How the State Education Agencies Addressed Gifted Education in the Title II Sections of Their ESSA State Plans

Abstract

In 2015, the U.S. Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that included provisions to support gifted and talented learners. The U.S. Department of Education’s Consolidated State Plan template only required states to directly address the inclusion of gifted education under Title II, Part A: Supporting Effective Instruction (Section 2101(d)(2)(J)). We examined the inclusion of gifted education in the Title II section of all 52 submitted ESSA plans. Of the approved plans, 16 states explicitly addressed how educators would be supported in identifying and providing gifted learners with effective instruction, and 15 states generally described educator support to meet the needs of multiple groups of students (including gifted). Three of the approved state plans did not mention support for gifted education in their Title II responses. Gifted education stakeholders must be familiar with their state’s plan and understand how Title II can fund professional development for gifted education.

A Content Analysis of Selected State Plans for Gifted and Talented Education

“…Several of the state plans (e.g., Arkansas, Delaware, Texas) emphasized that there were basic expectations for gifted and talented programming that must be met, but in those documents, local education agencies were encouraged to move beyond basic services to higher standards of service (e.g., exemplary; Delaware DOE, 2014; TEA, 2019). However, expending the resources to go above and beyond basic expectations requires local support from school boards, district leadership, campus administrators, and other stakeholders, including parents and students themselves (Kaul & Davis, 2018;Zirkel, 2005). So, beyond aligning gifted and talented services with national and state standards, gifted education professionals who oversee programs locally (e.g., administrators, coordinators) should also determine how their program supports campus and district improvement plan goals and communicate that alignment to campus and district leadership (Simonds, 2020;Van-Tassel-Baska, 2019).…”

“…By design, many state plans lack specificity to allow for interpretation by local education agencies (Zirkel, 2005) and to account for the variety of contexts within the state (e.g., locale, demographics, resources; Kaul & Davis, 2018). On one hand, some ambiguity at the state level allows local education agencies and individual schools to make the decisions they believe are best for their local contexts (Plucker & Barab, 2005).…”

“…Aside from the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act (1987), which narrowly avoided being cut from the 2021 fiscal year budget ("Jacob Javits Gifted & Talented Students Education Act," n.d.), and minimal requirements regarding funding for state and local education agencies in ESSA (2015), there is little support for gifted education from the federal government. Federal guidance does not outline how gifted and talented education programs should be structured or implemented, so individual states are left to construct policies and guidance documents for their local education agencies (Kaul & Davis, 2018). Despite myriad frameworks and recommendations for educational policies for gifted and talented education (e.g., Gallagher, 2015;Swanson & Lord, 2013), state mandates range from all-encompassing at best to nonexistent at worst .…”

Gifted education policy and advocacy: Perspectives for school psychologists

“…Nineteen states require endorsement or certification in gifted education for those teachers working in specialized programs for gifted students, and four states require coursework in the nature and needs of gifted students for school counselors. As mentioned previously, new Title II provisions within ESSA indicate that Title II funds must be used to address the learning needs of all studentsincluding the gifted and talented-therefore, results from this questionnaire should be considered with cautionespecially in light of a recent review of state ESSA plans specific to Title II which found that nearly half of states explicitly address how educators will be supported in identifying and serving gifted students (see Kaul & Davis, 2018).…”

“…ESSA specifies that these funds must be used to support the learning needs of all students, and the legislation specifically states that all students include gifted and talented students. Kaul and Davis (2018) examined all 52 of the ESSA plans submitted by states and determined that about half of the states (23) explicitly addressed how educators would be provided support to effectively identify and address the needs of gifted students. General descriptions of how educators would be supported to meet the needs of multiple groups of students-including gifted students-were provided by 23 states and six states did not address gifted students at all in the Title II section of their ESSA plans.…”