Pre-K-Grade 12 Standards Introduction

- Coordinator of the Challenge Program
Tupelo Public School District, Mississippi

Helping to Map the Horizon

In 1998, NAGC developed and released the Pre-K -- Grade 12 Gifted Program Standards designed to assist school districts in examining the quality of their programming for gifted learners. Recognizing that the on-going evaluation and re-tooling of a successful gifted program is an evolutionary process, the NAGC Standards detail a framework including both minimum standards (nominal requirements for satisfactory programs) and exemplary standards (characteristics of excellence in gifted education programming).

What is a Standard?

According to Worthen, Sanders and Fitzpatrick (1997), a standard is a designated level of performance (based on pre-determined criteria) that must be achieved to signify programming success. Simply put, a standard establishes a solid blue print against which you can measure and adjust your own construction project (i.e. gifted program or services). In this particular case, you might imagine that NAGC has also developed blue prints for an "ideal building project" that you can strive to emulate as well, once you have a solid foundation in place.

The authors of the NAGC Standards were guided by the following principles:

• Standards are observable aspects of educational programming and are directly connected to the continuous growth and development of gifted learners.
  
  
• Standards represent professional consensus on critical practice in gifted education that almost everyone is likely to find acceptable.
  
  
• Standards should encourage but not dictate approaches of high quality.
  
  
• Standards represent both requisite program outcomes and standards for excellence.
  
  
• Standards establish the level of performance to which all educational school districts and agencies should aspire.
  

Putting the Standards to Use

Once you have a sense of "the horizon" established by the NAGC Pre-K -- Grade 12 Gifted Program Standards, they can serve as:

• Benchmarks for measuring the effectiveness of gifted programming;
  
  
• Criteria for program evaluation and assessment;
  
  
• Guidelines for program design and development;
  
  
• Recommendations of the minimal requirements necessary for high-quality educational programming designed to meet the needs of gifted students; and
  
  
• Tools for advocates of gifted education who are working on increasing the public's awareness of the needs of gifted and talented students in today's schools.