About the speaker

Inspired by IMSA’s mission statement and its congruence with his personal passion and commitment to end poverty, Dr. Torres believes that, “this can only be accomplished if we have excellent, equitable education and learning systems for academically talented students and for all students, and I realized that I could accomplish my mission in life through partnership with those at IMSA who continue to be fully committed to igniting and nurturing creative, ethical, scientific minds that advance the human condition” (2014).

Dr. José M. Torres was named President of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in 2014. He is a recipient of the Dr. Effie H. Jones Humanitarian Award (2014) from the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), an award honoring leadership in educational equity and excellence to those demonstrating an extraordinary “commitment to the advancement and mentorship of women and minorities in positions of leadership and/or demonstrate a commitment to address social justice issues among children, youth and adults in schools.”

At the invitation of the Governor of Illinois, Dr. Torres serves on the Governor’s Cabinet on Children and Youth and P-20 Council.  He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Association for Gifted Children and Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Illinois.

He is the former School Superintendent of Elgin School District U-46 with an enrollment of 40,000 students.  He served as the only superintendent on the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Equity and Excellence Commission (2011-2013) and provided recommendations for closing the achievement gap of English language learners. He is a past regional superintendent for the Chicago Public Schools and has worked in school districts in San Jose, CA; Anne Arundel, Baltimore; Rockville, MD; Washington, D.C.; and the U.S. Department of Defense Schools. 

Dr. Torres holds the degrees from the University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland): Bachelor Degree in General Studies (1983), Master of Education (1985), and a Doctor of Philosophy in Education Policy, Planning and Administration (1999). His hometown is San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

About the school

Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) is the world’s leading teaching and learning laboratory for imagination and inquiry and an esteemed three-year residential Academy enrolling 650 academically talented Illinois students (grades 10-12) annually. IMSA’s mission is to ignite and nurture creative, ethical, scientific minds that advance the human condition. IMSA will begin accepting tuition-paying non-Illinois students in the near future.

Students from the IMSA Class of 2018 matriculated to the most prestigious universities in the United States including Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, Brown, Duke, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Dartmouth and the University of Chicago. Notable IMSA alumni include YouTube Co-Founder Steve Chen, PayPal Co-Creator Yu Pan, Yelp Co-Founder Russell Simmons, SparkNotes and OkCupid Co-Founder Sam Yagan, and Hearsay Social Founder, Clara Shih.

IMSA was ranked the #1 Public High School in America by Niche.com. Each year Niche.com ranks approximately 9,000 public high schools throughout the United States based on a rigorous analysis of academic and student life data from the U.S. Department of Education, along with test scores, college data, and ratings from Niche users. IMSA was also honored in the 2019 rankings for:

•  #2 Best College Prep Public High School in America

•  #5 Best Public High School Teachers in America

•  #10 Best High School for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in America

IMSA ACADEMICS

IMSA’s academic program prepares students to become bold inquirers, problem solvers and integrative thinkers. It challenges them to question, creatively probe, take risks and test and support their ideas. Talented faculty members, who are among the nation’s best, provide challenging opportunities for students to think critically, engage in exploration and discovery, and solve significant, real-world problems. Student Inquiry and Research (SIR), an integral part of the academic program, enables students to work independently and collaboratively with peers and world-renowned scholars and scientists.

IMSA CENTER FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

IMSA’s Center for Teaching and Learning provides research-based, practice proven programs to transform mathematics and science education across Illinois and beyond.

Problem Based Learning (PBL) and student-centered inquiry have been IMSA staples since 1992. Students are faced with real-world problems and the teacher role transforms to that of facilitator rather than provider of information. IMSA’s Center for Teaching and Learning offers PBL training sessions designed to provide opportunities for partner schools to implement deep level inquiry based learning in their schools. Sessions include pre-designed STEM content units, introductory and advanced design workshops available at IMSA or for on-site delivery.

IMSA’s Steve and Jamie Chen Center for Innovation & Inquiry, located on the IMSA campus, features entrepreneurship, innovation, and makerspace curriculum, and student programming that connects participants with business startups, mentors, and community partners.

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Dr. Jing He is the Deputy Director of Teaching and Research Department in Beijing No. 8 High School, and is the Secretary-General of the High School Branch of the Chinese Association for the Gifted and Talented. She achieved her PhD degree in Educational Psychology at the University of Munich, Germany.

With a focus on gifted education, she has previously worked as a scientific researcher at the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as at the department of Educational Psychology of Ulm University in Germany. Since 2012, she has been engaged in more practical work with gifted students in Beijing No. 8 High School.

