Center for Talented Youth
Encyclopedia
The Center for Talented Youth (CTY) is a gifted education
Gifted education
Gifted education is a broad term for special practices, procedures and theories used in the education of children who have been identified as gifted or talented...

 program for school-age children, founded in 1979 by Dr. Julian Stanley
Julian Stanley
Dr. Julian Cecil Stanley was a psychologist, an educator, and an advocate of accelerated education for academically gifted children...

 at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

. It was initially a research study of the rate at which gifted
Intellectual giftedness
Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is different from a skill, in that skills are learned or acquired behaviors...

 children can learn new material and became the first program of its kind to identify academically talented youths and provide learning opportunities. CTY offers numerous programs around the world and online but is best known for its fast-paced Summer Programs, which are held on many university campuses throughout the United States and the world and serve over 10,000 students each year. CTY is an accredited school for grades 5 to 12 by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association dedicated to educational excellence and improvement through peer evaluation and accreditation...

.

Other names

CTY has held several previous names. Dr. Stanley's research groups, the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth
Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth
The Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth is a study project and was founded by Dr Julian Stanley in 1971 at the Johns Hopkins University. In 1986, it moved to Iowa State University, where it was headed by Dr Camilla Benbow until 1990, and from then on by Dr Benbow and Dr David Lubinski...

 (SMPY) and the Program for Verbally Gifted Youth (PVGY), were combined in the early 1980s to form the Office of Talent Identification and Development (OTID). OTID was renamed Center for Talented Youth, which was expanded to Center for the Advancement of Academically Talented Youth (CAATY) for a brief period. Later, CTY became the Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth (IAAY). However, most students, parents, schools, and staff members preferred to call it CTY, and the name was changed back in 1999.

Talent search

Generally from October to February each year, CTY's Talent Search recruits highly-able elementary and middle school students (who have scored at or above the 95th percentile
Percentile
In statistics, a percentile is the value of a variable below which a certain percent of observations fall. For example, the 20th percentile is the value below which 20 percent of the observations may be found...

 on in-grade standardized test
Standardized test
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a...

s) to qualify for CTY's academic programs. Applicants then take a standardized test that is above their grade level, beyond the ability of most children their age.
  • Students in the 2nd to 4th grades take the School and College Ability Test
    School and College Ability Test
    The School and College Ability Test , is a standardized test conducted in the United States, that measures math and verbal reasoning abilities.This test is for gifted children only. SCAT is a test to test your talent and to see if you are a gifted student. The schools can also recommend you to go...

     (SCAT) at the Elementary level, administered by either CTY or Prometric
    Prometric
    Prometric is a U.S. company in the test administration industry. Prometric operates a test center network composed of over 10,000 sites in 160 countries...

    .
  • Students in the 5th and 6th grades take the SCAT at the Intermediate and Secondary levels, respectively. Previously the PLUS test
    PLUS test
    The PLUS test is a test distributed by Johns Hopkins University. Qualification requirements are good scores on the ERB's. The PLUS test was taken from 5th grade to 6th grade to get into Johns Hopkins's Center for Talented Youth. The PLUS Test is not given any longer, instead the School and College...

     was used.
  • Students in the 7th to 11th grades take the SAT
    SAT
    The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...

     , ACT, or the advanced SCAT
    School and College Ability Test
    The School and College Ability Test , is a standardized test conducted in the United States, that measures math and verbal reasoning abilities.This test is for gifted children only. SCAT is a test to test your talent and to see if you are a gifted student. The schools can also recommend you to go...

    .


To qualify for CTY's primary summer program, CTY: Intensive Studies, a 7th grade student must score at roughly the 50th percentile achieved by graduating high school seniors. Younger students must pass somewhat lower thresholds based on grade level; applicants above 7th grade face correspondingly higher cutoffs. Students in 5th grade and above may optionally take CTY's Spatial Test Battery; high scorers on the STB face slightly lower SCAT or SAT requirements. CTY has considered other entrance criteria several times over the years, but found that SAT (et al.) remained the best predictor of student success in CTY courses.

