I've never heard of a state mandating educational or development services for "gifted leaders", although there are many states that mandate educational services for gifted children.
School districts with gifted programs are being pressured to identify about the same percentage of students from all races and economic strata as "gifted". There are large group differences on IQ tests, so some districts have grasped at "leadership" to make the numbers come out right, as Laura Vanderkam at the Gifted Exchange blog discussed:
http://giftedexchange.blogspot.com/2011/07/making-numbers-come-out-right.htmlFRIDAY, JULY 01, 2011
Making the Numbers Come Out Right
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'How did this magic happen? "The new process uses two ways to identify GATE students -- through academic achievement and using a checklist system to find students who are gifted and talented in other ways, such as creativity and leadership," according to the article. "The academic pathway gives students a numerical score based on their performance in reading and math and, for fourth-graders, language. Officials then identify the top 5 percent districtwide within each racial and ethnic subgroup in each of the academic areas, reviewing the results for proportional gender representation. The other pathway to the program is through a nomination process to identify students with unique learning styles, creative ability, leadership skills or artistic ability. These students must be nominated by two adults, at least one of whom must be employed at the student's school."
In other words, the school district is setting out to make sure the proportions look right, and (shockingly) has achieved that.
The whole thing is a bit farcical. I have no doubt that someone can be a gifted leader -- but this is the problem with making gifted programs a reward, or a pull-out with special classes, or field trips, or what have you.'