Her research focuses include the identification of gifted children, nurturing and counseling strategies, self-regulated learning, and parenting. Since 2010, she has participated in planning and organizing the annual conference of the Chinese Association for the Gifted and Talented.

In 2015, she worked as the executive chief editor and published the collection “Thirty years of Gifted Education in Beijing No. 8 High School.” There are five volumes in this collection, including Teachers' Papers, Graduates' articles, Research and Practice Papers, Education and Teaching Papers, and Parents’ articles. This collection has been stored in the National Library in China and the Library of Columbia University in the United States.

 

About the school

Beijing No. 8 High School is one of the best high schools in Beijing, with a long history stretching back almost 100 years. It has normal junior and senior high school classes, gifted classes, experimental science classes, and Sino-American joint high school classes. At present, it is composed of six campuses with 485 teaching and administrative staff and 3,657 students.

Beijing No. 8 High School is a pioneer in gifted education of Chinese compulsory education. In 1985, the school had established its accelerated gifted program, the Experimental Class for Gifted Children, with the assistance of Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences. It identifies and enrolls highly intelligent children at around 10 years old and provides accelerated nurturing program. Most students can complete the entire course load within four years and participate in the national college entrance examination at the age of 14.

In 2010, Beijing No. 8 High School established its enriched gifted program, the Comprehensive Quality Development Experimental Class for Intelligence Excellent Students, which identifies and enrolls highly intelligent primary school students in grade 4. Students can complete the entire course load within 7 years and participate in the national college entrance examination at around the age of 17.

According to our follow-up studies, most students are admitted to top universities at home and abroad. Most graduates have performed well at university and in their careers, becoming leading figures in their respective fields, such as Yin Xi, a professor at Harvard University and a young physicist who has gained recognition in the international physics community.

With 33 years’ practice, Beijing No. 8 High School has accumulated a rich understanding for student identification, nurturing strategies, curriculum development, teaching reform, and educational research in gifted education. For example, it has created a unique natural physical education course, which takes place for half a day each week. Students engage in various sports in nature outside the school, and these natural physical education lessons cover hiking, climbing, swimming, diving, bicycle riding, monocycle riding, playing diabolo, kicking shuttlecock, skating, playing flag football, and more. Students get comprehensive development in terms of physical quality, athletic ability, volition, and team spirit by virtue of this form of physical education. Research results have indicated that the physical quality of our gifted students is superior to the average level of students of the same age in Beijing.

Beijing No. 8 High School is the only school with both the acceleration and the enrichment gifted programs in China. Practice over three decades proves that the unique curricula, teaching methods, and educational system have greatly benefitted gifted students’ development and nurtured more talents in society.

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Ingvelde Scholz has been a teacher and director of the Gifted and Talented Programme at the Friedrich Schiller Gymnasium in Marbach am Neckar for many years. Her school, which has a focus on promoting gifted and talented students, was awarded the German School Prize in 2007. Additionally, she is a teacher trainer at the Seminar for Didactics and Teacher Education in Stuttgart, where she has been leading the profile group "Identification, Support and Counseling for Highly Talented Students" for 15 years. In 2009, she was honored as the best patron of gifted children and adolescents by the State Association for Gifted Children for her extraordinary commitment, and in 2018 she was named an honorary member of the State Association for Gifted Children. Since 2018, she has been the contact person and cluster coordinator within the excellence initiative "Leistung macht Schule" (Performance Sets the Pace). This joint initiative of the federal government and the federal states was launched on February 1, 2018 and has set itself the task of developing and evaluating sustainable models and concepts for the promotion of high-performing and potentially top-performing students.

Furthermore, Ingvelde Scholz has been a sought-after and respected speaker, trainer, and author for many years at home and abroad, dedicating herself to the subject of “Identification, advice and support for particularly gifted children and adolescents.” Website: www.ingvelde-scholz.de .

 

About the school

The Friedrich Schiller Gymnasium in Marbach am Neckar (near Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart) has about 2,500 pupils and more than 220 teachers. This makes it the largest school in Baden-Württemberg and the largest general education high school in Germany.

At this school, gifted and highly gifted students are systematically identified, promoted, and accompanied. Therefore, there are many offerings for talented students, such as a special class for the highly gifted. Weekend academies are held four times a year with a variety of workshops for highly motivated and dedicated children and adolescents. Finally, talented and high-performing students can take part in a mentoring program that is carried out, evaluated, and further developed in close cooperation with the University of Regensburg and the University of Nuremberg Erlangen.

For parents, teachers, and other interested parties, a lecture series is held during each school year on topics related to the promotion, counseling, and support of talented students, as well as a parent discussion circle and a parents' café.

