Coming Soon: The Catalytic Agency Model of Talent Development

Why do gifted, talented, and motivated students leave behind the comfort of home, their local schools, and the friends and teachers they’ve known for years to take on something more demanding and more challenging? The answer, at its heart, comes down to dissatisfaction.In this six-part special series, ASMSA Executive Director Corey Alderdice introduces the Catalytic Agency Model of Talent Development, a new framework shaped by two decades of working with gifted learners. Across the episodes, he explores dissatisfaction as a signal of student agency, the intentionalities of Eclipse, Evolve, and Escape, and how these combine into paradigms of student experience. He unpacks the practical levers of acceleration, elevation, and separation, then devotes a full episode to Catalytic Agency itself — the rare but powerful state of comprehensive dissatisfaction that makes specialized and residential schools not just valuable, but essential.The series concludes with a call to educators, leaders, and policymakers: listen to dissatisfaction, honor student intentionality, and ensure that schools and systems are ready to respond.For additional thoughts from Corey, visit coreyalderdice.com.You can also follow him on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, BlueSky, YouTube, Instagram, and Threads.