General Case Work v7
Minds on Fire
The Case for Support of The Speyer Legacy School
"Every student deserves individual attention. And every student deserves to be
challenged—whether you're rich or poor, black or white, whether you're a striving
reader or whether you were reading Dickens at the age of 4."
- U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings1
All children deserve an education that enables them to fulfill their optimal potential, including
those with unusually advanced intelligence. Editorials across the country decry the state of
general education. Yet, the brightest minds, the ones most ready and eager to develop their
talented intellect, are expected to take care of themselves. As funding for the special needs of
low-achieving students hits the highest level in the history of educational funding, the percentage
allocated for the special needs of highly advanced learners is at its lowest.
Gifted education is vital to healthy communities and to our nation’s future. The needs of gifted
students are generally not met in American classrooms where the focus is most often on
struggling learners and where most classroom teachers have not had the training necessary to
meet the needs of gifted students.2 Most people assume that such children are able to develop
their potential on their own. In fact, intellectually gifted students’ achievement and interests,
creativity, and productivity rise significantly as a result of the demands of advanced programs. 3
Inadequate support for gifted education hurts all talented students, especially those from poor
families, who are less likely to be identified by a single-score admissions test or the classroom
teacher. However, the federal government’s investment in gifted and talented learners now stands
at 2 cents of every 100 education dollars.4 This astounding inequity fails to be rectified by the
state and city budgets plagued by rising deficits.
In NYC, there are 1.1 million school children. In 2008 the kindergarten admissions process alone
tested 14,822 children for the 325 available seats in the gifted programs. The identification
process was based on each child’s score on a single test. Fewer than half the number of children
who scored in the 99th percentile could be afforded a program appropriate for their tested learning
ability level.5 There is an urgent need for more opportunities and appropriate classrooms for
gifted learners in New York City.
Gifted education—appropriately educating high ability students—is not about catering to some
students over others. It is a matter of providing sufficiently challenging programs with trained
teachers who can meet the needs of intellectually advanced students from the time they are
identified to the time when they become independent learners, ready to make important
contributions to society.
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Inspired by Research and Innovation for Gifted Minds
We chose to change schools after kindergarten because the teachers had no
understanding whatsoever that my child’s energy came from the complexity of
his learning needs. He was only 5, but his thinking far out-distanced that. Speyer
gets it. And because of that, my child is thriving and blossoming in an
educational environment where his uniqueness is truly celebrated.
- Parent of Speyer Legacy first grader
The “Legacy” in the school’s name reflects the inspired applied research conducted by Dr. Leta
Hollingworth who founded the original Speyer School in 1936. According to Hollingworth, in an
ideal school environment, gifted children ought to be grouped homogeneously and provided with
accelerated learning opportunities. Building on and reinforced by research since then, The Speyer
Legacy School provides an opportunity that, until now, did not exist in New York City.
Founded this year as a K-8 school, Speyer Legacy is designed to meet the unique needs of
intellectually gifted learners that are not addressed in the typical classroom environment. The
innovative structure and teacher training set0 this school apart as a model and demonstration
school for best practices in gifted education.
Speyer Legacy is a non-profit, independent school with the freedom to develop and implement
the best practices. The founders appointed school administrators with proven track records of
leadership, knowledge and experience in the field of gifted education. The admissions’
assessment process involves multiple measures for determining the child’s learning needs. The
structure enables support of children who may be gifted in one academic domain and not another.
Trained teachers are mindful of the frustration gifted learners experience when their advanced
intellectual skills are hindered by their age-level physical and/or social skills. They nurture the
child’s social development and cultivate reflective thinkers with disciplined minds. They channel
the child’s love of learning and voracious appetite for knowing into the productive use of
knowledge and creativity.
Gifted Minds Are On Fire – They Must Not—Cannot—Wait to Learn
“I can’t stop now. My mind’s on fire!”
– Speyer Legacy Kindergarten student
Decision-making often depends on individuals’ unspoken assumptions about intellectually gifted
children. The continuing quiet crisis in inadequate funding and services for this population is in
part because of the mythology linked to advanced students. The most common examples include:
gifted children don’t have learning needs that require special services; gifted children will be fine
on their own, and grade or course acceleration is socially harmful. The assumption that giftedness
occurs only in wealthy families insidiously restricts opportunities for advanced learners from
disadvantaged backgrounds.
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Each of these held viewpoints is erroneous, yet stubbornly persistent. All are damaging because
if followed, they allow school and funding decision makers to leave our most advanced students
to languish, unchallenged and unengaged in the classroom. We have a responsibility to help all
our students learn something new every day. Assumptions about high-ability students are
unacceptable roadblocks to excellence.
The Speyer Legacy School’s founding principles are based in facts. They are the reality for
advanced learners. The facts show that gifted learners:

are best identified by evaluation using multiple criteria

do not benefit from and may be harmed by being in a traditional classroom setting that
fails to make demands on students’ thinking and enables them to believe that learning
requires no effort

thrive in an educational setting with other advanced learners where the curriculum is
differentiated to meet their particular passions and allow for appropriately mindful, indepth study

require a curriculum based upon student interests, emphasizing initiative and originality,
created and delivered by dynamic, trained teachers

require teachers who are trained to select, rearrange, and adapt the content of curriculum
to the mental caliber of each student they teach

