Mandated Services for Gifted Education A Call to Action by the Minnesota Educators of the Gifted and Talented www.mnegt.org

Purpose Current Minnesota state legislation requires and provides dollars for school districts to identify gifted and talented learners, as well as have procedures in place for their acceleration and early entry to kindergarten and/or first grade. While this legislation is a step in the right direction, it falls short of requiring districts to provide full academic services for gifted and talented students. Without a mandate for academic programming, professional development, and fiscal accountability, students across the state receive inconsistent opportunities. This position paper articulates why Minnesota should expand mandated services for gifted students, and how educators and other stakeholders might influence the process.

Mandated Services Defined A mandate is a law created to ensure a certain course of action. An expanded gifted education mandate would require school districts to have a process for program identification, academic gifted services and programing, professional development specific to the needs of gifted students, and accountability measures for state provided gifted funding. Education for gifted students has come a long way since the seminal Marland Report was issued in 1972. Including Minnesota, there are 34 states in the US that have some gifted education mandates in the form of legislation, regulations, rules, or guidelines for gifted and talented young people. The majority of these states also fund their gifted and talented programs in some capacity. Currently, in Minnesota there is a mandate for identification, acceleration, and early childhood entrance to kindergarten and/or first grade. In the fiscal year 2014 - 2015, Minnesota supports the mandate with funding at $13 dollars per student. However, there is no current mandate surrounding full academic programming, the accountability of funding, and professional development for gifted educators. According to the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), Maryland and Vermont currently mandate all of the research-based best practice elements for gifted education. They provide a model for us to emulate.

Rationale for Expanding Mandated Services Whether gifted children’s abilities are noticed and developed in Minnesota depends largely on where they live and which school they attend. As a result of financial and other factors, including attitudes and staff capacity, many districts do not provide gifted services. Because these services are not required by law, it is up to the discretion of independent school districts. Thus, students’ addresses determine whether they will have access to the curriculum, instructional strategies, and teachers that can best meet their needs. It is an unfortunate, yet commonly held belief that gifted students, by definition, are highly motivated, high achieving, and successful in school. (NAGC, 2007) Schools and districts may assume that the general curriculum is adequate to meet the needs of gifted students, and with tight budgets, local school districts may eliminate or reduce gifted programming believing that these students “will make it on their own.” The goal of guaranteeing that all children will have the opportunity to reach their academic potential is called into question if educational policies, procedures, and practices don’t pertain to every student in the state. The history of special education services provides a model that can inform advocates for gifted education. Students with special needs who were underserved in the past, now have access to education that meets their needs thanks to federal and state laws demanding that school districts program for them.

Recommendations While influencing changes in law takes time and is not easy, each of us can move the conversation about meeting the needs of gifted students in the direction we hope for Minnesota. According to public school champion, Jamie Vollmers, positive, ongoing discussions between educators and the public can change public consciousness to improve our schools. To influence policy makers, Vollmers encourages individual staff members to talk informally with the people who populate their social networks -family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances- to benefit from the social capital we have to make change. (www.jamievollmer.com) The board of the MEGT agrees with Vollmers and calls on its members to participate in moving Minnesota to legislate a mandate that will require and fund all of the research-based practices of gifted education. Members can participate in this call to action in the following ways:









Access former MEGT position papers for talking points about what gifted students need. (www.mnegt.org)



Talk with parents in your district about why laws are needed to ensure an appropriate education for gifted students.



Engage with parent groups, such as parent/teacher organizations, and the Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented (MCGT), letting them know how laws will ensure that the needs of gifted students will be met.



Continue your conversations with your colleagues about the importance of gifted education services.



Participate in dialogue with those in your professional organizations about the need for more consistency across the state in providing gifted education services.



Discuss gifted student needs with your school administration.



Involve the business community in the discourse of the importance of nurturing talent to positively impact workforce strength.



Form alliances with other groups who would support gifted and talented learners such as arts groups, STEM initiatives, technology associations.



Support legislators who are advocates for gifted education with your emails and dollars.



Join with MEGT to petition and lobby for mandates in gifted education.

Resources Gifted Child Quarterly, Vol. 51 Number 3. Summer 2007, National Association for Gifted Children https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=120b.15 http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/state_policy_federal_policies_10000.aspx http://www.understandingspecialeducation.com/special-education-law.html http://www.nagc.org/sites/default/files/Gifted-by-State/Table%20C%20%28mandates%20%20funding%29.pdf http://www.jamievollmer.com/the-conversation.html

MEGT Feburary 2015