CTY has another summer program, called CTY: Academic Explorations, formerly the Center for Academic Advancement (CAA), for gifted students in grades 7 to 11 who are in the top 2% of their age group. CTY: Academic Explorations is identical to CTY: Intensive Studies in most respects, aside from its slightly lower standardized test score threshold. CTY Distance Education courses have test score requirements similar (but not necessarily identical) to those of the summer programs.

CTY course eligibility is based on the math and/or verbal subscores, depending on the course's subject matter (e.g. science courses mainly require math, writing courses require verbal). Over 80000 students are tested each year, more than half of whom qualify for some portion of CTY's course offerings.

CTY Talent Search officially operates in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...

, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, Washington, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

, and the District of Columbia. Students from other states are officially served by sister programs such as Duke University's Talent Identification Program
Talent Identification Program
The Duke Talent Identification Program is a gifted education program based at Duke University. Its purpose is to identify gifted children and provide them and their parents the resources for them to reach their full educational potential....

 or Northwestern's Center for Talent Development; however, they do not offer as many programs or sites as CTY, so cross-registrations are allowed. Students from every state, and dozens of countries, participate in CTY programs each year.

Summer programs

The Summer Programs are CTY's hallmark and its most visible public face. Many people use the term "CTY" as a synonym for the 7th to 11th grade Intensive Studies summer program.

CTY sites typically host a few hundred students each, divided into a few dozen course sections, for one or two three-week sessions. Separate sites and courses are offered for each level of students (grades 2-4, grades 5-6, older students). Sites for the youngest group are commuter programs that students attend only in the daytime. All of the other sites are residential programs where most students live in college dormitories during the session, but a few in the local area may opt to commute.

Classes in CTY are small—usually 12 students, one instructor, and one teaching assistant (TA) per class, making the ratio of students to teachers 6:1.

CTY sites

CTY: Intensive Studies programs, for students in 7th grade and above, are held at the following sites:
  • Franklin & Marshall College
    Franklin & Marshall College
    Franklin & Marshall College is a four-year private co-educational residential national liberal arts college in the Northwest Corridor neighborhood of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States....

     - Lancaster, Pennsylvania
    Lancaster, Pennsylvania
    Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...

  • Johns Hopkins University
    Johns Hopkins University
    The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

     - Baltimore, Maryland
  • Dickinson College
    Dickinson College
    Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...

     - Carlisle, Pennsylvania
    Carlisle, Pennsylvania
    Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is traditionally pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough...

  • Hawaii Pacific University
    Hawaii Pacific University
    Hawaii Pacific University, also known as HPU, is a private, Nonsectarian, coeducational university located in Honolulu, Hawaii and Kaneohe, Hawaii. HPU founded in 1965 as Hawaii Pacific College by Paul C.T. Loo, Eureka Forbes, Elizabeth W...

     - Kaneohe, Hawaii
  • Loyola Marymount University
    Loyola Marymount University
    Loyola Marymount University is a comprehensive co-educational private Roman Catholic university in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions located in Los Angeles, California, United States...

     - Los Angeles, California
    Los Angeles, California
    Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

  • Princeton University
    Princeton University
    Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

     - Princeton, New Jersey
    Princeton, New Jersey
    Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...

     (Students who just completed 10th, 11th, or 12th grade only)
  • Skidmore College
    Skidmore College
    Skidmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students. The college is located in the town of Saratoga Springs, New York State....

     - Saratoga Springs, New York
    Saratoga Springs, New York
    Saratoga Springs, also known as simply Saratoga, is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 26,586 at the 2010 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area. While the word "Saratoga" is known to be a corruption of a Native American name, ...

  • Siena College
    Siena College
    Siena College is an independent Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Loudonville, in the town of Colonie, New York, United States. Siena is a four-year, coeducational, independent college in the Franciscan tradition, founded by the Franciscan Friars in 1937. It has 3,000 full-time students and...

      - Albany, New York
    Albany, New York
    Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

     (Closed down at end of 2008 due to insufficient students)


CTY: Academic Explorations programs, for the same grade range, are held at the following sites:
  • Moravian College
    Moravian College
    Moravian College a private liberal arts college, and the associated Moravian Theological Seminary are located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Lehigh Valley region.-History:...

     - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
    Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
    Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...

  • Roger Williams University
    Roger Williams University
    Roger Williams University, commonly abbreviated as RWU, is a private, coeducational American liberal arts university located on in Bristol, Rhode Island, above Mt. Hope Bay. Founded in 1956, it was named for theologian and Rhode Island cofounder Roger Williams...

     - Bristol, Rhode Island
    Bristol, Rhode Island
    Bristol is a town in and the historic county seat of Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,954 at the 2010 census. Bristol, a deepwater seaport, is named after Bristol, England....

  • Lafayette College
    Lafayette College
    Lafayette College is a private coeducational liberal arts and engineering college located in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. The school, founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter,son of General Andrew Porter of Norristown and citizens of Easton, first began holding classes in 1832...

     - Easton, Pennsylvania
    Easton, Pennsylvania
    Easton is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 26,800 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Northampton County....

  • University of California at Santa Cruz - Santa Cruz, California
    Santa Cruz, California
    Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...

  • California Lutheran University
    California Lutheran University
    California Lutheran University is a university of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Thousand Oaks, California.-Mission statement:The University's mission statement is as follows:...

     - Thousand Oaks, California
    Thousand Oaks, California
    Thousand Oaks is a city in southeastern Ventura County, California, in the United States. It was named after the many oak trees that grace the area, and the city seal is adorned with an oak....

  • Hawaii Pacific University
    Hawaii Pacific University
    Hawaii Pacific University, also known as HPU, is a private, Nonsectarian, coeducational university located in Honolulu, Hawaii and Kaneohe, Hawaii. HPU founded in 1965 as Hawaii Pacific College by Paul C.T. Loo, Eureka Forbes, Elizabeth W...

     - Kaneohe, Hawaii
  • College of Notre Dame of Maryland
    College of Notre Dame of Maryland
    Notre Dame of Maryland University is an independent, Catholic-affiliated, liberal arts college located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, that primarily serves female students.-History:...

     - Baltimore, Maryland


CTY summer programs for young students are available for students in grades 2-4 in the daytime, and for those in 5th and 6th grades as residential or daytime programs. They are held at the following sites:
  • Moravian College
    Moravian College
    Moravian College a private liberal arts college, and the associated Moravian Theological Seminary are located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Lehigh Valley region.-History:...

     - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
    Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
    Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...

  • Washington College
    Washington College
    Washington College is a private, independent liberal arts college located on a campus in Chestertown, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782...

     - Chestertown, Maryland
    Chestertown, Maryland
    Chestertown is a town in Kent County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,746 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Kent County. The ZIP code is 21620 and the area codes are 410 and 443...

  • Stanford University
    Stanford University
    The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

     - Palo Alto, California
    Palo Alto, California
    Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...

  • Mount Holyoke College
    Mount Holyoke College
    Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...

     - South Hadley, Massachusetts
    South Hadley, Massachusetts
    South Hadley is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,514 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area....

  • California Lutheran University
    California Lutheran University
    California Lutheran University is a university of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Thousand Oaks, California.-Mission statement:The University's mission statement is as follows:...

     - Thousand Oaks, California
    Thousand Oaks, California
    Thousand Oaks is a city in southeastern Ventura County, California, in the United States. It was named after the many oak trees that grace the area, and the city seal is adorned with an oak....

  • St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School - Alexandria, Virginia
    Alexandria, Virginia
    Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

  • Windward School
    Windward School
    Windward School is an independent school in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. It was founded by writer/teacher Shirley Windward in 1971...

     - Los Angeles, California
    Los Angeles, California
    Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

  • Garrison Forest School
    Garrison Forest School
    Garrison Forest School is a college preparatory school, in Owings Mills, Maryland, near Baltimore, with a nationally distinctive educational model. The school offers a day school for girls, pre-first through grade 12, as well as a coed program from ages two through kindergarten. The regional,...

     - Owings Mills, Maryland
    Owings Mills, Maryland
    Owings Mills is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Baltimore. The population was 20,193 at the 2000 census. Owings Mills is home to the northern terminus for the Baltimore Metro Subway and to Owings Mills Mall....

