Update on Gifted Education Bills 

 

Thank you to all of you who advocated for the five gifted education bills by speaking at the statehouse hearings in June, talking with your legislators about the gifted report, and writing an amazing 271 emails to the Education Committee!

We are currently contacting legislators to file gifted education bills for the 2021-2022 legislative session.

 

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Details on the 2019-2020 legislative session bills

 

Referred to the Joint Committee on Education:

• H.539 An Act relative to the use of computer-adaptive assessments in K-12 education

• S.277 An Act requiring the use of a computer-adaptive assessment to identify student achievement, growth, and for education system accountability

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• H.540 An Act providing for the education of gifted and beyond grade-level children in the public schools of the Commonwealth

• S.280 An Act to ensure that public schools appropriately educate advanced students and gifted and talented children

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• H.541 An Act creating an expert panel on gifted children and their education in the public schools

• S.279 An Act relative to an expert panel on gifted children and their education

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• H.543 An Act relative to academic acceleration of K-12 students

• S.276 An Act regarding academic acceleration for beyond grade-level students

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• S.278 An Act prohibiting against age discrimination within the public schools

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Referred to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary:

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• H.3408 An Act to prohibit age discrimination within the public schools of the Commonwealth

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For quick reference, please read the Summaries of each of the bills!

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THANK YOU to Representatives Naughton and Kelcourse for co-presenting the House bills, Senator DiZoglio for filing the Senate bills (by request), and to the numerous legislators who have signed on as co-sponsors.

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MA Gifted Study Update

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As a result of successful advocacy work in 2017-2018, funding for a gifted study was appropriated by the Massachusetts legislature and signed by Governor Baker. This study has been released in August 2019, see the full report.

This study report has led to the reinstatement of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education's Gifted and Talented Education Advisory Council, which started meeting in March 2020.

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" ...provided further, that not less than $50,000 shall be expended by the department to study and report on a policy and practice review, along with a needs assessment, regarding education in the public schools, of the children who are capable of achieving beyond the age-based grades and those who are gifted as defined by federal law;.." 

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From the Conclusions of the report:

"The current approach of Massachusetts, with few gifted programs and not much attention to gifted education, is not serving students well. The Commonwealth can and should take actions to make certain that all students, including advanced and gifted students of all races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic characteristics, have opportunities to engage in meaningful learning and rise to their potential. Massachusetts will benefit from unleashing the untapped potential of high-achieving students.

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As should be clear, Massachusetts is an outlier in the country in its hands-off approach to identifying and serving gifted students."

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The report recommends the creation of a statewide task force, which will:

• Define giftedness and measures to assess giftedness;

• Determine the most effective way to collect data on gifted students; and

• Consider best practices of other states and districts.

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The report also urges the state to:

• Establish state policy and guidelines on acceleration;

• Track and report on the excellence gap; identify and implement strategies to close it.

• Include instruction on the learning needs of gifted students as part of teacher training for all teachers; and

• Hire staff at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with expertise in gifted students and gifted education.

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These findings and recommendations are highly consistent with MAGE's bills in the legislature. All of these recommendations and findings substantiate what MAGE has known for a long time.

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Thank you to all of you who sent their input to the study researcher!

 

Thank you for making your voice heard! Now make sure your legislators know about this study, from you!

Federal Law Highlight

​ESSA Creates Opportunities for Parent Advocates

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For the first time in history, our main U.S. education law, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), passed in December 2015, now includes provisions that support gifted and talented students.
 

There are specifically enumerated provisions to support gifted and talented learners in both Title I and Title II of ESSA.
 

Administrators may not be aware of these provisions yet, your teachers and educators may need to be educated about these new requirements and allowable uses of funds.

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• Title I funds may be used to support eligible Title I gifted and talented learners.

• Title II money must be used to help teachers support gifted and talented students.

• For a full explanation of these new provisions, please read this summary.

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For general Q&A, as well as specific provisions, please visit these links:

• ESSA Q&A

• Specific ESSA legislative provisions that support gifted and talented learners

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Resources and Data Collections

For full reports, click on titles.​

• Report on Excellence Gap "Equal Talents, Unequal Opportunities"

• Civil Rights Data Collection: Education Access Data from our Public Schools

• Report on above-grade students: "How can so many students be invisible?"

Advocacy Tools for Parents

• Tip Sheets for Parents from NAGC

• Advocating for Your Gifted Child

• Gifted 101

• Self Advocacy