A Garden of Ethics

Annemarie Roeper and Leta Hollingworth are the ethical bedrock of the field of gifted education. Though they never met, their legacies are intertwined. They gave us a child-centered perspective, in which ethical development plays a pivotal role. This article traces the similarities of their philosophies, exploring the life experiences that may have led them to see gifted children through the same lens. They both loved their gardens. The seeds of integrity and compassion that they planted inspire us to move beyond our expectations in order to see and nurture the beauty of each child.     

My Journey With Annemarie Roeper: Lessons Learned Along the Way

For over 70 years Annemarie Roeper was able to breathe new life into many aspects of giftedness and gifted education. Capturing the magic of such a charismatic and visionary leader is a challenge. However, stories and storytelling provide a pathway into the narrative of Annemarie’s life as it evolved from young adulthood to elderhood. This article provides the lessons learned during a long-standing friendship and insights into her multidimensional personality.     

Human Relations: The Cornerstone of a Roeper Education

This article traces the evolution of a moral philosophy curriculum originally taught by George A. Roeper in the earliest years of The Roeper School. The first author, a student at The Roeper School in the 1960s and 1970s, describes the impact of the class George Roeper called “Human Relations” on her life. Returning to the School as a parent and trustee, she had the opportunity to re-create for current students the experience of the Human Relations class in a workshop, liberally borrowing material from a philosophy class taught by Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel. In the second part of the article, a current English teacher at The Roeper School and attendee at that workshop discusses how she was inspired to revise her literature courses to incorporate the moral philosophy approach of George Roeper and Michael Sandel.     

Ageless and Timeless: Perspectives on Giftedness Across the Life Span

Annemarie Roeper’s timeless perspectives were demonstrated throughout her long and productive life. Her prolific writings and speeches continue to influence our understanding of giftedness at all ages and stages of life, and the time I spent with her had a profound and meaningful effect on my work. Annemarie incorporated her inner view of giftedness into her definition, her collaboration with her husband George in developing the Roeper Philosophy and Roeper School, her global perspectives, and her qualitative assessment approach to understanding children and identifying those who are gifted. Direct involvement with Annemarie has been especially influential in my thinking about gifted adults, including educators and parents. The quality of agelessness that Annemarie demonstrated in the later years of her life also has been instrumental in helping me and others develop greater understanding of giftedness across the life span.     

The Annemarie Roeper Method of Qualitative Assessment: My Journey

The Annemarie Roeper Method of Qualitative Assessment (QA) establishes an extremely rich set of procedures for revealing students’ strengths as well as opportunities for the development of bright young people. This article explores the ways in which the QA process serves as a sterling example of a holistic, authentic system for recognizing aspirations, talents, and opportunities for student development while also providing a model for in-depth, mind-shifting professional development of educators. It also describes the QA process in detail so others can gain an understanding of its dynamics and consider its use in their own attempts to establish stronger child-centered interventions wth the gifted and talented.     

Learning and Creativity

Creativity was an enduring interest for George Roeper. For him, gifted children represented the divergent thinkers who could change the trajectory of the world. In this 1962 presentation to parents at the school, he discussed his findings about the differences between intelligence and creativity—how they overlap, how they differ, and how they are assessed. As an active educator, George was unable to contribute as much in formal publications as he might have. Presentations such as this one are our best view into the depth and insight of the man. As a contemporaneous account, it also gives us a view into attitudes in the early years of gifted child education.     

Prescient … and Not Always Accounted For: The Wisdom and Foresight of George A. Roeper

When George A. Roeper enlisted the aid of Dr. A. Harry Passow and other leaders in the field to help George convert his Michigan independent school to focus on gifted children in 1956, there was only one other elementary school in the country at the time devoted exclusively to gifted child education. Though his wife and school cofounder, Annemarie, later became quite well known in the field, George also wrote and spoke extensively about gifted children and their education. Those writings and speeches were rarely published but have been preserved in The Roeper School Archives. In this first in-depth examination, George’s writings display insight and prescience about the challenges and rewards of educating gifted children, touching on problems that still preoccupy the field, such as inclusive identification and motivation, all rooted in his humanistic point of view.