Advocating at the State Level
Well-organized, passionate advocates at the state level have made significant impacts to laws affecting gifted children at the state level.
Many NAGC advocates have successfully impacted change in their states by working with state legislators to identify, fund, and be accountable to gifted students, but there is still more work to do.
Most of the critical decisions impacting gifted education are made at the state level, making your state legislature an important place to begin your advocacy efforts. In many cases, state legislative initiatives are spearheaded by your state’s gifted education association with support from individuals and local advocacy groups.
Use the tools below to develop a state legislative advocacy agenda.
Your State's Definition
Most states have a definition of gifted or gifted and talented children. Use your state’s definition to guide any future advocacy work on creating or reforming identification and service policies, or to change the definition of gifted in your state. Find your state definition.
Create Your Plan
Advocacy is a long-term commitment, and it is helpful to have a map to organize your priorities and advance your goals. Use this assessment form to create your map.
Develop Sample Policy
In many cases, looking at how your state compares to neighboring states is an effective strategy to see if any policy changes are needed in your state or if there are any regional policy trends to be aware of. For example, do your neighboring states fund gifted education? Do they require teacher training? Using this information to support a legislative agenda can help others understand your state's relative strengths (and lesser developed areas) in supporting gifted learners.
- Find state-by-state information in the State of the States in Gifted Education, a biennial survey conducted by NAGC and the Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted on the state of gifted education across the nation.
Join the State Association for Gifted Education
Many states have a statewide gifted education association that advocates on behalf of gifted students. Most of these groups focus on legislative advocacy and offer a range of education opportunities, including statewide and regional conferences for teachers and parents. If you haven't already joined your state group, we hope you to look into the resources they offer and the types of volunteer opportunities in which you might get involved.