To Aid Gifted and High-Ability Learners by Empowering the Nation's Teachers Act

Short title— This Act may be cited as the “To Aid Gifted and High-Ability Learners by Empowering the Nation's Teachers Act” or the “TALENT Act”.

Table of contents— The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

Academically gifted and talented students make up an estimated 6 to 10 percent of the prekindergarten through grade 12 student population, totaling between 3,000,000 and 6,000,000 students.

There is a growing excellence gap at the highest levels of achievement between the performance of subgroups of students, particularly between the performance of students who are African-American or Hispanic and the performance of White students, and between low-income students compared to their more advantaged peers, on statewide assessments and on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Advanced students in the United States lag behind the performance of similar students in other countries, which puts the Nation at a competitive disadvantage.

Gifted and talented students, and high-ability students who have not been formally identified for gifted education services, require modifications to the general education curriculum to fully meet their potential.

Effective assessment and instruction of gifted and talented students requires educators to have specialized knowledge and skills.

Ninety percent of teachers nationwide want more professional development focused on the skills necessary for teaching advanced students.

Interventions and strategies that have been demonstrated to be successful with gifted and talented students can be modified to improve the achievement of all students.

The availability of gifted education programs and services to students who require such services is unequal and often relies solely on local resources and leadership, leaving many high-ability students from rural areas or who are English language learners or Hispanic, African-American, or Native American, among others, without access to appropriate services.

There are an estimated 360,000 students in the United States who are both gifted and have a disability. These twice exceptional children present special challenges because their disability often masks their academic potential or their academic strengths may mask their disability, resulting in a lack of services and supports for this student population.

The development and dissemination of research and national data on gifted and talented students is necessary to—