From The Washington Coalition For Gifted Education – May 15th
NAGC and its advocacy partners are gearing up for some activity in the Congress in support of gifted students in the next month. Today they are asking for your help in advancing the TALENT Act in the Senate. The TALENT Act, which was introduced by Senators Grassley (IA), Casey (PA), and Mikulski (MD), amends ESEA to support high-ability and high-achieving students.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is preparing to revisit the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in June. This is the chance to include the TALENT Act (S.512), and gifted students, in those discussions.
The best way to ensure success for the TALENT Act is to have more Senators cosponsor the bill, and it’s your calls and emails that will make the difference. Please contact your two Senators as soon as possible and urge them to support gifted students by becoming a cosponsor of S.512.
Contact information for Washington’s senators can be found at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=WA
You can send your emails from this page.
The TALENT Act focuses on four areas: 1) Requires that states report on students who have performed at advanced levels on state tests and to disaggregate the data by subpopulations. The data is already available; it is a matter of making it public and increasing awareness of how states educate their gifted students, including those from poverty, 2) Requires professional development in identifying and serving high-potential and high-achieving students to teachers and other school personnel through the Higher Education Act, 3) Allows Title I funds (provided to schools serving low-income populations) and funds from the Rural Education Achievement Program to be used for teacher training in gifted education pedagogy. This will help address the frightening gap between how different income and racial groups of students perform at advanced academic levels, and, 4) Continues research and dissemination of information on how high-ability children learn and how they are best taught.
For more on the TALENT Act, go to http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=7804
If you are looking for summer enrichment activities for your gifted student, here are two opportunities from The Seabury School. Provision of this information does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation.