Enrichment Cluster HEad

The Enrichment Cluster Database

Joseph S. Renzulli
Angela Housand

Enrichment Clusters have been the "growth stock" of our Schoolwide Enrichment Model, and we have seen so many exciting examples of creative ideas for clusters and creative teaching that we thought it might be a good idea to develop a system for sharing these ideas with teachers and schools interested in initiating or expanding their Enrichment Cluster programs. Numerous teachers from around the country have responded to a survey that requested information about cluster titles, descriptions, and the curricular area(s) and grade levels for which these clusters were developed. These clusters have been put into a searchable database that can be accessed at no cost by interested persons.

We believe that this database has three uses that will help teachers develop and expand their high-end learning services to students.
  1. Teachers can find and replicate clusters that have been developed by other teachers.
  2. Teachers can adapt and modify clusters in the database to incorporate their own ideas and innovative ways of approaching the facilitation of a particular topic or area of study. They can also combine approaches that have been used in two or more clusters.
  3. Teachers can contribute their unique ideas for original or adapted clusters to the database, thereby insuring that this vehicle for idea-sharing will continue to grow and take advantage of the unlimited creative ideas of teachers using this approach to providing enrichment experiences for students.
A brief article about the Enrichment Cluster concept and some of the How-To for developing an Enrichment Cluster can be found here. Accessing and searching this database is quite simple. Merely type the content, subject, grade level, topic, and/or interest area of your search into the search box and click "search". [You can use AND, OR, NOT, and parentheses. Surround an exact phrase with quotation marks.] If you do not find a few (or even several) examples that meet your needs, consider using general terms like science, social studies, or plants. Then, it is a matter of using the idea or example to create your own, personalized Enrichment Cluster. Good luck on expanding your idea repertoire.


Joe