  • Maranatha High School
    Maranatha High School
    Maranatha High School is a college preparatory Christian private school in Pasadena, California. The mission of Maranatha High School is to prepare students for living lives of purpose and distinction, as reflected by character, competency and community...

     - Pasadena, California
    Pasadena, California
    Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

  • Sandy Spring Friends School
    Sandy Spring Friends School
    Sandy Spring Friends School is a Quaker pre-Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade co-educational college preparatory day school with optional five and seven day boarding programs in the Upper School. SSFS is located on a wooded campus in the historic Quaker community of Sandy Spring in the heart of...

     - Sandy Spring, Maryland
    Sandy Spring, Maryland
    Sandy Spring, Maryland is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Maryland.The community was founded by Quakers who arrived in the early 18th century searching for land where they could grow tobacco and corn. One of the very early land owners in the Sandy Spring area was Richard Snowden,...

  • St. Paul's School - Brooklandville, Maryland
    Brooklandville, Maryland
    Brooklandville is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States near where the Jones Falls Expressway meets the Baltimore Beltway. The general area is a part of Lutherville, and some addresses in the area are considered to be in Lutherville, though Brooklandville has a...


Other summer programs

CTY has recently begun to hold residential programs for students in 10th to 12th grade. Six advanced courses are offered at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

. This site has the same entry requirements as CTY for 7th to 11th graders; Students who already have qualified for CTY are still eligible for the Princeton Summer Program. Some courses also have prerequisites. In addition, the Civic Leadership Institute (CLI) (grades 10-12) hosts 80 students a year. An alliance between Northwestern's Civic Education Project and CTY with the same academic requirements as CTY: Academic Explorations, the CLI service-learning program was hosted last year at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland.

CTY International

CTY partners with numerous educational institutions around the world. For the most part, their programs and summer sites are hosted independently of CTY.
  • CTY Bermuda is operated by Bermuda's Institute for Talented Students in affiliation with CTY. http://ctybermuda.org/ The Center for Talented Youth (“CTY”) Bermuda, in affiliation with Johns Hopkins University CTY , offers after-school programs for Bermuda’a academically talented students. CTY Bermuda was founded in 2003 by Ms. Ricquette Bonne-Smith, who is currently its Executive Director.


Students, aged 8–16 years of age, qualify for acceptance in the program based on written scores achieved on the College Bound SAT and SCAT examinations administered by Johns Hopkins University CTY. Acceleration and enrichment programs include:
• Mathematics (arithmetic through advanced calculus)
• Science (Young scientists, marine science, medical science, physics)
• Language arts
• Economics (Microeconomics in the global economy)
• International relations / global politics
• Finance
• Art

Since 2005, CTY Bermuda, in collaboration with the University of Waterloo, Department of Mathematics, has held a Mathematics Olympiad for young mathematicians. Overall winners have included:
• 2005 Matthew Witkowski
• 2006 Amee Baker
• 2007 Ceilidh Blood
• 2008 Ceilidh Blood
• 2009 Aanika Rahman
• 2010 Graydon Kilgour Flatt
• 2011 Graydon Kilgour Flatt
  • CTY China is a CTY sub-unit at the University of Nanjing, exclusively available to high school
    High school
    High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

     students.
  • CTY Hong Kong S.A.R. is joint program with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
    Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is a public university located in Hong Kong. Established in 1991 under Hong Kong Law Chapter 1141 , it is one of the nine universities in Hong Kong.Professor Tony F. Chan is the president of HKUST...

     available those who will have completed grades 7 through 9.
  • CTY España is a CTY International Charter Member.
  • CTY Ireland
    Centre for the Talented Youth of Ireland
    The Centre for the Talented Youth of Ireland is a youth programme for students between the ages of six and sixteen of high academic ability in Ireland....

     (CTYI) is operated by Dublin City University
    Dublin City University
    Dublin City University is a university situated between Glasnevin, Santry, Ballymun and Whitehall on the Northside of Dublin in Ireland...