Additionally, the exceptionally talented students and their parents can be individually advised and assisted.

Website: www.fsg-marbach.de

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About the speaker

David Rempel (PhD) is involved in numerous projects focused on research in understanding and defining successful talent development systems within Kenya and Ghana (especially with projects sponsored through the DAAD – Deutsche Akademische Auslands Dienst).

One of the foci of his research is systems that effectively develop entrepreneurial talent among youth and young adults within the Kenyan context and has led to being very involved in the German African Entrepreneurship Association, researching and assisting with conferences.

Before joining the academic world, David was involved in the private sector both in Canada and Germany. He served in various functions, as the director of employee development in two different companies in Canada, with a focus on developing high-potential employee programs and then later in Germany building up his own consulting services, as well as, both in teaching and coaching in the international business world. At the same time, he never lost sight of the vision to research on “Gifted and Talent Development”.

 

About the school

Mully Children’s Family is a Christian based charitable organization making a difference in the lives of thousands of needy children through rescue, holistic rehabilitation and reintegration back to society. They are a duly registered children’s Charity under Kenya Laws mandated to oversee both residential and community based child care programmes alongside community empowerment initiatives.

Each Year MCF becomes a home and a hope to street children, orphans, abandoned, abused, HIV & AIDS affected and infected, desperate and neglected children regardless of their religion, sex, color or tribe, who have nowhere to call home and no one to care for them.

MCF, considers quality integrated education as the best mode of rehabilitation. Through this program, they facilitate full transformation of rescued children by supporting them through formal and informal education until they acquire the highest level of training based on their ability. We also take vulnerable child-mothers and offer them skills training in various trades (mainly tailoring, hair-dressing, knitting and cookery) to complement formal education and equip them with lucrative skills for future self-reliance. MCF has established the Mully International College based in Yatta, Kenya to enhance human capital development for Kenya and the world.

Since 1989, MCF has helped to rehabilitate over 12,000 children. Currently, there are over  3,000 children across  centres in Ndalani, Yatta, Kitale, Kilifi, Lodwar and Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.

“The Mully Model” (MCF education programme)  is the key rehabilitative programme employed by MCF in rehabilitating, restoring hope,  nurturing talents and gifts. The programme covers from kindergarten to college education of beneficiaries. The programme is tailored to enabling beneficiaries access both basic and highest education possible. It is holistically and inclusively organized to meet the educational needs of very young children, teenagers and young adults of varying degree of cognitive perception, potential and abilities.

MCF education department has stood out as a pillar as of success among those who went through the system. From 1996 when MCF ran Primary School pioneer grade 8 candidates sat for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education, they excelled in the region and nation. The same group as pioneer grade 12 candidates sitting for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in the year 2000 was position One in Machakos County with same feat of success and went ahead to join prestigious colleges and Universities. In essence MCF own run schools have continued to offer competitive opportunities in which beneficiaries are able to explore their potential and nurture their talents. All children rescued by MCF access education free of charge in all MCF Schools. MCF seeks to sustain providing scholastic materials, teachers and all physical infrastructures to support the programmes.

The MCF education programme comprises the following sub-sections namely;

1. Five Kindergartens managed by MCF in MCF Ndalani, MCF Yatta, MCF Vipingo, MCF Lodwar and MCF Kipsongo
2. Three Primary Schools managed by MCF in MCF Ndalani, MCF Vipingo and MCF Lodwar
3. Four Secondary Schools managed by MCF in MCF Ndalani, MCF Yatta, Dr Charles Mulli Secondary School and MCF Vipingo
4. Two Tertiary Education centres comprising of MCF Yatta Vocational Training Centre and Mully International College- Yatta Campus
5. Academic Sponsorship & Scholarship for Form 4 graduates from MCF Schools pursuing higher education in various colleges and universities both in Kenya and foreign universities.

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About the speaker

Penina Barry is currently leading the Newman Selective Gifted Education Program with a team of education officers in Sydney Catholic Schools Australia. She has worked on executive leadership teams as a leader of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum, has experience in diverse learning teams where she coordinated the gifted education agenda and has facilitated the Newman Selective Gifted Education Program in two secondary schools since the its inception in 2012. She has extensive experience in teaching and leading science in both single sex and coeducational high school settings and she coordinates the Newman Selective Gifted Education professional learning schedule for secondary school Principals and Newman facilitators across the Archdiocese. Penina has completed her Masters of Educational Leadership and Masters of Gifted Education at the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia.  

