Talents Unlimited

Model
Marcela Crowe
Laurie Powell
Background

Multiple Talent Approach developed by Dr. Calvin Taylor. (1915-

2000).
Dr. Taylor researched the thinking skills needed to be successful in
the world of work.
The M.T. Approach is a complex process incorporating cognitive,
affective, and psychomotor components.
In the 1990s Carol Schlichter developed Taylors theory into the
Talents Unlimited (TU) model.
A critical and thinking skills model for all students
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m8POSFzdms
 Calvin Taylor has identified high level talents in which all people excel to
varying extents. Each of these talents can function in acquiring
knowledge across all subject matter areas.
Students develop their talents while simultaneously growing in
knowledge. Traditional academic talent helps students gain knowledge
in a variety of disciplines, while the other thinking skills clusters assist
students in processing or using the knowledge to create new solutions
to problems
Taylor feels that if the Multiple Talent Approach to education is used in
greater numbers of our students, they will be successful both in and out
of school.
Nine out of ten children will be above average in at least one of these
Goals of the TU Model

Training teachers and other

instructional personnel in identifying
and nurturing students multiple
thinking abilities.
The development of materials to
support the integration of the thinking
processes into the curricula of the
classroom
Enhancing student performance in the
multiple talent skills including
academic achievement, creative
thinking, and self-concept.
Talent Areas Identified by Dr. Taylor:
A grouping of talents based on the needs of the world-of-work, specifying
the academic talent and five other type of thinking abilities:

Productive thinking

Decision making

Planning

Forecasting

Communication
 TU Inservice Educational Model in Mobile, AL

TU Conference 2015 in Alabama:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuZkCv9KvhA
Innovative educational program
Developed under a Title III Elementary and Secondary
Education Act grant in Mobile, Alabama, in 1971.
In service includes using the model in regular and gifted
programs.
Focused on teacher training
Schools with highly diverse populations
Applicable with students k-12
Talents Unlimited:
An Inservice Education Model for Teaching
Thinking Skills
Carol L. Schlichter The University of
Alabama
TU used in Stamford, CT
TU used in Stamford, CT
 TU Model in Gifted

Initial research with heterogeneous groups of students in the mainstream did not address
specific questions concerning the effectiveness of the model with gifted students.
Model appropriate for regular and gifted teachers and specialists.
A subsequent replication study using gifted students produced significant results for all
talents (Chissom & McLean, 1980).
Initial results from research confirm the usefulness of the TUmodel in identification and
instruction of gifted students.
More effective teacher referral of students with different kinds of outstanding abilities.
Talent assessment data on individual students helps to reduce referral of only students
with high scores on intelligence/achievement tests.
May lead to greater identification of minority and/or disadvantaged gifted children.
In research, successes in student talent development were as well represented in the
predominantly rural and black experimental schools as in the predominantly urban and
white middle-class experimental schools (Chissom & McLean, 1980).
 TU Model in Gifted Ed.

o . , GA :
F lo yd C
nt a ry , tc h ?
e me / w a
e r e ll El t ub e.com
Pepp /www.you
TU Model in Gifted Ed. :
:/
https n3XtyR_c Teachers are trained to provide systematic
u
v=Fx opportunities for all students in a class to develop
potential in all talent areas and especially in the one
or more talents identified as a students particular
strengths.

Group activities stimulate possibilities to pursue an

idea or project further

Group activities provide opportunities for training in

specific cognitive and affective skills.
 Resources

Talents Unlimited. A Critical and Creative Thinking Skills Model.

Awareness Packet. Talents Unlimited, Inc., Mobile, AL.PUB
DATE1995-00-00NOTE62p.;
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED411382.pdf
West Over Magnet http://www.westovermagnet.org/
https://prezi.com/kmpnltmw4sm2/talents-unlimited-model/ (pros-
cons)
Gifted Child Quarterly :Talents Unlimited: An Inservice
Education Model for Teaching Thinking Skills by Carol L.
Schlichter, July 1, 1986
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/001698628603000
305