Student scholars, including those aspiring to be finalists in the nation's most prestigious math and science competitions, to be Presidential Scholars, and to attend college early have prodigious individual talent and a desire to learn complex material at levels far beyond their age peers. Those who achieve those goals often have had the benefit of well-prepared, dedicated teachers who understand how to provide the students with challenging curriculum in the classroom, independent study programs, and access to mentors in the students' areas of interest.

In a national survey of third and fourth grade teachers, the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT) found that 61 percent had no training in teaching highly able students. In a study of pre-service teacher preparation, the NRC/GT found that during student teaching experiences, pre-service teachers recognize that students have differing needs and indicate that giving students assignments commensurate with those needs and evaluating them on varying scales was appropriate. Unfortunately, however, the study found that in most cases, the student teachers found no connection between the needs they observed in the classroom and the training they received in their university pre-service preparation programs.

There is a need, then, to ensure that teachers have some understanding of how to identify gifted students and how to meet their educational needs before the teacher reaches his or her first classroom experience.

S.1638 will help ensure that prospective teachers receive the necessary knowledge of gifted and talented students by providing an incentive through existing grant programs in Title II of the Higher Education Act to improve the knowledge of new teachers about the unique needs of gifted and talented students.

S.1638 would:

• allow teacher preparation programs, in partnership with schools of arts and sciences and high-need school districts, to use the funds to infuse undergraduate teacher coursework with units on the characteristics of high-ability learners
• allow grants funds to create or expand new-teacher mentoring programs on the needs of gifted and talented students
• encourage states to incorporate a focus on the learning needs of gifted and talented students into reforms of teacher preparation programs, reforms of state certification and licensure requirements, or new alternative teacher preparation programs

S.1638 will help ensure that high-ability students have access to the education needed to reach their full potential.

Permission Statement

This article is provided as a service of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted young people under 18. To learn more about the Davidson Institute’s programs, please visit www.DavidsonGifted.org.