The Essential State Role in Educating Advanced Learners

State education policies are neglecting gifted students and wasting their talents. To better ensure that schools help gifted students reach their full potential, states should adopt a new roadmap to provide advanced learners with reliable resources and more opportunities. A recent report from the National Association for Gifted Children shows that incomplete and inconsistent policies are at the heart of the problem.

Ohio, for example, identifies and tracks the scores of gifted students but does not mandate services for them. This especially hurts gifted minority and disadvantaged students who depend on public schooling to develop their talents and maximize their futures. By failing to help these boys and girls realize their potential, we failed to develop America's next generation of leaders and innovators.

State education leaders and policymakers must refocus their support of gifted students by prioritizing continuous student progress, eliminating enrollment barriers that hold back top students. And establishing norms for local gifted programs so that every school serves its top students as well as it serves its underperforming ones. Sound policies include tailored services for the gifted, achievement data reporting, teacher-training and high ability instruction, and consistent student evaluation.

Children ready to accelerate, even ready to skip entire grades, should have that option, and schools should practice flexible grouping of students based on their levels of learning. This comprehensive approach focuses squarely on excellence and equity for gifted learners. If implemented, it can expand talent pools in every state, close demographic excellence gaps, foster upward mobility, and equalize opportunity.

State leaders must ensure that every student can realize their potential.