    .
  • CTY Mexico is a CTY sub-unit at Tecnologico de Monterrey, in the city of Monterrey, available to grades 7-12.
  • CTY Thailand is operated by Mae Fah Luang University
    Mae Fah Luang University
    Mae Fah Luang University, situated in the province of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, is named after Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother , the beloved mother of the current king of Thailand. Mae Fah Luang was the name given to her by the local people in Chiang Rai. It is an autonomous public...

    .
  • The United Kingdom's National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth
    National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth
    The National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth was based at the University of Warwick in Britain and was founded in 2002 by a government initiative for high-achieving secondary students in England. It closed in August 2007, after Warwick University decided not to apply for the new contract...

     (NAGTY) was founded on CTY's program model. Each year approximately three students from the United States and three students from the UK switch places; however, in 2007 it was 7 students.

Student life

During a three-week summer session of CTY (here denoting the two programs for students in the 7th grade and above), students engage in numerous site-sponsored activities. The amount of scheduled time versus free time varies by site, but all sites share the same basic outline for the weekday agenda. Students eat breakfast at roughly 7 to 8 a.m., sometimes with their hall (the group of students living in the same dorm hall, which is supervised by a Residential Assistant). This is followed by class from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., divided into morning and afternoon class sessions by an hour for lunch, and interrupted by short breaks.

After the afternoon class session ends, the more social side of the weekday schedule ensues. Students attend two roughly hour-long activity sessions, which they select each day from a list of activities. This list is fairly diverse; it will typically combine standard pastimes, such as cloudwatching, card/board games, various discussion or debate groups, sports (depending on campus facilities), or improv, with a more idiosyncratic selection of activities, often obscure or impenetrably titled, such as Silent Football
Silent Football
Silent Football is a group game composed of three major elements: Football, the Quiet Game, and Parliamentary procedure, consisting mainly of the passing of an imaginary football. Silent Football requires little set up: only a quiet space with room enough for three or more players to form a...

, "Cranberry Unicorn Breakdown," fun with duct tape
Duct tape
Duct tape, or duck tape, is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure sensitive tape often sealed with polyethylene. It is very similar to gaffer tape but differs in that gaffer tape was designed to be cleanly removed, while duct tape was not. It has a standard width of and is generally silver or black...

, or "The Worst Activity Ever."

Activities are followed by an hour and a half of dinner and free time. Following this is two hours of study hall, ending at 9 p.m., in which students complete curricular work or readings, supervised by the Teaching Assistant for the class. Students then have some free time on their campus's quad before a lights-out that occurs typically at 10:30 p.m.

CTY puts heavy emphasis on this social aspect of CTY, encouraging social interaction over solitary activities, and schedules class time and social time separately to avoid overwhelming students and to promote community and social development. Although there are no classes during weekends, most sites will hold all-site events on Friday evening and Saturday throughout the day, ranging from staff performances to game shows to carnivals. In additional, every site holds at least one dance each weekend, and on the day before session ends. Sundays are generally left open, with the exception of a study hall session in the evening to replace Friday's study hall.

The attention paid to social interaction has resulted in a number of unofficial student traditions. Prominent among these is the song "American Pie" by Don McLean
Don McLean
Donald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...

, which has been played at nearly every dance since CTY's inception in 1979. At many sites, the session concludes with a student-led early morning toast (usually around 6:00am), referred to as "The Passionfruit," held before class on the last day. This toast is usually led by older students who are attending their last year at CTY. They are often referred to as "nevermores".

Student evaluations

In general, CTY students are not given traditional letter grades. Instead, they are given page-long written evaluations composed by the instructor with input from the teaching assistant. The evaluations are signed by the instructor and sometimes by the teaching assistant and must be approved individually by the Site Director. The CTY Instructor's Handbook suggests writing three types of evaluations which correspond roughly to grades of "high pass," "pass," and "low pass."

These specific terms are not used, since they suggest traditional grading, but instructors generally follow the suggestions of the Handbook and write three boilerplate evaluations. Students are ranked into three groups and receive a corresponding evaluation to which personalized remarks specific to the student are added, e.g. "Your story, Motel Saturday Night showed both biting satire and keen understanding of U.S. oil policy." The difference between the three types of evaluations may be subtle.

