Renzulli's Enrichment scheme for the Gifted: Educational Accommodation of the Gifted in the American Context

Abstract

Renzulii's enrichment scheme for the gifted has been celebrated, spread, and adopted throughout the United States without questioning the conceptual and theoretical foundations of his entire 'educational programming system.' It is, therefore, the intent of the author (1) to critically examine Reis' and Renzulli's conceptually weak case for a broadened conception of giftedness; (b) to point out the severe theoretical short-comings of his enrichment triad; and (c) to make educators aware of the highly accommodating and misleading nature of Renzulli's 'Revolving Door Identification Model (RDIM).'

Issues in identifying gifted students: How Renzulli's model stacks up

“…Other researchers (e.g., Gagne, 1985;Feldhusen & Hoover, 1986) have argued against the inclusion of motivation and creativity components as identification factors for gifted programs because, among other things, they feel that the gifted underachiever will not be identified in such a system. P erhaps the most serious attack on the Renzulli model comes from Jellen (1985). He examined Renzulli's RDIM from a curriculum theory perspective and identified "profound theoretical shortcomings" of the model in dealing with the four commonplaces: the nature of the learner, role of the teacher, the demands of knowledge and the needs of society.…”

The Meaning and Justifications for DEG in a Democracy: a Taxonomical Approach

“…In addition to these shortcomings, they also failed to provide a set of theoretical positions necessary to justify their clusters of DEG-concepts. Jellen (1981), in his doctoral dissertation, under Ward, finally added theory to a new list of thirty-two key concepts that can be defended within the context of DEG.…”

Hochbegabung

“…B. Renzulli 1986) Jellen 1985;Rost 1991a,b;Feger u. Prado 1998;Jarrell u. Borland 1990;Heilmann 1999 Mönks selbst folgt dem eigenen Modell nicht oder nur rudimentär -zumindest bezüglich der Umsetzung in eigene Forschung. So schreibt er bspw.…”