvantaged and oppressed. Individuals belonging to these marginalized groups are often denied access to schools with adequate resources. Inequality leads to major differences in the educational success or efficiency of these individuals and ultimately suppresses social and economic mobility. Inequality in education is broken down in different types: regional inequality, inequality by sex, inequality by social stratification, inequality by parental income, inequality by parent occupation, and many more.
The term twice exceptional, often abbreviated as 2e, entered educators' lexicons in the mid-1990s and refers to gifted students who have some form of learning or developmental disability. These students are considered exceptional both because of their giftedness and because they are disabled or neurodiverse. Ronksley-Pavia (2015) presents a useful conceptual model of the co-occurrence of disability and giftedness.
The International Research Association for Talent Development and Excellence (IRATDE) is a non-profit professional organization of international scientists in the fields of talent development, creativity, innovation and excellence. Founded in 2008, the IRATDE seeks to promote collaboration and cooperation between scholars, professionals, and organizations.
Gifted Child Quarterly is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the field of education. The journal's editors-in-chief are Jill L. Adelson of the Duke University Talent Identification Program and Michael S. Matthews of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The journal was established in 1957 and is published by SAGE Publications in association with the National Association for Gifted Children.
Tracy L. Cross is an educational psychologist and developmental scientist. Since 2009 he has held the Jody and Layton Smith Professor of Psychology and Gifted Education endowed chair at The College of William & Mary, has been the executive director for William & Mary's Center for Gifted Education (CFGE), and founded the Institute for Research on the Suicide of Gifted Students in 2012. Previously he served as the George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Gifted Studies Ball State University (2000–2009), the founder and Executive Director of both the Center for Gifted Studies and Talent Development (2003–2009), and the Institute for Research on the Psychology of Gifted Students (2007–2009).
Abdullah Gül University (AGU) is a public university, supported by a philanthropic foundation (AGUV), located in Kayseri, Turkey.
James L. Moore III is the Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer of The Ohio State University. He also serves as executive director of the Todd Anthony Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male and is the inaugural College of Education and Human Ecology Distinguished Professor of Urban Education. Moore co-founded the International Colloquium on Black Males in Education. From 2015–2017, Moore served as the rotating program director for Broadening Participation in Engineering in the Engineering directorate at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia. In 2018 the Dr. James L. Moore III Scholars Program, established by Missy and Bob Weiler, was created to support undergraduate students transferring from Columbus State Community College to Ohio State University.
Shelley Hymel is a developmental/educational psychologist and professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Her research focuses on issues related to school bullying, children's peer relationships, and social-emotional learning.
Guy Montrose Whipple was an American educational psychologist known for developing psychological tests of human intelligence and personality. His other research interests included gifted education, literacy, vocational education, and the psychology of eyewitness testimony. A 1997 article about giftedness described Whipple as "an all-but-forgotten pioneer in this field".