The specific exception to this rule is in the case of courses designed specifically to enable students to skip classes in their high schools, such as Individually Paced Mathematics Sequence or the three Fast Paced High School science courses. Students in these courses do receive letter grades so that their schools can gauge their performances; however, they also receive individualized comments from their instructors.

CTYOnline

CTY also offers distance education
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...

 courses through CTYOnline, with similar eligibility standards to the Summer Programs. CTY's distance courses began in 1983 with the "Writing Tutorials" through postal mail; this course migrated to email in the 1990s, and now uses Moodle
Moodle
Moodle is a free source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment...

. CTYOnlines course offerings have expanded from math and writing into many subject areas, including economics, foreign language, programming, and the physical sciences. CTYOnline now serves over 8000 students per year, and is expected to surpass the Summer Program's head count in the near future. Additional distance students can be enrolled by adding an instructor and a computer or two, whereas expanding a summer site requires a great deal of staffing and logistics. They also offer Advanced Placement courses such as AP Biology, AP Calculus etc...

Students usually receive assignments through the Internet and turn in their work the same way. The most common examples are by email and through a website, although many also use CD-ROMs and/or downloaded files. Some courses, such as writing, require students to complete an assignment by a deadline before receiving a new assignment. Other courses, such as accelerated math, are individually paced; each student may complete as much material as they can within the given enrollment period.

Other CTY programs

  • Family Academic Programs, also known as Conferences, are collections of seminars and hands-on activities in various locations around the world.
  • The Study of Exceptional Talent is a longitudinal study
    Longitudinal study
    A longitudinal study is a correlational research study that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time — often many decades. It is a type of observational study. Longitudinal studies are often used in psychology to study developmental trends across the...

     of Talent Search participants who scored 700 or above on the math or verbal section of the SAT before age 13, such as Terence Tao
    Terence Tao
    Terence Chi-Shen Tao FRS is an Australian mathematician working primarily on harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, combinatorics, analytic number theory and representation theory...

    .
  • Imagine is an educational magazine aimed at middle and high school students.
  • Cogito is a website where students recognized by the CTY can join a community to discuss a wide variety of topics with other students and leading academic figures.

Publicity

  • CTY was featured in a July 2004 article in The New Yorker magazine entitled "Nerd Camp".
  • Nickelodeon is producing a movie about CTY, also entitled "Nerd Camp". The movie is being written by Adam Stzykiel.
  • CTY was shown in an hour long CNN special on gifted children in 2006.

CTY alumni and students

CTY is home to many students of great academic ability. Achievements and recognitions for CTY students include:
  • 6 of 32 American Recipients of the 2006 Rhodes Scholarship
    Rhodes Scholarship
    The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...

    .
  • at least 32 Rhodes Scholarship winners since the year 2000.
  • numerous top finishers in the Intel Science Talent Search
    Intel Science Talent Search
    The Intel Science Talent Search , known for its first 57 years as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search is a research-based science competition in the United States for high school seniors. It has been referred to as "the nation's oldest and most prestigious" science competition. In his speech...

    , including the first-place winner in 2005.
  • numerous award winners in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
    Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
    The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the largest pre-college scientific research event in the world, and is owned and administered by the Society for Science & the Public a 501 non-profit organization based in Washington, DC...

    , including a grand prize winner in 2007.
  • at least 2 winners of the Siemens Westinghouse Competition
    Siemens Westinghouse Competition
    The Siemens Competition is a science competition funded by the Siemens Foundation and administered by the College Board.- Eligibility requirements :The Siemens Competition is open to high school students who are citizens or permanent residents of the US...

    .
  • 2 contestants in the 2006 National Geographic Bee
    National Geographic Bee
    The National Geographic Bee is an annual geography contest sponsored by the National Geographic Society. The bee, held every year since 1989, is open to students in the fourth through eighth grade in participating American schools.The entities represented at the national level are all fifty U.S....

     national-level competition.
  • numerous participants in the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament
    Jeopardy! Teen Tournament
    The Jeopardy! Teen Tournament is one of the traditional tournaments held each season on the TV quiz show Jeopardy! Contestants in this tournament are primarily high school students, and between the ages of thirteen and seventeen...