Jennie Quinn is an Education Officer: Diverse Learning Initiatives working in the Central Diverse Learning team of Sydney Catholic Schools.  She has 30 years of experience as a classroom teacher and school leader. She has a passion for Gifted Education and has worked as a Gifted Education Coordinator and more recently a Newman Facilitator.  Jennie has completed the Certificate of Gifted Education (COGE) and is currently completing her Masters of Gifted Education at the University of NSW.

About the school

Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS) is responsible for the leadership, efficient operation and management of the 152 systemic schools which educate over 70,000 students in the Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia. It also liaises with the 18 schools owned and operated by religious institutes (congregational schools) which educate another 16,500 students. SCS is charged with the implementation and management of policies and the allocation and administration of the funds provided by government and private sources for the operation of Catholic schools. The system’s Strategic Improvement Plan, ​New Horizons: Inspiring Spirits and Minds provides the key strategic direction for Sydney Catholic Schools. SCS’s financial responsibilities have extended to the administration of salaries for more than 9,500 staff members (i.e. permanent, temporary and casual) employed in its schools and offices. SCS, through its central and three regional offices, provides to schools a wide range of services and resources, which have been developed in consultation with principals and teachers. The main focus is to provide services and support for schools to assist every student to receive a superior Catholic education. ​New Horizons ​ focuses the work of SCS on the strategic priorities essential for the development and maintenance of an extremely effective system of Catholic schools, delivering high-quality teaching and learning that is inclusive and characterised by high expectations so that all students achieve their full potential. The vision of Sydney Catholic Schools is for all schools and directorate teams to work in harmony across the system to support the educational growth and spiritual development of our most important stakeholders: our children. (adapted from the 2017 SCS Annual Report)

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About the speaker

Mariam A. AlGhawi, PhD, is the Director of the Gifted Welfare Department at the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance in Dubai, UAE. She completed her Doctoral and Master Degrees in Education at the British University in Dubai (BUiD) in association with the University of Birmingham. She graduated from the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) with a Bachelor degree in Special Education. She has worked as vice-director of the Special Abilities Department in the Ministry of Education and has been in the field of gifted education since 2008. Her research interests include the identification of gifted students, programs for gifted students, talent, and creativity.

 

About the center

The Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Center for Giftedness and Creativity is an affiliated center of the Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance. The center has been established in implementation of the directives of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the patron of the Foundation, based on the need to devote attention to the talented and gifted and to provide all the necessary care and cultivation requirements, as an extension of the Foundation’s efforts to sponsor talents since 2001; where it was the seed to foster the UAE talented people. The Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Center for Giftedness and Creativity is the umbrella under which all the programs, activities, and services for the development of talent are included. 

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About the speaker

Helena Fonseca is a Biology teacher with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology - Educational branch, from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto in Portugal, and a Master’s degree in Applied Ecology from the same university; she also completed a postgraduate diploma in Special Education, cognitive and motor domains. She currently integrates the Mission Structure of the National Program for Promoting School Success, of the Portuguese Ministry of Education. She is a member of the national board of ANEIS, the National Association for Study and Intervention on Giftedness, and coordinates PEDAIS, the Enrichment Program in the Domains of Aptitude, Interest, and Socialization, in the Porto and Gondomar Office. She is a member of the editorial board of the ANEIS journal "Sobredotação" (Giftedness) and of the digital Psychology and Education journal "Talincrea: Talent, Intelligence and Creativity". She is a PhD student in an educational psychology doctoral program at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. Her research interests include formal and informal education of gifted children, specially differentiated learning and scientific thinking skills.

 

About the center

The National Association for the Study and Intervention on Giftedness (in Portuguese, Associação Nacional para o Estudo e Intervenção na Sobredotação - ANEIS) is recognized as an IPSS - Private Institution of Social Solidarity of Public Utility. ANEIS was founded in December 1998 with the aim of providing support to gifted and talented children and their families in several areas of ability and interest, seeking holistic development, contributing to the improvement of their quality of life, and to promoting educational and social inclusion. ANEIS has several types of educational responses/services for gifted children and young people, aged 6-18 years. These services include: a) Extracurricular enrichment programs on Saturdays called PEDAIS – Programa de Enriquecimento nos Domínios da Aptidão, Interesse e Socialização, which focuses on abilities, interests and socio-emotional issues; b) Individualized intervention in cases of precocious children attending preschool, focused on intellectual and the socio-emotional needs of children; c) A summer holiday camp called Encouraging Talent and Cooperation (ETC). 

