Each school district must incorporate gifted and talented programming into its comprehensive school improvement plan as required by Iowa Code section 257.42.
The Iowa Code also defines gifted and talented students as “those identified as possessing outstanding abilities who are capable of high performance. Gifted and talented children are children who require appropriate instruction and educational services commensurate with their abilities and needs beyond those provided by the regular school program.” Northwest AEA provides services specifically tied to improving Gifted Education programming. Services include:
- Professional Learning and Networking workshops throughout the year.
- Guidance on the development of a schools identification process, student programming and program evaluation.
- Facilitation of the Iowa Acceleration Scale for districts looking at whole grade acceleration for a student.
- Additional testing information through the Cognitive Abilities Test or Torrance Test of Creativity.
TAG resources:
National Association for Gifted Children
Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted
Acceleration Institute at the Belin-Blank Center University of Iowa
Blogs:
Gifted Exchange: This blog focuses on gifted kids, touching on issues of schooling, parenting, education, and more, all written by the staff at the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.
Hoagies Gifted Education: This award-winning site has in-depth resources for parents, teachers, administrators, mental health professionals, and gifted kids and adults. This link takes you to the blogs, but be sure to look at all it has to offer.
Parents of Gifted Children Resource Group: Here, parents can find resources and make connections with other parents of gifted children.
Gifted Parenting Support: This blog is an excellent place to read more about how to parent and educate children who are gifted and talented.
Gifted Guru: This blogger offers up resources, books, commentary, and more on the subject of gifted education.