    , including winners Graham Gilmer, David Walter, and Meryl Federman.
  • 1 contestant in the 2006 National Ocean Sciences Bowl
    National Ocean Sciences Bowl
    The National Ocean Sciences Bowl is a national, high-school science competition sponsored by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program and managed by the which started in the 1970s. It uses a quiz-bowl format, with lockout buzzers and extended team challenge questions to test students on...

     national-level competition.
  • Sergey Brin
    Sergey Brin
    Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin is a Russian-born American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the largest internet companies. , his personal wealth is estimated to be $16.7 billion....

    , co-founder of Google.
  • Lady Gaga
    Lady GaGa
    Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...

    , popular musician.
  • George Hotz
    George Hotz
    George Francis Hotz , alias geohot, million75 or simply mil, is an American hacker known for unlocking the iPhone, allowing the phone to be used with other wireless carriers, contrary to AT&T and Apple's intent...

    , who became famous as the first person to hack the iPhone.
  • Emer Jones
    Emer Jones
    Emer Jones is an Irish student from Tralee, County Kerry. She was the winner of the 44th Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2008 at the age of thirteen. becoming the competition's youngest ever winner at that time...

    , who was the youngest winner of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, attended the Irish Centre For Talented Youth in Dublin
    Centre for the Talented Youth of Ireland
    The Centre for the Talented Youth of Ireland is a youth programme for students between the ages of six and sixteen of high academic ability in Ireland....

    .
  • Evanna Lynch
    Evanna Lynch
    Evanna Patricia Lynch is an Irish actress who rose to prominence playing Luna Lovegood, a supporting role in the Harry Potter film series adapted from the book series of the same name. Lynch was cast as Luna at the age of 14, having previously acted only in school plays...

    , who portrays Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies, attended the Irish Centre For Talented Youth in Dublin.
  • Gary Marcus
    Gary Marcus
    Gary F. Marcus is a research psychologist whose work focuses on language, biology, and the mind. Dr. Marcus is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at New York University and Director of the NYU Infant Language Center...

    , a research psychologist and the author of Kluge.
  • Matt Zimmerman
    Matt Zimmerman (Technologist)
    Matt Zimmerman is a technologist and free software and open source developer. Zimmerman has been working for Canonical Ltd. as the technical leader of the Ubuntu project, chairman of the Ubuntu technical board and CTO of the project. At Canonical, Zimmerman coordinated technological decisions...

    , chief technologist of Ubuntu
    Ubuntu (operating system)
    Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...

    .
  • Mark Zuckerberg
    Mark Zuckerberg
    Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...

    , founder of Facebook
    Facebook
    Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

     and Time Person of the Year 2010.


Many CTY alumni go on to attend Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

 and top tier universities: MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

, Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

, University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

, the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

, Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...

, the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...

, Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

, and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

.

See also

  • Johns Hopkins University
    Johns Hopkins University
    The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

  • Dr. Julian Stanley
    Julian Stanley
    Dr. Julian Cecil Stanley was a psychologist, an educator, and an advocate of accelerated education for academically gifted children...

  • Centre for the Talented Youth of Ireland
    Centre for the Talented Youth of Ireland
    The Centre for the Talented Youth of Ireland is a youth programme for students between the ages of six and sixteen of high academic ability in Ireland....

  • Rocky Mountain Talent Search
    Rocky Mountain Talent Search
    The Rocky Mountain Talent Search is a talent search program based at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado for students in the states of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, Montana, and Wyoming with high academic achievement...

    , University of Denver
    University of Denver
    The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....

  • Talent Identification Program
    Talent Identification Program
    The Duke Talent Identification Program is a gifted education program based at Duke University. Its purpose is to identify gifted children and provide them and their parents the resources for them to reach their full educational potential....

    , Duke University
    Duke University
    Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

  • Imagine Magazine
  • Cogito.org
    Cogito.org
    Cogito is a Web site and online community for gifted middle and high school students interested in math and science. The site connects these students with peers from around the world who share a passion for the two fields, and with professionals already working in various disciplines...

  • Gifted
  • Gifted Education
    Gifted education
    Gifted education is a broad term for special practices, procedures and theories used in the education of children who have been identified as gifted or talented...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK