“All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talent.”
-John F. Kennedy, Civil rights address
Central Rivers AEA’s Talented and Gifted (TAG) team is committed to being advocates and providing educational and networking opportunities for those who serve our almost 3,000 TAG students.
MTSS Advanced Learners Guide
In April 2018, the Advanced Learner Multi-Tiered System of Support Guide was created to assist classroom teachers in ensuring all students are appropriately challenged. This tool was written to be content-neutral and can be used across all disciplines.
Local TAG Network
The Central Rivers AEA Talented and Gifted Network is designed to assist and support educators who provide quality services to gifted children. The network consists of professional learning opportunities and collaboration. Agendas are driven by those in attendance and it is a great opportunity to problem-solve and share resources. Each network runs from 9:00 am–3:00 pm.
Contact Chelsie Byram or Mandie Sanderman to be added to the Network.
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TAG Organizations
The organizations listed provide many resources to give assistance to teachers, parents and administrators as they develop a supportive environment of learning for students.
- Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development – Located at the University of Iowa, the Connie Belin & Jacquelin N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development is a full-service gifted education center that impacts the lives of gifted students, their families, and their educators.
- Iowa Talented and Gifted Association – Iowa’s association of interested parents, educators, and concerned citizens dedicated to meeting the needs of talented and gifted children and youth. ITAG is an affiliate of the National Association for Gifted Children.
- National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) – A non-profit organization of parents, teachers, educators, community leaders and other professionals who unite to address the unique needs of all children and youth.
- Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted Children (SENG) – Dedicated to fostering environments in which gifted adults and children, in all their diversity, understand and accept themselves and are understood, valued, nurtured, and supported by their families, schools, workplaces and communities.
- Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) – The largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the educational success of individuals with disabilities and/or gifts and talents. CEC advocates for appropriate governmental policies, sets professional standards, provides professional development, advocates for individuals with exceptionalities, and helps professionals obtain conditions and resources necessary for effective professional practice.
- Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Connecticut – The only federally funded research organization, known as The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT). The current research studies are an integrated approach to identifying, serving, and evaluating academic outcomes.
Professional Tools
Do the people you work with understand gifted and talented? This video may help dispel the myths!
- A Nation Deceived – Landmark report from 2004. Research-based practices for challenging academically talented youth.
- A Nation Empowered – 10 years later and how well we have applied what we have learned from “A Nation Deceived”
- Serving Gifted Students 12 slide ppt. – You’ll find seven different ways your gifted students can be served.
- Guidelines for Developing an Academic Acceleration Policy – These guidelines provide educators and policymakers guidance to create a vision grounded in research and to adopt a policy to support this vision for the K-12 grade students who require an accelerated learning pace and advanced curriculum that assures student academic success.
- Acceleration Institute – Ideas for using acceleration, a highly recommended strategy for Gifted students
- Differentiation – a power point by Christopher Tienken, Seton Hall University. Learn more about types of differentiation strategies
- CRAEA On-Demand Learning – small pieces of learning to support educators