Course Overview
Gifted students are often assumed to have it easy. In reality, advanced ability does not eliminate social and emotional challenges. Gifted learners may also experience perfectionism, heightened sensitivity, asynchronous development, underachievement, and social-emotional needs that are less visible than their academic strengths.
Drawing on a major research-based volume edited by Maureen Neihart, Steven Pfeiffer, and Tracy Cross, this course examines what the evidence says about perfectionism, motivation, resilience, underachievement, and the psychosocial factors that shape gifted learners’ development and performance, and where the research remains uncertain.
You will leave better prepared to recognize what may be happening beneath the surface for gifted students and to respond with strategies grounded in research rather than assumption.
GT Specialist Designation Track
This is the designation version of this course. You complete the same coursework as the standard TPAI course, plus the directed work that builds toward the GT Specialist Designation:
This track requires the program companion text, Fundamentals of Gifted Education (Callahan & Hertberg-Davis), used across all five courses. Each additional piece in this course is aimed at a specific national standard for gifted educators, so your work here becomes part of a portfolio that documents your expertise across all seven national standards. You also receive the Candidate Handbook, which lays out your work across all five courses and the capstone. Three graduate credits through CSU Pueblo, the same as the standard version.
Looking for this course outside the GT Designation? The standard version is here.
About the Editors
This is a graduate-level course intended for K–12 educators who have completed a bachelor’s degree. It is recommended that you receive board or district approval before registering with TPAI.
