I appreciate being able to find people to discuss this with!
I hadn't heard of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation before either.
About the Foundation
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is a private, independent foundation established by Jack Kent Cooke to help exceptionally promising students reach their full potential through education. Launched in 2000, the Foundation focuses in particular on students with financial need. The Foundation's scholarship and direct service programs support the education of approximately 650 remarkable students each year, while our grantmaking allows thousands more to engage in challenging educational experiences.
The advisory board for the report had people from some high profile organizations: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Harvard University, National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, The Education Trust, former Deputy Secretary, US Department of Education.
Even though there was a short article in Time magazine, it doesn't seem to have made any obvious impact in shaping the debate on changes to NCLB.
I really liked how this article ended since I'm currently frustrated with the lack of gifted services for young children.
Says deputy superintendent Antoinette Dunbar of the decision to start testing every first-grader for giftedness: �Sometimes we overlook the very obvious.�
Reading the report, I kept thinking of the heartbreaking story of Chris Langan that Malcolm Gladwell described in Outliers. The report helps me frame the debate about the tough decisions Barack Obama mentioned in the inaugural address. Cutting funding for gifted education is seen as an easy choice when it's viewed as an elitist attempt to preserve power among the higher income groups. We know it's not that simple but I struggle with the gap between knowing this and being able to put it into words that will change another person's perception.
