EPGY's Mission
The Education Program for Gifted Youth is an ongoing research project at Stanford University dedicated to developing computer-based multimedia courses in Mathematics, Physics, English, Computer Programming and other subjects, and making these available to students of high ability.

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EPGY endeavors to:

Provide students with advanced courses regardless of where they live.
Do so without requiring them to leave their normal school environment.
Individualize instruction and accommodate individual differences in student learning.
Allow students to progress at their own paces and to accelerate their education.

EPGY strives to deepen and improve the nature of computer-based distance learning instruction. We revise our courses regularly based on the data we collect on student performance. We also evaluate new technologies as they become available and incorporate them into our courses when we feel it is appropriate to do so. In this way we continue to improve upon the quality of the educational experience we provide.

First virtual high school for the gifted
AIM IS TO NURTURE TALENT
By Becky Bartindale, April 12, 2006
Mercury News

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Stanford University's Education Program for Gifted Youth is taking the next logical step: launching what is believed to be the nation's first online high school for gifted students.

The virtual high school will offer a full standard curriculum -- and more -- for students in 10th through 12th grades, leading to a high school diploma.

The only restrictions? Students will have to prove their intellectual prowess -- and come up with the tuition of about $12,000 a year. Applications are being accepted later this month, classes will begin in the fall.

Gifted students around the world already flock to the program at Stanford, in part because many schools are unable to offer everything that advanced students need.

``The gifted are among those left behind,' said Patrick Suppes, a philosophy professor emeritus from Stanford who directs the Stanford program. ``For reasons that aren't bad policy, No Child Left Behind worries most about students who are underperforming.

``Generally, the gifted are not in that group. Schools have been under budget pressures for quite a while now, so programs for the gifted have been cut and hurt, and there aren't that many good programs in the schools.'

Students will be able to take their entire high school curriculum through the school, or enroll in individual courses for high school credit that they can't get through their regular schools.

Stanford's Education Program for Gifted Youth already offers a multitude of online courses in math, physics, computer science and English. Started in 1992, the program has some 4,000 gifted students, ages 4 to 18, from around the world. But those courses don't carry high school credit.

The new school was made possible by a $3.3 million gift from the Malone Family Foundation of Englewood, Colo.

In addition to the program's existing math, physics and English courses, its online high school will offer social-sciences courses -- in history, government and economics to begin -- and classes in Latin, Chinese and music theory. It also will pursue becoming a fully accredited high school.

Suppes said he expects about 100 students to enter each year, though the school could accept more. Online students also can come to Stanford for up to eight weeks in the summer as part of a residential program. Information about the application process and available courses will be available April 25 at http://epgy. stanford.edu/ohs.

Tuition hasn't been formally established, Suppes said, but $12,000 is about what's being charged by the University of Miami's online high school. The University of Texas at Austin also has an online high school, but Suppes says Stanford's is the only one in the country aimed at gifted students.

As for getting in, students must show evidence of ``giftedness.' SAT or PSAT scores, or something equivalent, frequently are good indicators. Students also could present a portfolio of their accomplishments in math, science or English.

Among those likely to be interested, Suppes said, are students who are home schooled, American children living overseas, students in small or disadvantaged schools that offer few advanced courses.

Stanford's school will offer financial assistance and is making a special push to include gifted students from disadvantaged schools, Suppes said.

``That's one of the most undeveloped pools of gifted students in the country,' he said, because schools serving poor children tend to focus on underachievement and don't have enough resources for their gifted students.

Will graduates of the new school have a leg up when it comes to gaining admittance to a certain elite university?

``Having a very strong academic high school record definitely helps,' Suppes said. ``Students who do well here will have a very strong record, including some university-level courses.

``But we're not offering guarantees.'

Contact Becky Bartindale at bbartindale@mercurynews .com or (408) 920-5459.

Links to Related Sites

EPGY is situated under the President and Provost's Office at Stanford University. We report through the Stanford Continuing Studies Program.

Some of EPGY's work has been supported by grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Other education programs of note include:
The EPGY Online High School at Stanford University.
CTY, Center for Talented Youth, Johns Hopkins University.
CTD, The Center for Talent Development, Northwestern University.
TIP, The Talent Identification Program, Duke University.
RMTS, The Rocky Mountain Talent Search.
Center for Gifted Education Policy at the American Psychological Association.
Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a foundation supporting profoundly gifted students.
The Gifted Advocate
Gifted Articles+
More Links For Gifted and Talented Young People
Hoagie's Gifted Education Page
Supporting Gifted Education through Advocacy
Gifted Exchange
Parent Resources
National Association of Gifted Children