The 2e Center for Research and Professional Development
Insightful, useful research is emerging in the study of twice-exceptional (2e) students—learners who are gifted yet also struggle to learn due to diagnosed learning differences. These students continue to present a conundrum to the world of education, and there is little in educational literature that clearly describes twice exceptionality or provides strategies for effectively meeting their needs in schools.
Educators recognize that students do not learn in the same way, nor do they necessarily attain concepts and acquire specific content and skills on proscribed schedule. While learning is continuous, it is not linear. Optimal teaching windows and progress occur at different times for each student, with outcomes heavily influenced by the student’s brain architecture and the interplay of innate ability, personal interests and opportunity.
The 2e Center for Research and Professional Development (The 2e Center) provides a forum for leading educators, therapists and scholars in the field of 2e education to collectively discover, develop and disseminate best-practices for effectively understanding and embracing twice exceptionality and cognitive diversity found among students in 21st century classrooms. The high degree of cognitive and developmental diversity within the 2e community provides many avenues for research that will lead to major contributions to the field of education.
Parents, teachers, and administrators who support the learning and complex social/emotional growth of 2e and cognitively diverse students require information and strategies to help meet the needs of these students. The 2e Center, as a theoretical and practical research, training and learning center, fills a gap which currently exists in educating, understanding and nurturing this unique population. As The 2e Center’s knowledgebase expands, policy makers will benefit as well. An understanding of the avenues for addressing cognitive diversity in 21st century classrooms should inform decisions impacting future educational reforms as well.
