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Response to Intervention and Gifted Education


Originally conceptualized as an early identification system for struggling students, Response to Intervention (RtI) holds promise for supporting the academic and behavioral success of all students, including those whose needs go beyond the core curriculum. How might traditional RtI models be expanded to identify and support the needs of children who learn at a faster pace and require more complex curricula? Chrys Mursky, former DPI Consultant for Gifted and Talented, explores this idea in a MediaSite presentation that provides:

  • Key Characteristics of Effective Gifted Education Plans
  • An overview of Wisconsin's RtI framework
  • Connections between RtI systems and gifted education
  • Examples of some local RtI frameworks
  • Promising practices that should be included in programming options

Download the PowerPoint slides included in the presentation.

RtI and Gifted Education Article in Gifted Child Today
RtI is a key component of educational reform in the United States. For gifted education, RtI represents many important opportunities and challenges. To help education professionals take a proactive look at the ways gifted education and the needs of gifted students fit within the RtI initiative, Gifted Child Today's editor, Susan Johnsen, Ph.D., and the journal's editorial board invited two prominent professors (Mary Ruth Coleman, Ph.D. and Claire E. Hughes, Ph.D.) to guest edit a special issue of GCT on the important topic of RtI and gifted child education.

After that special RtI issue of GCT was published in the summer of 2009, it quickly became one of the most widely read issues in the peer-reviewed journal's history. In fact, Prufrock Press, the journal's publisher, had so many requests for additional copies of that issue, extra copies from the original press run were quickly sold out. It seems that many individuals, universities, and gifted education programs around the country were using the special issue for professional development purposes.

RtI and Gifted Education Article in Gifted Child Today
Prufrock Press made a complimentary download of the special issue available for a period of time. While it is no longer available, you can still read the article, "RtI Models for Gifted Children," that Chrys Mursky co-authored. Access a copy of the article.