So it’s not surprising that his grandkids got him wondering about — and researching — a big question: How well is the U.S. educating its top performers?
His answer: not very. “High achievers are being neglected in all sort of ways by schools that had no incentive to push them farther up.”
His research became a book, with co-author Brandon Wright, out next month from Harvard Education Press. It’s titled Failing Our Brightest Kids: The Global Challenge of Educating High-Ability Students. It contains an analysis of the U.S. issue, plus case studies on gifted education from a dozen countries around the world.