Our Vision and Mission
The catchphrase No child left behind reflects some kind of common conviction among the stakeholders in American society for the improvement of education for children who are the underachievers or the under-priviledged. These weaker students are now gaining more teacher support and resources from the government(see https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-11991-1_4). The achievement gap seems to have been narrowed in the two decades.
Do the acts as No Child Left Behind (2001) and Every Student Succeeds (2015) suggest that the quality of education for all children in America has been upgraded and well represented? Do these acts, targeted boosting the achievement of the lowest-achieving students, apply to the education for the “potentially gifted” students? Like the case in the US, not much data have been provided by the states or the local communities. Most of the service or decisions about gifted or MI education are done on a voluntary and far-from-regular basis (see NAGC, “Frequently Asked Questions,” https://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/frequently-asked-questions-about-gifted-education).
In view of the needs of the diverse “potentially gifted learners,” in Renzulli’s term, what we have done or can do for these under-represented students in the school setting? Main stream education has been catering to the needs of the above average, average, and below average learners, and we have seen the fruit of the concerted effort locally and globally. How about the learners whose needs are in the thinking and doing in areas or domains far from being conventional? Who will give a break and take a look at these learners’ needs in teaching and learning? Usually, in the real world, only some parents and teachers will see more of the struggles or conflicts experienced by these bright students (see NAGC, “Frequently Asked Questions,” https://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/frequently-asked-questions-about gifted-education).
Research MI attempts to provide more chances for readers to witness the cases or hear voices of these students as well as for their teachers, parents, and peers. In addition to quantitation research, a more Case Study Approach will be adopted to capture the voices of other silent heroes or heroines---the exemplary teachers of the potentially gifted/MI learners. In this issue, rather then solely scrutinizing the evidence of the “gifted behaviour” (Renzulli & Reis,1994; 1997), we endeavour to show how these teachers of the gifted think (see Dr June Luo’s article) and to know what they share in their personal traits and personal development in the MI school setting (see “From the Editor’s Desk”). Being the mentors of these future leaders, the teachers of the potentially gifted deserve to have their voices heard and to be supported by schools and parents.
In the last section (see “GT’s Got T&L”), the readers will be able to see how GT has set up a workplace training system for his teaching staff "of the potentially gifted" in the three domains: culture and history as the first MI school, teaching pedagogies and learning skills for MI students; and education research on MI.
Do get back to us in International Voices or Readers and Reviewers for Research MI . Happy reading.
Blessings
Professor Rex Li and Dr. Clara Cheng, Co-Editors-in-Chief
P.S. For article submission, please leave a message to Dr. Clara Cheng, Editor-in-Chief, and send your article together with your CV to researchmi@gtcollege.edu.hk
Note. The excerpt taken from National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC; see https://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/frequently-asked-questions-about-gifted-education)