Supporting Academically Gifted Low-income Youth

 

Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth
Image: cty.jhu.edu

Accomplished venture capitalist Harvey Goldstein has spent more than 50 years in the Southeast Asian market and possesses decades of expertise working with foreign investors in Singapore and Indonesia. Outside of his work, Harvey Goldstein is a champion of supporting gifted students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and has worked with the Johns Hopkins University Centre for Talented Youth.

Findings from a Johns Hopkins study into high-ability students from low-income backgrounds indicate a lack of resources for gifted students. While many states enact policies to identify gifted students and train teachers to challenge these students appropriately, the study shows that all states need to improve access to resources that enable gifted students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds to perform at an academically advanced level.

Johns Hopkins researchers advise policymakers to expand universal screening programs to identify high-ability students earlier and offer more responsive learning tracks to all advanced students, including dual grade-level enrollment and early graduation programs.

Center for Talented Youth Preps Youth for Academic Success

Harvey Goldstein founded Harvest International, Inc., in Indonesia, in 1987. Since that time, he has served as the managing director and chairman of the consulting firm and expanded its efforts to assist businesses in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Outside of his professional responsibilities, Harvey Goldstein contributes to a number of groups and organizations. He and his wife, Rosita, recently established the Goldstein Scholarship to financially assist students to enroll in programs at Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth.

A former participant of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth summer program recently earned recognition as a National Merit Scholarship finalist. The renowned national competition considers the talents of the nation’s brightest young minds. The Johns Hopkins program first introduced Nikila Vasudevan of Billerica, Massachusetts, to SAT and SCAT testing and to academic competition. She continued her collegiate preparations at Locke Middle School before scoring a near perfect 2340 on the SAT exam.

The first 2014 summer session for the Center for Talented Youth begins on the Johns Hopkins campus in Maryland on June 22. The second session begins on July 20. Gifted students can find information about the program on the Center’s website at http://cty.jhu.edu/summer.