“They're smart. Why would they need additional services? They’ll be fine!” Sound Familiar?

Time and time again we hear “they’ll be fine, they’re smart," when people refer to gifted learners. Because of this sad misconception, too many students fail to reach their potential because they do not receive appropriately challenging curriculum and services.

The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) reports that 73% of teachers agreed that, “Too often the brightest students are bored and under-challenged in school. - we’re not giving them a sufficient chance to thrive.” Our nation’s education policies narrowly focus on the achievement gap for struggling learners, which is extremely problematic for the widening “excellence gap” faced by high-ability students. Most regular classroom teachers do not receive adequate training to recognize and address the needs of high-ability learners. This is even more pronounced for children of color, English Language Learners, and children from low-income backgrounds. In addition, these teachers are under a prohibitive amount of pressure to close the achievement gap of their struggling students; while this is an important measure, it shouldn’t be at the expense of our gifted and talented students.

Here at NCAGT we believe that it is up to us, as parents, educators and stakeholders to provide the gifted community the support that they rightfully deserve. Listen to “They’ll Be Fine’ to learn more about what you can do to ensure that your Gifted and Talented Scholars are provided the resources they need to thrive. We're here because the saying “they’ll be fine” just isn’t good enough.

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