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Advocacy for Gifted Learners
and Gifted Education
What is advocacy for gifted learners? Advocacy–simply put–is the “act or process of supporting a cause or proposal” (Merriam-Webster). Advocating for the needs of gifted learners is an important task that educators, parents, and students should be a part of in order to ensure appropriate resources and supports for this population of students.
While some people believe that being an advocate means being assertive, pushy, or combative, NCAGT believes this is far from true. Being an advocate means being knowledgeable of gifted policies and practices while being willing to speak to their importance.
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Tips for Advocacy:
NCAGT believes that advocacy happens at three different levels: federal, state, and local. It is important to understand how each level of government impacts the services available for gifted learners in public schools.
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Federal Gifted Policy
Unfortunately, a federal mandate for gifted education does not exist. This means that there is no expectation or policy that requires states to identify and serve gifted learners in the public K-12 educational environment. Instead, those decisions are left to the states.
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State Gifted Policy (North Carolina)
NC Department of Public Instruction Resources:
NC DPI Advanced Learning and Gifted Education
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NC Legislative Resources:
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Local Gifted Policy
Advocacy at the local level means understanding your local AIG Plan. Each Local Educational Agency (LEA) is required to submit a three-year AIG plan to NCDPI for approval. A Local AIG Plan is the school district’s (or charter school) policy around how to best identify and serve gifted learners. In each AIG plan, you will see how the LEA will meet each of the six programming standards
Find your local AIG Plan:
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NCAGT
Teacher Mini-Grants
Are you a creative educator with an idea for a project that will benefit gifted students? As an NCAGT member or PAGE group you can apply for an NCAGT mini-grant. If you are not a member, it is not too late to become one at https://www.ncagt.org/membership.
Our review committee, made up of NCAGT Board members, will evaluate your applications focusing on creativity, student impact, efficient use of funds, and project adaptability.
Mini-grants are capped at $500.
Important Deadlines:
September 15, 2024
January 15, 2025
Grant recipients will have the exciting opportunity to share their work on the NCAGT Blog and at our 2025 Conference in Concord on March 13th & 14th, 2025. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to make a difference - submit your application today!
