Advocacy Toolkit

This toolkit is designed for state and local advocates in gifted education. You can find tools on general advocacy, basic facts about gifted education in the U.S., working with the media, advocating with your elected representatives, starting your own local group, and other strategies to advance the needs of gifted and talented learners. Feel free to download and reproduce the materials provided. Our advocacy toolkit includes information in the following areas:

1. Know Your Information - Check this out for fast facts about gifted and talented and why we need to advocate for students and programs!
   
   
2. Know Your Audience - Look here for information about who works on what issues and how to contact them.
   
   
3. Effective Advocacy - Read expert advice on how to effectively communicate with elected officials and the media.
   
   
4. Support Groups - Advocating as part of a group gives you strength. Here are some suggestions on forming and finding support groups.
   
   
5. Local Advocacy - Some of the most important decisions happen in your own community or school district, click here to learn more.
   
   State Advocacy - Advocating in your state? Check here for suggestions on how your state group can assess the legislative landscape.
   
   Federal Advocacy - Learn more about the legislative process so you can effectively communicate with Congress.
   
   
6. Legislative Update - Read about current issues in Congress.
   
   
7. NAGC Resources- NAGC has two advocacy resources on state-related policy and practices.  Visit the NAGC bookstore for the 2010-2011 State of the States  Report, which is available on a thumbdrive and the Guide to State Policies in Gifted Education, on CD-ROM.  In addition, you’ll find poems and drawings expressing how gifted children, their parents, and teachers experience being gifted in the classroom at In Our Own Words.  Advocates can use this art to help explain why quality gifted education is important.