Advocate for Gifted Children

1. Do your homework

Before picking up the phone, be sure you’ve researched your district’s gifted education policies. Browse your district’s website to first understand if gifted children are identified and served at your school. Policies vary widely from state to state, district to district, and even school to school.

2. Establish a rationale

Administrators and community members do not always know that advanced learners need something more than they are receiving in the regular classroom.  Explaining why gifted students need to be challenged in order to be successful will be your first task.

• Read the Myths of Gifted Education and be prepared to counter misunderstandings about advanced students with research.

• Familiarize yourself with the definitions of giftedness.

3. Know what you want to happen

Once you know what your state and/or district currently offers for gifted students, and why you want to affect change, build a plan for what you’d like to happen in your local area.

The NAGC Pre-K-Grade 12 Gifted Programming Standards will help you map out what experts in the field view as exemplary practices, plus the bare essentials needed in schools to meet the needs of gifted students. This is a nationally recognized and accepted document.

• Find out what is required by your state or what is decided locally on the NAGC State pages

• Use the program assessment tool if you are trying to improve your gifted education program

• Download the NAGC Pre-K-Grade 12 Gifted Programming Standards

• Acceleration can mean many things, not just grade skipping.  Learn more about the forms of accelerations and when it should be used. 

4. Build a bridge for administrators

Always start with your advocacy efforts in the classroom by talking with your gifted child’s teacher and the school’s gifted coordinator, if there is one. Only once you’ve exhausted those avenues should you approach the school’s principal.

School administrators are deeply concerned about ensuring educational excellence for all of their students; however, many are unaware of the unique needs of advanced learners.  Because these administrators are very busy, your plan must be both artful and efficient.

5. Reach out to your community

There are many different groups of people in your school and community willing to lend support for high-ability students, but they need to understand the issue and what role they can play. To meet like-minded individuals and begin an open dialogue in your community. You can:

• Become an active participant in local school groups like the PTO or booster club,

• Offer to provide a speaker for local service organizations (e.g., Lions Club, Chamber of Commerce, etc.) about your gifted program and its ties to the community,

• Volunteer to serve on school committees involved with strategic planning, accountability, or program evaluation and planning,

• Start a parent group

• Get to know the education reporters for your local media outlet.

Resources