Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Is gifted education a federal issue?

I'm getting away from the specific candidates who are running for POTUS & VP; but someone mentioned s/he felt the only reason to discuss politics on this board was how it related to gifted education -- I think that is a valid point. So...

This is my rough outline of understanding of education in the USA:
We have the federal 'No Child Left Behind', also not so affectionately referred to as 'No Child Gets Ahead'. To be honest, I don't know how that affects state education policies, is there federal money attached for meeting goals? The state school board & state government have authority over the school districts within their state. Kids have to take state approved & mandated tests to show the school districts are doing their job. Within a framework set up by the state, the schools select curriculum and textbooks.
Funding comes from the districts as property taxes & income tax(in some districts), and also state funding in Ohio; other states may have a different way of funding education.

In our small rural county we have a property tax which goes to funding programs for mentally handicapped children & adults, maybe the bottom 1% on an IQ scale? Most are not able to be mainstreamed into a public school.
All the school districts have programs to help the kids on the lower part of the IQ scale, probably between 70 & 90 IQ's(maybe the bottom 5% on the IQ scale?), with additional programs for kids having difficulty learning to read due to problems like dyslexia, etc.

So, where do we go for help for gifted kids? The private sector helps a lot in the way of mentors and scholarships. I tend to shy away from any federal involvement in what I think is a state responsibility. Do we lobby our own school districts to provide an appropriate education? Do we lobby our state representatives to provide additional funding for internet courses to keep the little buggers busy learning?

This is an issue that cuts across all boundaries. GT kids exist in all economic and racial groups and many fall through the cracks - and most - at the lower end of the economic tier - probably never get identified or helped at all.

IMHO, early ID and tracking and parental education is the best place to start. I like the idea of educating pediatricians and their staff and then providing collateral for the parents and caregivers. Peds screen for slow development, but the opposite should be true as well.

( I've seen our Pediatrician's reaction to Jr - she immediately saw that he was very advanced and said so, but did not make any other comment as to his behaviors and exected future trajectory.)

If parents are informed as to the reasons for their kids' behaviors and then given alternatives and resources to help, that would go a long way to getting the kids on a firm footing, but at a low cost.

The simplest thing might be to form a foundation similar to the March of Dimes that supports research, promotes awareness, and advocates as needed. For less privileged people, it can help with early education materials as well.

The Davidson Institute's eNews-Update often contains information related to federal gifted education policies. Here is the latest issue: http://news.ditd.org/August_08/eNews_August08_web.htm.

NAGC's Legislative Update page provides a lot of good information as well: http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=585.