Every participant of ANEIS’s extracurricular enrichment must be identified as gifted by ANEIS psychologists or other in order to be able to integrate the enrichment programs and enjoy other services. ANEIS also aims to study and intervene in giftedness by performing various activities, some of which are: a) Investing in the identification (nominal or groups) of gifted children and youth; b) Promoting public awareness about giftedness and talent; c) Providing consulting services to parents, children, and young people; schools, etc.; d) Developing scientific studies and issuing expert opinions; e) Designing and validating tools for identification of gifted and talented; f) Training teachers, psychologists, families, and other education-related jobs; g) Counselling with private and public institutions, namely, the Ministry of Education.

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About the speaker

A clinical psychologist, neurotherapist and educator, Dr. Leticia Peñano-Ho has had years of professional practice at different levels: in private practice, school/university and   industry. Her journey shows her deep interest in people and her commitment to help them become the best that they can be. 

A former Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs of U.P. Diliman, College Secretary and Dean of the U.P. College of Education, she also served as the Director of the ASEAN Center for Preventive Drug Education. She led the Philippine team composed of representatives from the Dangerous Drugs Board, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and ASEAN in planning, developing, and implementing drug prevention measures in the Philippines and ASEAN.  

Until recently, she was a Commissioner of the Philippine National UNESCO Commission. She was also on the Governing Board of the South East Asian Center for Lifelong Learning and Sustainable Development. 

She is President and Founder of the Philippine Center for Gifted Education (PCGE), whose main aim is equity in accessing programs for the gifted and the twice-exceptional persons who are gifted but have some impediments in developing their potential.

She has spearheaded programs for the identification and nurture of gifted children and adolescents especially from the disadvantaged sector. She initiated the advocacy for the twice-exceptional learners (2Es) in the University of the Philippines, which has spread to other tertiary institutions. She also pioneered in the Early College Placement Program in the University of the Philippines, which allows drastic acceleration for gifted high school students. She represents the gifted education sector on the Board of Trustees of the Philippine Science High School System.  

She was a US International Visiting Fellow to Harvard where she was with Dr. Howard Gardner and his team (Multiple Intelligences). Dr. Peñano-Ho was also a Templeton International Fellow for Gifted Education. She has represented the Philippines in international conferences and training on Gifted Education.

She pioneered on Neurotherapy which is a form of brainwave biofeedback.  Her Neurotherapy practice has shown the effectiveness of the treatment modality for ADHD, learning disabilities, autism, Asperger’s syndrome, depression, anxiety, OCD, ODD, drug addiction, anger and aggression, and cognitive dysfunctions.

She is a lifetime member of the Philippine Mental Health Association, served as a member of the Board and was Vice-President for several years. In line with her advocacy for mental health, she set up the crisis counseling center for Women at the University Center for Women at UP Diliman. She was actively involved in the passing of the university policy on sexual harassment.

She has been a consultant to international agencies and a lecturer in different countries, including:

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO)

Philippine National Police

Armed Forces

Asian Development Bank

Malaysia, Uganda, Africa, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, Royal Kingdom of Bhutan, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand, Laos, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Her clinic PSYCHPROS, formally established in 1995, believes in “Excellence in Diversity” and strives to help every child find a niche in society. Since its founding, PSYCHPROS has continuously intensified its advocacy for children and adolescents’ concerns such as giftedness, ADHD, and socio-emotional issues including bullying. It works with developmental pediatricians, psychiatrists, OTs, SPs, teachers, other specialists, and parents in understanding children. 

Dr. Peñano-Ho is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and accredited neurotherapist by the International Society for Neuronal Regulation (ISNR).

 

About the center

The Philippine Center for Gifted Education (PCGE)

1. VISION

            PILIPINONG PANTAS PARA SA SAMBAYANANG PILIPINAS (The Filipino Gifted for National Development)

 

2. MISSION

1. To advocate for equitable access to programs and services in gifted education in the Philippines (in the areas of identification and in nurturing the potentially gifted).
2. To develop programs that will ensure a holistic approach in developing the potentially gifted in a wide range of cognitive and artistic domains, creativity, leadership, fostering their social and emotional development, and with a commitment to contributing to national development.
3. To mobilize the interest of different sectors of Philippine society in advocating for the gifted and providing assistance to them.
4. To facilitate professional development for teachers, psychologists, counselors, and others in providing assistance to the Filipino gifted at all levels.
5. To make possible parental empowerment in the understanding and managing their gifted children.
6. To develop partnerships with local, national, and international organizations that advocate for the gifted and gifted education.
7. To conduct research that will aid in legislation, particularly for the understanding and management of the gifted through programs that will nurture them.