require thoughtful attention to their social/emotion development because of heightened
sensitivity and vulnerability in settings where their unusual cognitive profiles are
misunderstood (they will not be made to feel embarrassed for being smart)
All children deserve an appropriate education. The Speyer Legacy School provides an optimal
environment enabling advanced learners to realize their full potential in the company of
exceptional classmates.
The realization of full potential requires the development of intellect and integrity in equal
measure. We see integrity as a natural outgrowth of attentively supported emotional intelligence.
Children develop strong integrity when they are included in the creation of a thoughtful,
respectful community whose members are valued not only for their various contributions to the
school culture, but for their worth as human beings whose right to a safe, joyful, life-expanding
environment is paramount. The life of the mind is inextricably connected with the life of the
heart.
As our world becomes increasingly interconnected and competitive, we must maximize every
opportunity to develop gifted learners and nurture their leadership.
First Year Implementation Demonstrates Strength of Program
“Speyer Scholars—Live the Life of the Mind and Heart
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– Speyer Legacy Leadership Team
The committed Speyer Legacy founders and staff have successfully implemented an educational
program for exceptionally high ability learners. Important characteristics of a specialized
program are firmly established:
1. The school is a desirable destination for advanced learners who
a. would otherwise be denied the intellectual challenge they require
b. are accepted with their differences, and
c. are helped with the social/emotional vulnerability some students suffer from the
disparity between their advanced cognitive skills and their age
2. The children achieve in-depth understanding because of the connections made within the
interdisciplinary, experiential program, including in the arts, sciences, mathematics,
language arts, Spanish, physical education, and health.
3. Educators request to observe in the school and have come from as far away as Australia
to see this model for best practices of enrichment and differentiated instruction that fits
the program to the learner.
4. The admissions’ identification process has successfully established the multiple criteria
based on researched behaviors of gifted learners. No cut-off score is used in the
admissions process.
5. The teacher-student ratio is in line with effective support of gifted learners’ unique needs.
In line with our determination to establish The Speyer Legacy School as a model school, the
longitudinal measurements of the effectiveness of its program are the students’ continuous drive
to learn, scholarly and disciplined approach to thinking, productivity, mastery of the curriculum
community service and, ultimately, their choices of high schools.
Ensure Gifted Learners Have the Opportunity to Achieve Their Full Potential
“Give me a lever long enough, and a place to stand,and I shall move the world.”
- Archimedes
Funding is needed to sustain, develop and expand The Speyer Legacy School in order to meet the
critical need to add classrooms and services for gifted learners. In a specialized non-profit
school, bridging the gap between income from tuition and the expenses of operations is a
constant challenge. We seek financial partnerships with those who share our commitment to
gifted learners. The Speyer Legacy School’s financial priorities are dictated by its mission.
The three major areas for supporting intellectually gifted learners include:
 Operations to balance the costs of differentiated, interdisciplinary instruction,
 An endowed scholarship fund to enroll qualified students regardless of their financial
circumstances, and
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
Capital to fund the destination building that will enable the optimal learning environment
for Kindergarten through 8th grade.
The rationale behind the costs to maintain the momentum of current program development and
the 5-year projection for program effectiveness

Multiple criteria identification of gifted learners requires more time and expertise in the
assessment for the enrollment process. Without this approach, deserving children would
otherwise be denied an education that would enable them to reach their full potential.

Providing economically disadvantaged children who qualify for the program with
financial support requires an endowed scholarship fund. Currently, 50% of the Speyer
Legacy students receive financial aid. It is our aim to base enrollment decisions solely on
merit, never on a family’s ability to pay.

The school opened with sufficient technology to support differentiated instruction and
enrich the children’s experiences. As classes are added and the school serves older
students, the expansion of effective technology programming and equipment is crucial.

Programming for performance and visual arts is vital in the interdisciplinary structure of
the curriculum for all grades. We believe that the truly educated mind requires knowledge
and experiences in the arts.

Currently, Speyer Legacy is renting space that is temporarily sufficient for the lower
elementary grades. The Trustee’s five-year plan includes the renovation or construction
of a school building that is appropriate for kindergarten through the 8th grade that is
structurally sound and ecologically efficient.
Kindle the Fires in Gifted Minds
“A mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited.” - Pascal
We believe it is essential to seek and support the intellectually talented. We experience the
dynamic relationship of intelligence to education. Those with exceptionally high intellectual
potential are those who are most likely to influence the strength of our economy, the health of our
people, and the governance of our nation. The Speyer Legacy School provides the program with
a proven methodology for developing the gifted learners’ potential—the minds on fire—to the
fullest.
Consider The Speyer Legacy School as an endorsement for recognition of the gifted learners who
are neglected, whose needs are unrecognized or are ignored. By making a gift, you will support
children whose ability to think, learn and understand belies age: whose minds are on fire. Ensure
this program can continue, develop and influence how we educate gifted learners in New York
City.
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For more information:
Connie Williams Coulianos, Head of School
212.581.4000
www.speyerlegacyschool.org
References
1
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, August 2006. Remarks at the Davidson
Academy Opening in Reno, Nevada
2
Archambault, et al, 1993; Moon, Tomlinson, & Callahan, 1995; Reis, et al, 2004; Reis & Purcell,
1993; Westberg, et al, 1993.
3
Colangelo, Assouline & Gross, 2004; Delcourt, 1993; Hébert, 1993; Taylor, 1992; Lubinski, et al,
2001
4
“What about race to aid kids who are already at the top?” by Ann Robinson and Martha Flournoy.
Ventura County (CA) Star, Saturday, November 21, 2009.
“School for the Gifted and Only the Gifted” by Winnie Hu NYTimes. October 18, 2009
5
National Association for Gifted Children. www.nagc.org
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