Gifted and Talented

The standard Texas Administrative Code rule concerning training for teachers in gifted education programs remains in effect for the 2006-2007 school year. This rule requires that teachers providing instructional services to identified gifted learners complete 30 hours of G/T professional development in nature and needs of the gifted, assessment of the gifted, and curriculum for the gifted before beginning instruction, with annual six-hour updates in gifted education each year thereafter.

On May 6, 2005, the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) voted NOT to require teachers to hold the new “TExES Gifted and Talented Supplemental Certification” in order to be assigned to a district's gifted services program.  The Gifted and Talented Supplemental Certification is an optional certificate, which educators may voluntarily hold above and beyond the basic state requirements by passing the TexES exam. The State Board of Educator Certification offers the exam.

The content on the G/T Supplemental test is derived from the G/T standards and is a multiple-choice format exam. The G/T standards are listed on the SBEC website under the “Standards and Testing” link, along with a study guide and sample questions.

If you have been tapped as your campus or district coordinator/contact, you may not know exactly where to begin! The following tips, originally submitted by Region 4 ESC Advanced Academic Services Specialist, Judy O’Neal, may give you some ideas about where to start.

1. Be sure you have your Regional Education Service Center’s Advanced Academic Services program specialist’s information handy. These specialists are ready to answer all of your GT questions--or find someone who can. There is no such thing as a silly question, and when you are new may have many of them!
2. Be sure you attend a session that will address the laws and guidelines for gifted programs in Texas. Regional Service Centers offer these workshops several times each year, and it is the best way for a new coordinator to receive this information. Being in a class gives you the opportunity to ask questions.
3. Begin to look at your district’s G/T program and compare it with the State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented Students.  Is your district in compliance with the “Acceptable” regulations of the plan? (This is the minimum level of compliance for districts.) Ask your ESC specialist to look over your plan if you have questions.
4. Find out how gifted services are being provided. For example: Pull out Program, Special Schools within a School, Cluster Groups of G/T Students in Regular Classrooms, Self-contained classrooms, etc. Is the current system providing students with ongoing, differentiated TEKS-based instruction?
5. Find out who is delivering gifted services. Be sure that there is documentation to support that each of the assigned G/T teachers has the required G/T training. Talk to the administrators on each campus and find out if administrators and counselors have had the required G/T training in Nature and Needs and Program Services.
6. Look at your list of identified gifted students at each campus. Confirm that they are in class with a G/T trained teacher, and perhaps most importantly, that teachers are aware of which students in their classrooms are identified as needing advanced services.
7. Look at your District’s identification/assessment matrix. Find out how your students are identified. Look at your district’s demographics. Does your gifted program reflect your district’s demographics? Is there ample evidence that students from all populations are being assessed in ways that best exemplify their abilities?
8. Find out how teachers are documenting gifted services delivery, or help to develop a framework for teachers to use that will show their efforts and monitor students’ progress.  Be sure a system for reporting students’ progress to parents is in place and that parents are receiving updates in a scheduled way.
9. Review the District’s G/T Handbook for Parents/Teachers/Students. Does it reflect what is happening in your district?
10. Ask teachers what kind of professional development/support they need to better work with their gifted students and work with building administrators to deliver that support. The State Plan indicates that training should be specific to needs expressed by teachers, so an ongoing dialogue with these professionals is vital.

Gifted programs at the district and campus level need to be structured in a way that meets minimum compliance (“Acceptable”) in five specific areas. These areas are explained in the Texas State Plan for the Education Of Gifted/Talented Student and further explained in the Q &A.

• Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented Students, Revised April 2019 (PDF file)

• Q & A on the Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted & Talented Students