 

3.  AIMS

1. Raise public awareness about giftedness and gifted education
2. Actively search for the Filipino gifted
3. Provide equitable access to programs for the gifted
4. Enable teachers and other professionals to understand and
5. Provide the appropriate learning environment to nurture them
6. Empower parents to be active contributors to their gifted children's cognitive, emotional, social, and civic development through parenting
7. Conduct evidence-based research as the basis for policy and educational practice
8. Establish national and international linkages to help promote programs on gifted education and services for the gifted
9. To be a model for gifted education in the Philippines

4. CORE VALUES

Equity

Excellence

Ethics and spirituality

Love of country

 

5. PARADIGM OF GIFTEDNESS

6. PROGRAMS

School based services:

THEORY BASE

Understanding the Gifted

Twice Exceptional Learners

Programs for Gifted

INSTRUCTION

Classroom Enrichment

Advanced Placement

School Wide Enrichment

Student Engagement

Mentorship

Gifted Summer Program

Student Support

Parent Empowerment

Parent Support Group

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Sheyla Blumen is a Professor of Psychology and the Editor-in-Chief of the Peruvian scholarly psychology journal Revista de Psicologia (PUCP), which is indexed in Scopus, WOS, and PsycINFO, among others.

She is a Board member of the International Association of Applied Psychology, as well as the School of Graduate Studies and the School of Psychology at the PUCP. As founder of the Inter-Disciplinary Research Group CREA TALENTUM, she collaborates with international colleagues in the adaptation of psychometric measures related to creativity and high ability studies. As CEO of the Mente Futura Foundation, she promotes talent development towards excellence in ethnic-linguistic diverse and multicultural young scholars. She was instrumental in launching the Peruvian Law supporting high achievers, and in the development of the state-funded Academies of Arts and Sciences, which serve high achievers from low socio-economic backgrounds and ethnic-linguistic minorities in the Andean and Amazon regions. Actually 25 Academies nationwide benefit 8,000 high achieving students living below the poverty line. She was recognized with the Innovation Award in College Teaching (2015), the PUCP Research Award in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, and received recognitions on Scientific Publishing (2008), Educational Psychology (2010), and Life-career in teaching and research in Educational Psychology (2014). Internationally, she received the World Bank/GDN Award for Young Scientist in Applied Education (2005), the Belin-Blank/Templeton International Fellowship on Gifted Education (2008), and the Eisenhower Fellowships (EF 2011).

Dr. Blumen is the Chair of the 35th Inter-American Conference of Psychology. She is invited keynote at international conferences, and has been invited Professor at PUC Campinas, Universidade de Brasilia, Universidade Catolica de Brasilia, Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad de La Frontera-Chile, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, and Harvard University/School of Education. She has published 135 books, chapters, and articles in the fields of talent development, cognitive processes, and educational psychology, and has participated in 36 research projects.

 

About the center

The Mente Futura Foundation aims to support highly able and talented children and youths to reach their academic, emotional, and social potential by providing challenges based on their ability and interests while respecting their ethnic-linguistic origin and cultural diversity. The Mente Futura Foundation was established in Lima City in 1998 to meet the needs of high ability students aged 6 to 17 years from Peru and the South American region. Since the first year, around 7,000 students have attended or participated in programmes run by the Mente Futura Foundation, and more than 1,000 teachers have been trained.

The general activities of the Mente Futura Foundation involve:

(a) Advocacy for gifted children and youth living in disadvantage conditions in Peru. This involves meetings with Senior Peruvian Administration Officers. On September 9, 2009 the Norm N° 034-2009 establishing the creation of the first National Academy for the Academically Talented was given (http://www.colegiomayor.edu.pe/), and began operation in March 2010, serving 800 students per year.  By 2016, 22 Peruvian National Academies for the Academically Talented Youths (9th-11th) were built nationwide. We have published a book for parents and teachers, a technical document for the Ministry of Education, and several readers for teacher training purposes, as well as scientific papers on SCOPUS journals;

(b) Research to provide theoretical foundations for the development of Peruvian public policies for the highly able. In this sense, we have participated in several studies with diverse developmental stage (preschoolers, primary and secondary school children and youths, as well as with college students, teachers, administrators, and parents), as well as from diverse ethnic-linguistic backgrounds in Peru. We also join cross-cultural studies around the world.

(c) Organization and execution of scientific meetings to provide information on the state-of-the-art on High Ability Studies, and to discuss proper policies for gifted education in Peru.

