Project Bright IDEA: Finding Talent and Giftedness in Children of Diverse Backgrounds (2014-2015)
This project team engaged undergraduates, graduate students and faculty in research, evaluation and scaling-up of a ten-year, Javits-funded Project Bright IDEA launched in 2004 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the American Association for Gifted Children. The team focused on finding alternative curricula to better cater to students from disadvantaged backgrounds in North Carolina schools. Basing its research on an earlier iteration of the project that developed the curricula, this year’s team was tasked with evaluating it and implementing it more broadly. Team members visited communities and engaged with educators and students, and conducted research (both statistical and qualitative case studies) in schools that are using the Bright IDEA model and variations on the models.
Timing
2014-2015
Team Outputs
Angel Harris, Project Bright IDEA 3: Nurturing for a Bright Tomorrow ($1,864,699 grant awarded from the Department of Education, 2014)
Reflections
This Team in the News
Finding Alternative Curricula for Disadvantaged Students
This project team was originally part of the Education & Human Development theme of Bass Connections, which ended in 2022. See earlier related team, Project Bright IDEA: Finding Talent and Giftedness in Children of Diverse Backgrounds (2013-2014).
As part of the team, I interviewed teachers, principals and superintendents to hone in on our best practices. I visited some of the 30 schools that are now using our curriculum in order to sit in on classes to evaluate and tweak implementation. I gained valuable experience in IRB approval, qualitative interviewing and research project design, while making great friendships with students and professors. –Ray Li