Gifted Education Bills currently before the state legislature

 

Representatives James Kelcourse and Meghan Kilcoyne have co-filed the gifted education bills we have been working on for the 2021-2022 legislative session.

Now is the time for you to contact your state legislators to ask them to support these bills. 

We can help you reach out. These legislators have co-sponsored these bills so far: Co-sponsors

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UPDATE: All g/t/advanced education bills before the Joint Committee on Education have had their hearings now, thank you to all who testified in person, or sent in written testimony. 

Written testimony can still be emailed to Alice.Peisch@mahouse.gov and Jason.Lewis@masenate.gov 

There is no restriction on the length of your written testimony. Please include "Education Committee Testimony, H.xxx" in the subject line of your email. 

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H.1706 is still awaiting its hearing before the Judiciary Committee.

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2021-2022 legislative session bills

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H.641 An Act relative to Academic Acceleration for K-12 Students

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H.642 An Act relative to Educator Training on Gifted Children and their Needs 

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H.644 An Act relative to Equity and Inclusion in Education

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H.645 An Act relative to Computer-Adaptive Assessments in K-12 Education  

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H.1706 An Act prohibiting Age Discrimination within the Public Schools of the Commonwealth 

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H.646 An Act providing for the Education of gifted and beyond-grade level children in the public schools of the                        Commonwealth  

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MA Gifted Study

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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