In On Human Potential Kay, an independent scholar and instructional strategist, encourages teachers and administrators to rethink the ways they work with students, who have a diverse range of talents, in the classroom. She calls for the development of a common language for recording talents so that plans can be put in place for students to be best supported in reaching their potential. Through the use of case studies and charts to illustrate her findings, Kay discusses ways to identify students who demonstrate advanced behaviors in various domains, including traditional academic disciplines like math and science, as well as in the arts and in psychomotor skills. She emphasizes the importance of having teachers and mentors support students as they pursue their various talents. Administrators, teachers, and parents will appreciate the sample lists of resources for programs to support talented students. This text is highly recommended for administrators, pre-service and practicing teachers, and parents to help them rethink the ways different talents are identified and supported in schools.
Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.
— Choice Reviews
On Human Potential: Nurturing Talents and Cultivating Expertise represents an important breakthrough in examining the talent development process in the school context, how to find it and how to respond to students who exhibit advanced behaviors in specific domains. It is a “must read” for busy practitioners who want to be guided in their work with talented learners and offers practical advice to other educators and parents who want to ensure that students who show abilities in areas of learning have opportunities that match them.
— Joyce VanTassel-Baska, EdD, College of William and Mary
This book fills a gap in the gifted education literature by focusing on the development of talent in those domains currently identified in the federal definition. I particularly liked the discussion related to converting strengths into talents. Being able to observe specific characteristics and achievements to create a multi-dimensional portrait would support educators’ cultivation of talent in each and every learner.
— Susan K. Johnsen, professor emeritus of educational psychology, Baylor University
As a student of Dr. Sandra Kay, I remember how moving and unusual it felt to have a teacher focus on understanding and encouraging the potential in my little self. For me, this included her generously reading and responding to endless pages of my early creative writing that I would type in my basement and vulnerably deliver to her desk. Now, many years later, as a parent grappling with how to guide my own child toward opportunities that match her interests and abilities, Dr. Kay's wisdom on identifying and building expertise, and her Talent Record as a tool, offer a blueprint for moving forward.
— Dorian Block, senior staff associate and director, Exceeding Expectations project, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Sandra Kay’s book is a timely and badly needed corrective to the shameful disregard that educators have shown over recent decades for meeting the needs of gifted and talented students in regular classrooms. Using innovative, simple-to-implement methods, and providing clear guidelines and exemplars, Kay empowers teachers, schools, parents, and communities to unite in recognizing, tracking, and fostering the unique abilities of our most precocious and creative students.
— Michele Root-Bernstein, author, "Sparks of Genius" and "Inventing Imaginary Worlds"
Every classroom K-12 is an opportunity to discover and develop talent. There is potential in children and it is our obligation as educators to understand how this potential can be nourished and guided. While developing expertise is complex, it follows patterns and Sandra Kay helps us understand these patterns. Through her experience, knowledge, and caring for students and teachers, she challenges us to accept this wonderful obligation to guide students from potential to expertise.
— Nicholas Colangelo, PhD, dean and director emeritus, college of education, University of Iowa, Belin – Blank Center for Gifted Education, Nicholas Colangelo
Providing a graceful, down-to-earth tri-part intertwining of research from multiple disciplines with tenets of professional educational practice with principles of positive parenting, Sandra Kay’s On Human Potential: Nurturing Talents, Cultivating Expertise is a resource that any adult who is in any way involved in the development of a young person must read. Foundational to this book is the undeniable necessity for schools and parents to collaborate for identifying, nurturing, and optimizing young people’s greatest abilities. Just as the aegis of special education promotes schools and homes working together to ensure that the needs of students with disabilities are accommodated, this book delineates a powerful, evidence-based systems approach for ensuring that children mature in a manner likely to bolster and promote their individual talents.
— F. Richard Olenchak, PhD, head, Department of Educational Studies; professor, Educational Psychology and Research Methodology; professor, Gifted/Creative/Talented Education, Purdue University
Although our society desperately needs to inspire a new generation of problem-solvers, creators, and innovators, much talent goes undeveloped in many classrooms. In this vitally important book, Sandra Kay offers insight into the talent development process and provides a roadmap for teachers and others to ensure that each student’s capabilities are recognized and developed to their fullest potential. Teachers and parents everywhere, as well as school administrators, counselors, and educational policymakers, should not miss it!
— Linda Brody, EdD, director, Study of Exceptional Talent; director, Diagnostic and Counseling Center, Center for Talented Youth, Johns Hopkins University