Leta Stetter Hollingworth What is Gifted and Talented

Leta Stetter Hollingworth

What is Gifted and Talented?

Gifted and Talented Definition • “Children and youth with outstanding talent who perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment. ” – US Department of Education, 1993 • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=W 4 Gj 2 UC 8 g. YI (6 minutes)

Leta’s Childhood • • • Born May 26 th, 1886 in Nebraska Father- Johnny Stetter • • Absentee parent Multiple careers Mother- Margaret (Maggie) Elinor • • Talented and Lovely person Literate woman for her time Maggie kept a diary that Leta later found Mother passed away when Leta was 3 a day after her youngest sister was born

After her Mother’s Death • Johnny re-married • Girls moved in with their maternal grandparents • Family suffered a large loss • Girls were taken back by their father and forced to live with their stepmother.

Life with Fanny • Leta described living with Fanny as “living in a fiery furnace” • Fanny verbally and emotionally abused the girls • Johnny continued to be absent • Fanny banned the girls from seeing their grandmother after their grandfather died

College Years • Leta started attending college in 1902 at the University of Nebraska at the age of 16 • Majored in English Literature and Writing • Leta was very involved within the University • Leta met Harry Hollingworth her sophomore year in college.

Harry Hollingworth • More commonly known as Holly • Also had a poor family life • • • His mother died when he was 16 months old His father re-married and Holly was kidnapped by his grandparents Unlike Leta, his step-mother was kind and caring

Holly and Leta • Holly and Leta met when he was 23 and she was 17 • Holly was a reader for the psychology department • During their 1903 -1904 semester, Leta and Holly fell in love. • Leta was only 19 when she agreed to marry Holly, but they did not marry for two more years • Both graduated in May of 1906

After College • In 1906 Leta was hired as a teacher and assistant principle • The same year, Holly was appointed to principal of Fremont HS, which was about 100 miles away from Leta. • Holly only stayed their a six months before he relocated to NYC • Leta soon relocated to NYC as well

New York City • On December 31 st 1908 Leta arrived in NYC on a train for her marriage ceremony that happened that same night. • For the first time, Leta experienced gender bias while in NYC.

Life in the City • Lucky for Leta, Holly never wanted to hold her back. • Leta was not able to find a job in New York, which left the couple struggling for money. • Leta wanted to return to school but was unable to receive financial aid and had to continue working as a house wife.

Caffeine Study • This was a huge turning event within Holly and Leta’s life. • Coca-Cola hired Holly to conduct a study on behavioral affects of caffeine. • Coca-Cola Study (5 min) • This study helped Holly and Leta financially, and after it was over, Leta was able to return to school.

Graduate School • Leta went to graduate school full time at Columbia University and Teachers College where she double majored in psychology and sociology. • Leta’s mentor while in graduate school was Edward Thorndike. • Leta wrote her dissertation on the effects of a woman’s menstrual cycle.

Leta’s Graduate Research • Variability Hypothesis • Human males varied more than human females • “Functional Periodicity, An Exceptional Study of the Mental and Motor Abilities of Women during Menstruation” • She found no feminine cycle impairment

After Graduate School • 1912 - The Heterodoxy Club • 1913 - Leta received her masters degree and was offered a temporary position at The Clearing House. • 1914 -Leta was appointed as the first psychologist under the civil service in the City of New York and was then transferred to the psychiatric service at Bellevue Hospital in 1915.

Birth Control • Leta was a strong believer in birth control but believed it should be given to everyone, not just the wealthy. • Eugenics- The attempt to improve humanity by encouraging the ablest and healthiest people to have more children.

Work Life • Leta received her Ph. D. in June of 1916 • Naomi Norsworthy • 1916 - Dr. Leta Hollingworth received two job offers. One at Bellevue and one at Teachers College.

Work with Exceptional Children • Exceptional Children- Those who deviated from the norm in either direction. • Leta did a lot of research with cognitively disabled children which led to her work with exceptional children. • School for Exceptional Children • • Was an early “pull-out” program Aim of her study was to assist the individual child to find success in school.

Gifted Education • The Stanford-Binet IQ test was used as the primary way to identify high ability children. • There were very few attempts at providing specialized services for the gifted and talented in the late nineteenth century.

