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An Interview with Joel McIntosh publisher of Prufrock Press Inc
- By Michael F. Shaughnessy Senior Columnist EdNews.org
- Published 04/25/2007
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Michael F. Shaughnessy Senior Columnist EdNews.org
Dr. Shaughnessy is currently Professor in Educational Studies and is a Consulting Editor for Gifted Education International and Educational Psychology Review. In addition, he writes for www.EdNews.org and the International Journal of Theory and Research in Education. He has taught students with mental retardation, learning disabilities and gifted. He is on the Governor's Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Council and the Gifted Education Advisory Board in New Mexico. He is also a school psychologist and conducts in-services and workshops on various topics.
View all articles by Michael F. Shaughnessy Senior Columnist EdNews.orgSenior Columnist EdNews.org
Eastern New Mexico University
Joel McIntosh is publisher of Prufrock Press Inc., the nation's leading resource for gifted and advanced learners. In this interview, he discusses what he publishes, why he publishes it, and the importance of sharing information and materials for parents and teachers of gifted kids.
1) First of all, how long has Prufrock Press been in existence?
Prufrock Press has been in business for more than 18 years. It began in 1988, when I was teaching gifted students in a small town in Texas. I began attending gifted conferences in the mid-1980s and discovered creative teachers who were willing to share their lessons, units, and projects, and scholars who were willing to share their research findings. I remember thinking, "Why isn't someone publishing these great ideas?" At that point, I just got tired of waiting, rolled up my sleeves, and started Prufrock Press.
2) What is your mission statement if you will?
Prufrock Press is the leading publisher supporting the education of gifted and talented children. With more than 300 titles, we are the most comprehensive source of research-based supplementary curricular materials, professional development products, textbooks, testing instruments, and periodicals developed for the field of gifted and talented education. In addition, we have a mission to make a powerful difference in the lives of gifted and talented children, striving to provide quality materials and cutting-edge research that meets the unique and ever-changing needs of this population.
3) What kinds of requests do you get from parents and teachers?
Primarily, we are contacted by parents who are frustrated with having few, if any, gifted services at their child's school and don't know what to do. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do if a gifted child program is not already in place. We can offer parents materials to use with their child at home, but we cannot force a school to adopt a new program or to use new books. We do have two books in progress to help parents discover ways to advocate for their gifted children—one a joint project with NAGC and one a practical guide for parents of gifted children by the writer of our Gifted Child Information blog, Carol Fertig.
As for teachers, many of them follow the trend of keeping gifted students in the general classroom. Therefore, we've a released a number of books on differentiating for gifted kids so that the needs of all students can be served in one classroom. These books include Strategies for Differentiating Instruction and a series of books called Differentiating Instruction With Menus for math, science, language arts, and social studies. We also continuously aim to create and publish unique and challenging activity books for teachers to use with their gifted students in and out of the gifted classroom.
4) How often do you publish materials?
Prufrock publishes three quarterly professional journals (GiftedChildToday, Journal for the Education of the Gifted, and
5) What kinds of articles or books are you looking for?
Education should not be boring for any child, so we like to publish books that offer an innovative approach to teaching, such as using simulations, problem-based learning, and hands-on investigation. Our books are based on standards, but we prefer to address standards in a creative way that is not found with other publishers. Our books for teens typically focus on the needs of advanced and special-needs learners.
6) Do parents seem to be more concerned or more involved with their gifted children's education nowadays?
They have to be. The No Child Left Behind Act has devastated gifted education programs by draining funds in an attempt to bring all students to the same proficiency level in academics. As many parents have pointed out, it's really the gifted child who is being left behind. Parents have no choice but to step up and take on advocacy for gifted education. They're forced to take it upon themselves, in most cases, to see that their children are properly challenged and educated.
7) How many libraries approximately subscribe to Prufrock Press?
Prufrock actively services 40,000 national and international customers with journals and books.
8) This may seem like a strange question, but where did the name Prufrock Press come from?
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot describes, among other things, one person's feelings of isolation and belief that he is incapable of being understood. I think this man's feelings resemble those felt by many gifted kids in today's world, and by naming my company "Prufrock Press," I tried to establish a theme for our publications, a theme that says, "We understand how you feel, and we're here to give you what you need."
9) What types of educational materials are you looking for currently?
We really serve two levels of education: the K-12 level and the gifted teacher's professional development. In our K-12 products, our main concern is to have materials that really challenge the students and encourage outside the box learning, while adhearing to national standards. More specifically, we are aggressively seeking books for teachers of mathematics, science, and history. We also love to see difficult but engaging books that teach logical and critical thinking, like the recent publication Logic on Meadow Brook Lane.
10 ) Do you foster enrichment, acceleration, or both?
Many people think of these areas as "either/or" and feel they must choose one over the other. However, a good education program is a rich mix of both. This is achieved through specific pedagogies and learning environments, among other things. At Prufrock, we incorporate a variety of elements in our texts to give teachers the tools for fostering both enrichment and acceleration, so that the two can go hand-in-hand, as they should.
11) What question have I neglected to ask?
So where does Prufrock go next? With the recent launch of our Journal of Advanced Academics, we're ready to address what is appropriate for advanced learners of all ages. We're beginning to focus more on college prep and special opportunities for gifted learners, specifically with the release of Summer Opportunities for College-Bound Teens this fall.Although we'll always keep the education of gifted children our core theme, we're branching out to serve a broader spectrum of the gifted and talented.
Published April 25, 2007
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