(d) Provisions for talent development, developing workshops, programs to be applied inside the regular classroom, and after-school programs. These cover language arts, mathematics, science, and technology, as well as the arts and music. We also provide individual and group assessment for identification purposes and training tailor-fitted programs for schools, NGOs, regional governments, and for the Ministry of Education. We have an ongoing counselling service for individuals and groups, depending on the needs of each group. We are working on a study about employability for college students entering the labor force in partnership with Midot Intl. and other Peruvian Foundations. We have served around 7,000 highly able children and youths, and trained around 1,500 teachers.

 

Our activities involved:

(a) The organization of the Ibero-American Group of Interest in Creativity, Technology, and Talent Development, involving Argentina, Brazil, Colombian, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and Uruguay, held at the PUCP in July 2015 and 2017.

(b) Ongoing presentations with senior members of the Peruvian administration to study the impact of public policies and ongoing gifted programs in Peru (2015-2018).

(c) Collaboration with international networks, such as IRATDE, and the Brasil-Peru research network.

(d) Presentations on the emotional and pedagogical needs of the highly able were given all around Peru, particularly focusing on senior members of the different Peruvian regional administrations (2016-2018).

(e) March 2016: The new Peruvian public policy on Special Education is only focused on the “high achievers or academically talented,” and does not include the “highly able” as a whole nor the possibility of multi-exceptionalities, particularly those related to the gifted. They even established a public policy with this orientation, and no consideration toward the highly able or gifted child was established. Therefore, a strong campaign on advocacy for the multi-exceptional child and youth was started among senior officers and lawyers of the Ministry of Education.

(f) April 2016: The new Direction of Special Education in Peru wanted to close the after-school enrichment program called PAENFTS, because of a lack of understanding about the need for enrichment programs toward the gifted.

(g) September 2018: Advocacy is needed in order to keep the grants for the academically talented young scholars attending college education, since foundations are more focused on numbers than people. Therefore, meetings with senior officers are taking place in order to advocate for the continuing of the program. Waiting for senior members of the foundation reaction.

 

Associated European Talent Centre data

E-mail: info@mentefutura.org

Phone: +51 14212410

Postal address: Los Laureles 265, A-101, San Isidro, Lima 27, PERU, South America

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mente-Futura-1754359258128726/

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About the speaker

Rena F. Subotnik PhD is Director of the Center for Psychology in Schools and Education at the American Psychological Association. One of the Center’s missions is to generate public awareness, advocacy, clinical applications, and cutting-edge research ideas that enhance the achievement and performance of children and adolescents with gifts and talents in all domains.   She has been supported in this work by the National Science Foundation, the American Psychological Foundation, and the Association for Psychological Science, the Dreyfus Foundation, and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. 

She is co-author (with Paula Olszewski-Kubilius and Frank Worrell) of The Psychology of High Performance: Developing Human Potential Into Domain-Specific Talent (American Psychological Association), The Talent Gap: The U.S. is Neglecting its Most Promising Science Students (Scientific American),  Nurturing the Young Genius: Renewing our Commitment to Gifted Education is Key to a More Innovative, Productive and Culturally Rich Society (Scientific American Mind), Rethinking Giftedness and Gifted Education: A Proposed Direction Forward Based on Psychological Science (in Psychological Science in the Public Interest),  and (with Bruce Thompson) Methodologies for Conducting Research on Giftedness, (with Frances Horowitz and Dona Matthews) Developing Giftedness and Talent Across the Life Span.

 

About the advocacy group

Center for Psychology in Schools and Education at the American Psychological Association. One of the Center’s missions is to generate public awareness, advocacy, clinical applications, and cutting-edge research ideas that enhance the achievement and performance of children and adolescents with gifts and talents in all domains. 

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About the speaker

Csilla Fuszek taught for over 15 years in both secondary and higher education. Since 2000, she has specialized in the field of gifted and talented education. Between 2001-2011 she was managing director of several nationwide talent development programs, and also worked as a lecturer at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary between 2008-2017.Since 2009 she has been working for the Association of Hungarian Talent Support Organizations (MATEHETSZ). From 2012 she has been the founding director of the Budapest European Talent Centre (www.talentcentrebudapest.eu), which became one of the first 14 European Talent Centers in 2015. She organized three major European talent support conferences in 2006, 2011, and 2014. Csilla Fuszek was elected as the Secretary of the ECHA Qualification Committee at the committee’s first meeting. She was elected as the interim coordinator of the European Talent Support Network on September 29, 2015, and was later elected to be a member and the secretary of the first Network Council.