Public School 64 • • Leta’s first experience with a solely gifted class was in this public school in New York. The school put through a project from 1916 -1919 that had a single classroom for those with an IQ score above 120. P. S. 64 was a boys only school, so for this classroom they pulled girls in from a nearby public school. Although this test was not significant due to the small number of children, it helped guide Leta to her work with gifted children.

Public School 165 Experiment • Leta had four questions that she thought were the most crucial to the education of the gifted child. • Leta’s first experiment within P. S. 165 compared gifted children with highly gifted children over a period of three years starting in 1922. • These children were referred to as the “rapid learners” • Leta asserted that one could be gifted in ways other than academically.

Continuing Work with Gifted Children • • Leta believed that children should be educated according to their capacities. She believed this could be found by using mental tests. Leta found that children of superior intelligence may have special problems with social adjustment, the higher the IQ the more problems they face. • • Problem of Play Problems with being a gifted girl Problems of conformity Problems of origin and of destiny

Speyer School • • • During the summer of 1934 Leta developed an outline of her plans for the development of the Speyer School. The goal of this school was to teach and study exceptional children. When word got out about the school they had about 600 applicants On January 28 th, 1936 Public School 500 was officially founded and was opened on February 3 rd with a population of 225 students.

Speyer School Continued • • • Consisted of 7 classes, each with 25 students. • • 5 had students with an IQ in the 70 -90 range 2 classes had students with an IQ above 130 A huge component of this school was that the rapid learners would interact socially on a daily basis with the children from the binet classes. Leta believed that appropriate education involved more than just the intellect. She believed that emotional education could be even more important.

Speyer School Continued • The children and teachers all worked together to help pick the areas of studies. • Leta insisted that French be included in the curriculum • Within the first year, the school went on more than 20 field trips. • Leta believed that the highly gifted were sometimes viewed as odd by others.

Speyer Graduates • Leta did not live long enough to write a longitudinal study on her students from Speyer school or public school 165, but other researchers did report on the adult statues of the graduates. • A 40 year follow up showed that Leta’s experiment in gifted education did make a difference.

Leta’s Questions • Can American public schools identify and recognize gifted children and make provisions for their education? • Leta’s answer is yes • How should gifted children be grouped in schools? • Leta believed that some type of accelerated curriculum should be provided to gifted students, and that those who are exceptional should be in their own classroom.

Ending of Speyer School • Leta was not optimistic that Speyer School would be extended beyond the 5 year commitment. • In 1941, a little more than a year after Leta died, Speyer school was closed down.

The Hollingworth’s (Holly’s) • • Holly and Leta’s marriage lasted 31 years Once both were working as professors their financial situation brightened. The couple bought a new home WWI separated the couple They hired a new housekeeper who the couple both adored. Despite their active social life, the couple did not attend Columbia university events together. In the late 1920’s early 1930’s Holly felt that he and Leta were growing apart.

Family • Ruth • In 1909 Ruth was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis and moved to New York to live with Leta and Holly. • Leta and Holly paid for everything despite their poor financials. • Margaret • • Leta’s niece Lived with the Hollingworth’s for several summers in the early to mid 1930’s

Leta’s Work • Teachers College • Leta grew quickly throughout the teachers college staff • School Psychology • • Leta was committed to professionalizing the field of school psychology. Does anyone know what school psychology is?

Leta’s Final Year • Leta and Holly both received honorary doctor of law degree’s from their undergraduate university. • They both traveled back to their hometown for the ceremony • After returning Leta grew very ill from incurable cancer • Leta passed away on November 27 th, 1939 at the age of 53

After Leta’s Death • Speyer School closed down • It took Holly 15 years to talk about Leta’s death • Harry re-married and passed away in 1956

So what does this look like now? • Children are still given the IQ test in schools today. • A child will still be placed in a general education classroom even if they are labeled as special ed. • Children are given tests on an individual basis.

Discussion Question 1 • Do you believe inclusion is a good thing within the classrooms? Does it help the students or hurt them?

Discussion Question 2 • Do you believe accommodations should be given to high school or college level students when they have a disability? Or if they are gifted?

Discussion Question 3 • Are their problems with individualized education?

Discussion Question 4 • Should special education students and gifted students have their own school?

Discusssion Question 5 • Do you believe we should use group testing?

Discussion Queston 6 • Do you think we should have testing?

Fun Fact • Speyer school re-opened in 2009, and continues to be open today in New York City. • Speyer School Website: http: //www. speyerlegacyschool. org/page. cfm? p=484

Video • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=x. VQBXr 2 l 8 Zs