Join us November 5–8, 2026, in Milwaukee, WI, for four days of research-driven learning, strategic collaboration, and practical application. As the premier event dedicated to advancing gifted education, you can select from over 200+ sessions and 60+ posters designed to strengthen your practice, elevate your leadership, and expand opportunities for your advanced learners.
Leave with implementable strategies, renewed clarity, and a professional network that supports your work all year long.
To pay by PO, e-mail nagc@nagc.org to initiate the process before completing your registration.
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Schedule at a Glance
Advanced learners are in every classroom. Designed for both specialists and general educators, NAGC26 sessions provide actionable strategies for differentiation, enrichment, curriculum compacting, and acceleration within the realities of today’s classrooms. You’ll gain tools to increase rigor, promote critical and creative thinking, and ensure high-potential students continue to grow, while strengthening learning for all students.
The full session details and schedule will be available in the summer of 2026.
Schedule At A Glance
Thursday, November 5
8:00-11:30 AM:
Preconvention Sessions
9:00-10:30 AM:
Affiliate Meeting & Network Leaders Meeting
11:00-12:30 PM:
Leadership Training
2:00-3:00 PM:
First-Timers Orientation & Other Networking Events
This interactive workshop engages educators in hands-on engineering design challenges that can be implemented in both general education and gifted classrooms. Participants will experience a series of engineering-based learning activities designed to promote creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. The workshop emphasizes strategies that allow teachers to adapt engineering tasks for a range of learners while maintaining appropriate levels of challenge.
Designing and Leading Culturally Responsive MTSS for Gifted Learners: From Lesson Design to System-Level Change with AI Integration
Kristina H. Collins & Javetta Jones Roberson
This interactive workshop provides a practical deep dive into Multi-Tiered Systems of Support MTSS) for gifted education to include 2e and 3e students. Participants will analyze lessons and programs, redesign instruction using CR-MTSS principles, and explore AI integration through the THRIVE AI framework. Attendees will leave with concrete tools for instructional design, evaluation, and system-level implementation.
Get In the Game
Michael Matera
Education is evolving, and the future classroom starts here. Experience a playful crash course where imagination fuels meaningful change. Dive into hands on challenges, explore Universal Design for Learning, and transform big ideas into real practice. Leave inspired, energized, and ready to design engaging, inclusive learning experiences your students will truly remember.
Teaching Strategies and Frameworks for Advanced and Gifted Learners You Can Use Today!
Mark Hess & Dornswalo Wilkins-McCorey
Join us for an informative, hands-on session—a guide, a handbook, crib notes, a toolkit, lesson plans you can use tomorrow! —with "differentiating up" in the general education or gifted classroom as our focal point. Attendees will review relevant background and takeaways necessary to understanding how to challenge our advanced and gifted students, experience methods and materials through interactive activities, and begin to develop our own frameworks which pinpoint current and future teaching assignments. Let's take the time today because when we leave this conference, we will all be chasing time until the end of the school year!
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Code of Conduct
All registrants are required to review and abide by the NAGC Code of Conduct to ensure a professional, respectful, and inclusive convention experience.
Keynote Speakers
All
Thursday, November 5, 3:15 - 5:00 pm CT
Sunday, November 8, 10:30 - 11:45 am CT
“Who Did This for You?" Reframing Educator Beliefs and Resetting Access to Gifted Education
Disproportionality regarding which students have the opportunity to participate in gifted and advanced programs is well-documented. Often when minoritized students produce high-quality work, their teachers ask them, "Who did this for you?" because they presume that the students are incapable of quality work. This keynote addresses educator misconceptions and the opportunity to find and serve students often missed in the post-pandemic era. Do we still have time to "course correct?" Can we perform a "hard reset" to ensure that all students have the chance to receive high-quality teaching and access to learning that pulls on all their gifts and strengths?
