Changes Governing Gifted and Talented Education: AB2313

The legislation supports unique opportunities for high-achieving and underachieving students who are identified gifted/talented. Its intent is that special efforts be made to ensure that students from economically disadvantaged and varying cultural backgrounds be provided with full participation in unique learning opportunities.

Starting January 1, 2001, the legislation did the following:

1.

Differentiated Instruction: The 200-minute per week minimum requirement for differentiated instruction has been eliminated, and replaced with a more rigorous standard that requires instructional programs be planned and organized as an integrated, differentiated learning experience throughout the regular school day, and may be augmented and supplemented with other differentiated activities related to the core curriculum.
2. New Standards: Revises the application requirements to reflect new standards for each of the following categories:

Program Design
Provide a comprehensive continuum of services and program options responsive to the needs, interests, and abilities of gifted students and based on philosophical, theoretical, and empirical support.

Identification
Identification procedures are equitable, comprehensive, and ongoing. They reflect the district's definition of giftedness and its relationship to current state criteria.

Curriculum and Instruction
Develop differentiated curriculum, instructional models and strategies that are aligned with and extend the state academic content standards and curriculum frameworks. The differentiated curriculum is related to theories, models, and practices from the recognized literature in the field.

Social and Emotional Development
Establish and implement plans to support the social and emotional development of gifted learners to increase responsibility, self-awareness, and other issues of affective development.

Professional Development
Provide professional development opportunities related to gifted education to administrators, teachers, and staff to support and improve educational opportunities for gifted students.

Parent and Community Involvement
Provide procedures to ensure consistent participation of parents and community members in the planning and evaluation of programs for gifted students.

Program Assessment
Establish formal and informal evaluation methods and instruments that assess the gifted program and the performance of gifted students (which meets or exceeds state content standards). Results of data collected, including state standardized tests, are used to study the value and impact of the services provided and to improve gifted programs and gifted student performance.

Budget
Budgets for gifted programs suppport and provide for all the components of the District's GATE program and meet the related standards.

Categorical education programs, including funding for Gifted and Talented Education are in constant need of public support. Existing federal and state accountability systems redirect funds away from GATE to other purposes. The result has been a severe reduction in services to GATE students. Support from members of the Assembly Education Committee to direct GATE funds to serve the GATE student population is needed. Letters and phone calls of support are recommended.

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