The Belin-Blank Center, housed in the UI’s College of Education and established in 1988, has been one of the leading recourses for research and development in gifted education and talent development for more than three decades. One of our five strategic priorities, research and acceleration, guides our work to engage in applied and collaborative research that expands and diversifies methods of talent discovery and development. Our main research foci include twice-exceptionalities, access to opportunity through talent search and career intervention models, and academic acceleration. The Belin-Blank research team has developed the most widely used resources in the world for academic acceleration, including A Nation Deceived, A Nation Empowered, and Developing Academic Acceleration Policies, all offered through our Acceleration Institute. Through four Jacob K. Javits grant awards and Carver Trust funding, we have become the leaders in twice-exceptional research and evidence-based STEM curricular interventions for talented students. We’ve developed and delivered curriculum that successfully links talent domains to careers for students with disabilities and other typically marginalized backgrounds.
Events
The Belin-Blank Center hosts several research-based events designed to share the latest findings with fellow researchers, policy makers, school administrators, educators and parents.
The Wallace Research Symposium, held every few years, is the premiere scholarly conference for the latest research findings in gifted education and talent development. The last Symposium was held at The University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT from May 19-21, 2024. Learn more.
A collaboration between the Iowa Neuroscience Institute and the Belin-Blank Center aimed to move the field's understanding of twice-exceptionality forward by exploring the neural, genetic, and behavioral underpinnings of twice-exceptionality, in order to better serve twice-exceptional students in educational environments. For institutions and individuals interested in understanding more about this emerging area, this summit opened doors to leading research and experts in twice-exceptionality. The event took place in 2021, but full recordings are still available.
Research Areas
With an extensive and in-depth body of work, the Belin-Blank Center has produced cutting-edge research in gifted education and talent development for over 30 years.
Our primary areas of focus include twice-exceptionality, access to opportunity through a talent search model, and academic acceleration. Learn more.
Featured Reports
As scholars at a major research institution, educators, and even parents of our own gifted children, we are uniquely positioned to translate the body of gifted education research into practical use for families and educators.
With our watershed report A Nation Deceived and its follow-up publication A Nation Empowered: Evidence Trumps the Excuses Holding Back America’s Brightest Students, the Belin-Blank Center brings together the research on academic acceleration and offers practical approaches to implementing one of the most well-researched and effective interventions for academically talented students.
The Packet of Information for Professionals – 2nd Edition (PIP-2), available through our Assessment and Counseling Clinic, is designed for professionals who work with gifted and talented students with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and/or specific learning disability (SLD).
Much of our research has revolved around equity for rural gifted students, in an effort to prevent these students' geography from determining their access to opportunity. In addition to our peer-reviewed journal articles, we have published a series of three reports on these issues. Gifted Education in Rural Schools: A National Assessment provides a comprehensive documentation of gifted education in rural schools in order to take the pulse of gifted education in rural schools. Gifted Voices from Rural America profiles schools and educators who creatively developed programs to serve their gifted and talented students while maintaining their rural identity. Gifted in Rural America: Faces of Diversity focuses on the ethnic diversity of gifted students in rural schools.
Schools looking for guidance developing policies on acceleration will benefit from Developing Academic Acceleration Policies: Whole Grade, Early Entrance, and Single Subject, available through our Acceleration Institute.
Presentations
Multiple times each year, we present the Belin-Blank Center's newest research findings throughout the United States and internationally. Get a glimpse of where we've been and where to catch us next. Learn more.
Publications
Engaging the research community and moving the field of education forward, our research is a fundamental part of who we are as a Center. Learn more.