 

About the advocacy group

The Association of Hungarian Talent Support Organizations (MATEHETSZ) is a nonprofit association founded 10 years ago to provide a permanent opportunity for Hungarian organisations at home and abroad active in talent support. It helps them to consult on and harmonise their stances regarding talent support, and to promote and shape the further development of the Hungarian talent support system. This has been done by studying domestic and international examples, organising professional fora, obtaining financial support, considering new forms of support, and announcing tenders. Websites: www.tehetseg.hu , https://talentcentrebudapest.eu/

The National Talent Point and the European Talent Centre in Budapest operate within the framework of MATEHETSZ, which in the past 10 years was responsible for the implementation of several European Union, domestic, and other tenders of national relevance. These include the Hungarian Genius Project, the Talent Bridges Project, the Templeton Project, and the Hungary of Talents Project. Under these projects, it published 41 books on talent and talent development. It has created a talent support network in the Carpathian Basin consisting of almost 1,500 so-called “Talent Points,” and has supported the operation of their network in various forms for the past decade. The ongoing talent support training courses developed by MATEHETSZ were attended by almost 25,000 teachers in the past years, and ten thousands of children were provided support during the years in various forms, from scholarships to trainings.

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About the speaker

Wilma Vialle is a Professor in Educational Psychology and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Wollongong, Australia. She teaches subjects on gifted education and has published extensively in this field, including a text on ‘Educating the Gifted Learner’ co-authored with Professor Karen Rogers. Her research interests are predominantly concerned with giftedness and talent development and she is particularly interested in issues of social justice. Recent research projects include an international study of effective teachers of the gifted, a longitudinal study of adolescent academic and social-emotional outcomes, the development of expertise in competitive Scrabble players, popular culture and giftedness, and the development of spiritual understanding in children. She is the chief editor of the journal ‘Talent Development and Excellence’ and is on the editorial board of several international journals. Wilma is also on the Executive Board of the International Research Association for Talent Development and Excellence (IRATDE). In 2006 she was awarded the Eminent Australian award by the Australian Association for the Education of the Gifted and Talented (AAEGT) for her contributions to gifted education.

About the advocacy group

Learning Labs was established at the University of Wollongong in 2011 to support and advocate for gifted children in New South Wales, Australia. The organisation runs a number of events to raise awareness of the needs of gifted students and does so by (1) providing holiday workshops for gifted students from early childhood through to secondary school, taught by university academics; (2) providing workshops for parents and caregivers on giftedness, presented by experts in the field; and (3) conducting professional development sessions for teachers, again presented by experts in the field.

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About the speaker

Valeria Fazi is the President of Aget, the Italian Association of Parents of Gifted Children, the only Italian association made up exclusively of parents of certificated gifted children (www.agetitalia.it). Aget is a non-profit organization, based solely on the voluntary work of the parents.

As President of Aget, Valeria Fazi is a member of several national expert commissions in the field of giftedness research and gifted education.

In her professional life, she is a CPA and an Auditor. She is a key speaker at several national and international conferences. She has published books, chapters, and articles in the fields of International Standards on Auditing.

 

About the advocacy group

Aget is the Italian Association of Parents of Gifted Children, the only Italian association made up exclusively of parents of certificated gifted children (www.agetitalia.it). Aget is a non-profit organization, based solely on the voluntary work of the parents. In Italy, giftedness is not recognized by laws or regulations, so since 2014 the group has been working to improve knowledge of this topic in the country. Aget held several meetings with Italian politicians and with the representatives from the Ministry of Education and is a valuable partner for the national council of psychologists. It has also established agreements with Sapienza University of Rome to improve research. Our association organizes events for gifted children designed to appeal to their unlimited curiosity. Every year we also organize a journalism prize. Our greatest challenge is to raise money to organize activities for gifted children around Italy. Unfortunately, not all families can afford to pay the activities’ fee and the Italian state does not provide any support, nor for the school program. Read More

About the speaker

Martina Rosenboom (*1963) has a diploma in computer science and has been president of the German Association for the Gifted Child (DGhK) since 2015, and was a member of the national board from 2011-2013. She first became a member of the DGhK in 1997, and was counseling parents, organizing seminars, and leading parent groups since 2000. From 2006 to 2015 she led the regional branch of the DGhK in Lower Saxony, and was concurrently working in various national activities of the association, such as establishing concepts and structures, organizing advanced training, and contributing to publications.

 

About the advocacy group

The German Association for the Gifted Child (DGhK) was founded in 1978 and is a nationwide, non-profit association that promotes the needs of gifted children by working with parents, teachers, psychologists, and other interested persons.

With about 400 counsellors, many of whom are qualified as “Specialists in Coaching the Gifted (ECHA-Coaches),” working on an honorary basis in all federal states of Germany, the DGhK in its regional branches is committed to a wide range of talent support activities. Read More