Programs
Enrichment and credit-bearing, accelerated programs designed for students at every age and stage of talent development.
Gifted India Network
Center for Talent Development (CTD) is a founding member of the Gifted India Network, which provides resources for parents and educators on the topics of gifted education, talent development, and enrichment programs for youth. Gifted India Network is a joint initiative with Educational Initiatives (Ei), GenWise, and the Agastya International Foundation. It seeks to be the premier resource for parents and educators in India and the Middle East who are working to identify students’ talents and support gifted children with the best possible enrichment and accelerated learning opportunities for developing their potential.
Online Enrichment and Leadership Programs
CTD's Civic Education Project is pleased to offer courses in Leadership and STEM education for Gifted India Network students in Spring & Summer 2023.
Provide motivated learners the chance to explore topics of interest in depth and with the support of experienced instructors. Course activities develop critical and creative thinking as students engage with content that inspires excitement and further interest in the domain.
Gifted Education, Talent Development, and the Center for Talent Development Approach
Center for Talent Development (CTD) is a recognized leader in gifted education within the US and internationally, with a 40 years history of serving students, families and educators. CTD has developed an array of program options for academically talented students from pre-K through the end of secondary school designed to recognize talent and provide pathways for students to grow and develop their special abilities.
CTD’s Talent Development approach to gifted education, shared by all collaborators in the Network, promotes these core ideas:
- Talents and passions need to be identified and nurtured.
- Talents can be developed through learning and practice.
- Talent development requires more than content knowledge; it takes supporting the student holistically to develop critical psychosocial skills.
Giftedness is not a state of being. It’s a process--a journey--that involves developing potential into achievement in an area of interest and passion.
You can learn more about talent development and its stages on the CTD website.
Talent Identification
As a founding member of the Gifted India Network, CTD cooperates with Ei ASSET Talent Search (Ei-ATS) to provide easier access to advanced learning opportunities available through CTD to students in India.
Top-scoring students from Ei ASSET Talent Search have the chance to apply for CTD’s Core Essentials, Enrichment, Weekend at Home, and Honors online courses and its Grade 6-8 (Spectrum) summer program, held on Northwestern University's Evanston, Illinois, US campus, as score criteria applicants (students with qualifying above-grade-level test scores). Learn more about the full range of CTD programs on the Programs web page. All Ei ASSET students are eligible for CTD open enrollment courses, including CTD's Online Family Program and Pathfinders.
Ei-ATS is a brand of Educational Initiatives (Ei). Ei is an educational assessment and research company working to improve the quality of student learning in schools. Ei creates and administers the Ei ASSET Test (India’s largest diagnostic assessment test) to private schools from CBSE, ICSE, and State Boards covering 400,000 students throughout India, UAE, Kuwait, and Singapore each year. Ei also works with government schools from states across India and has conducted large scale benchmarking studies for more than 10 million students.
Ei-ATS serves as a platform where academically gifted students can come into their own and hone their inherent potential. The realization and validation of being academically talented goes a long way in molding students into accomplished individuals.
International students also have the option to participate in above-grade-level testing through CTD Assessment. Options include the following:
- Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT®) administered online, remote format for students grades 3-9
- Iowa AssessmentsTM administered in an online, remove format for students grades 3-9
- Official SAT Practice Test hosted online by Khan Academy with CTD resources for students grades 6-9
- SAT® administered at sites managed by College Board with CTD resources for students age 13 through grade 9
Talent Development
High performers have a wealth of academic programs to choose from, provided by Gifted India Network founding members.
GenWise Summer Program: The flagship program for students in grades 6, 7, 8, and 9. Students from across India come together for a 3-week long residential academic experience. Ei-ATS high performers will have access to the advanced courses in the summer program
GenWise Online Advanced Courses: Advanced online courses are available through the year on a wide variety of subjects that enhance critical thinking skills and provide domain exposure.
GenWises In-Person Programs: Non-residential programs in Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Dubai for students in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8. The programs allow students to dive deeply into their academic passions through hands-on and minds-on activities.
Agastya Programs for Highly Able Children: Students will be eligible to participate in Agastya's online and residential programs. Agastya International Foundation has over two decades of widely acclaimed work, contacting more than 20 million children from rural and underserved communities, promoting curiosity and creativity driven hands-on learning. Agastya has done Government funded pilot projects in identifying and nurturing gifted children in the rural areas and participated actively in the launch of the Prime Minister’s Innovative Learning Program in 2019. To accelerate and upscale these initiatives to identify and nurture highly able children, Agastya has formed Navam Innovation Foundation in collaboration with Pravaha Foundation with the intent of establishing 10 campuses across India.
Center for Talent Development Programs: High performing students have the opportunity to apply to CTD's wide array of enrichment and accelerated, credit-bearing online courses and its residential summer programs as score criteria applicants (students with qualifying above-grade-level test scores).
- Online courses are available for students in grades 3 through 11 in flexibly paced, asynchronous formats, so students can learn anytime, any place, as well as live, synchronous formats where students work in real-time with peers and instructors.
- Select online courses are available at times convenient to international participants.
- Summer residential programs with formats of 3 to 5 weeks are available for students in grade 6-12 and are held at Northwestern University’s campus in Evanston, Illinois, US.
Collaborator Website Links
Learn more about the founding members of the Gifted India Network.
Agastya International Foundation
Professional Learning for Educators
Center for Talent Development hosts a variety of online professional learning workshops, and produces and curates resources for educators throughout the year. Learn more on the CTD Schools and Educators website and check the CTD Events Page for upcoming sessions.
Explore the Gifted India Network Web Page
Identify. Assess. Enrich.
Resources for parents and educators. Exceptional programs for students.