Overview: About the Center for Talent Development

Serving Gifted Students and Their Families since 1981

The Center for Talent Development (CTD) at Northwestern University is an accredited learning center and research facility serving the gifted community of the Midwest. It is a part of the School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) and plays a key role in the school’s Advanced Teaching: The Gifted masters degree and certification programs. Through the Midwest Academic Talent Search and other programs, CTD has assisted more than 500,000 families with gifted students ages 4 to 18. Offering a variety of learning alternatives for the gifted student, CTD provides school-year programs such as Saturday Enrichment Program, Gifted LearningLinks distance learning, Civic Education Project, and Project EXCITE, as well as summer academic programs (Leapfrog, Apogee, Spectrum, and Equinox), informational conferences for families and educators, scholarships, and graduate courses on gifted education. Led by nationally recognized scholar Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, Ph.D, the Center also conducts and publishes academic research on gifted students, particularly in the areas of accelerated learning and special populations of gifted learners. CTD is accredited as a special function school for the gifted by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Academic Talent Search

Midwest Academic Talent Search identifies academically talented 3rd-9th graders. As CTD’s core service, Midwest Academic Talent Search assesses over 30,000 participants per year.

Summer Academic Programs at Northwestern

These three-week intensive courses allow students to pursue academic interests in science, math, and the humanities while exploring Northwestern and making friends with similar interests from across the globe.

• Leapfrog*, for PreK-3rd graders
• Apogee, for 4th-6th graders
• Spectrum, for 7th-8th graders
• Equinox, for 9th-12th graders
• Civic Leadership Institute, for 10th-12th graders

*Leapfrog sessions last only half a day for one week.

School-Year Programs

• The Saturday Enrichment Program offers morning and afternoon Saturday courses in Evanston, Naperville, and Gurnee for PreK-9th graders. As an added benefit for families enrolled in the Saturday Enrichment Program, seminars for parents are held on Saturday mornings throughout the year.
• Gifted LearningLinks Distance Program allows 4th-12th graders to communicate with an instructor via correspondence courses, email, and/or phone to take courses at home.
• The Civic Education Project offers service-learning retreats for high school students during school breaks – week-long trips in winter and spring, and longer trips in the summer.
  

Outreach Activities

• Family Conference: The Opportunities for the Future Family Conference in June includes talks by experts on a wide range of issues related to the development of talent in young people.
• Saturday Seminars for parents on Saturday mornings at Evanston, Naperville, and Gurnee Saturday Enrichment Program sites.
• Special events targeting educators takes place every fall.

Special Projects

• Project EXCITE provides educational support in the form of after school and Saturday enrichment classes to talented minority children in the Evanston-Skokie School District 65.
• The Summer Scholars Program provides scholarship support to talented minority children who attend Chicago Public Schools to participate in CTD programs.
• CTD assists the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation in identifying and assisting talented students in the Midwest with financial aid through the Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholars Program.