Thursday, November 5, 3:15 - 5:00 pm CT
Don’t Fight Back, Fight Forward: Seeing the Potential Others Overlook
What happens when potential goes unrecognized or worse, mislabeled? In this heartfelt and high-energy keynote, Carlos Ojeda Jr. challenges educators to remember the extraordinary power they hold in the lives of young people. Through humor, personal storytelling, and hard-earned lessons from his own journey, Carlos explores how labels, trauma, and disconnection can shape a student’s path, but how one caring educator can help rewrite their future and change the trajectory of their life, revealing a powerful truth for educators: potential is everywhere, but recognition is not. This keynote is a moving reminder that educators are dream makers, culture shapers, and life changers. Participants will leave inspired to lead with greater empathy; create safer spaces for students to be fully seen, heard, and loved; and fight forward with love, purpose, and hope.
Sunday, November 8, 10:30 - 11:45 am CT
Resources
Justification Toolkit:
We know you're busy educators, and we recognize that taking time away from your school or classroom requires planning, justifying costs to your supervisors, and changing your plans. But we also recognize the importance of participating in professional development that advances your skills and inspires you with new ideas you can bring back home. So, why should you attend NAGC26? This justification toolkit provides you with the many reasons why NAGC26 will benefit you as a gifted educator, along with a breakdown of fees, a customizable letter you can share with your supervisor, and more.
Join more than 2,000 educators, gifted coordinators, psychologists, researchers, and caregivers as they share strategies and best practices for supporting high-ability children. Build relationships with professionals who face the same classroom challenges you do and gain access to a national network of peers.
Customize your learning experience
through 250+ educational sessions, 16 tracks, and 5 preconvention sessions.
Bring your team and spend time together while collaborating with others.
NAGC26 provides the perfect opportunity to gain critical knowledge and make important connections to improve your program for gifted and highly capable students, all while learning about evidence-based teaching strategies from your colleagues, and collaborating with other district leaders to identify components of efficient and successful programs and services.
Explore the latest products and services
and demonstrate your commitment to professional growth. Attending a nationally recognized event like NAGC26 signals your dedication to evidence-based practice and lifelong learning—qualities that school leaders value and support.
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Convention Housing
NAGC is pleased to offer a discounted room block for conference attendees at the Hilton Milwaukee and other nearby hotels (all within walking distance of the Baird Center).
Headquarters Hotel:
Hilton Milwaukee
$205/night
Book by October 14, 2026
To book your room, please visit the NAGC housing portal or call the customer service line at 844-840-1842.
Become a Sponsor or Exhibitor and Connect with Leaders in Gifted Education! NAGC26 offers a prime opportunity to get your brand in front of thousands of educators, administrators, researchers, and decision-makers who are shaping the future of gifted and talented education. Let your organization shine and showcase your brand at NAGC26!
Interested in sponsoring or exhibiting? Contact our exclusive partner, YGS Group:
Hear What Others Are Saying About the Annual Convention
Overall, it’s a high‑value, time‑efficient way to deepen expertise and bring immediate improvements to gifted programming.
NAGC25 Attendee
So many different sessions that focus on different needs within education. From classroom lesson plans to talking with parents, to how to implement full district level ideas, nothing is missed.
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NAGC25 Attendee
I would recommend the convention to others because there is a wealth of information to be found! My team and I learned so much! We also appreciated being around other people who work in our field.
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NAGC25 Attendee
NAGC is a unique place where research, practitioners, parents, and advocates come together. The language spoken is nuanced you feel like you are with your people. It's a special time to connect and push deeper into learning and advocacy.
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NAGC25 Attendee
There is no other place where so many experts in gifted education come together. If you want to hear from those in the know, this is the place!
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We invite and encourage you to join! By working together, we can achieve our mission of empowering all who support children with advanced abilities.
Becoming a member offers access to a network of professionals, fostering valuable connections and collaboration opportunities. Additionally, it often provides resources and professional learning opportunities to enhance members' professional development.
