Advocacy - Local

How to Advocate for Your Gifted Child

Article explaining the  Exceptional Childrens's Act (ECA, Colorado), ALPs and what you can do as a parent to advocate for your advanced (GT) student.
Click here to read.

School Accountability Committees (SAC)

Why GT Parents Should Join School Accountability Committees
School Accountability Committees (SACs) were created by the Colorado General Assembly (i.e., the state legislature) to advise principals, district accountability committees, and local school boards on how best to increase achievement levels at their respective schools. 

As in the case of private sector boards, the law charges SACs with following a disciplined process of assessing achievement data, identifying gaps, setting improvement targets, and recommending strategies and budgets to achieve them.  It is critical that GT parents are represented on every SAC to ensure that the needs of GT students are addressed. 

JAGC can provide you with the data and support that you need to effectively play this role. The law states that “each school accountability committee shall consist of at least seven members”, including the principal, a teacher, three parents, one adult member of “an organization of parents, teachers, and students recognized by the school”, and “one person from the community”. 

​Contact your school’s principal today, and tell him or her you want to join your School Accountability Committee. Note: your school's accountability committee may go by another name such as Partners in Education (PIE) but each school should have one. A document on Colorado Public School Accountability Jeffco School District information can be found in the School Accountability Committee Resource Manual

Jeffco School Board

How to help:
Jefferson County GT Board policy, click here.
In order to stay up to date on school board activity regarding advanced students, join JAGC to receive our monthly newsletter and subscribe to our email list. There are also times when it is important for GT parents to be present in the board room; email and Facebook are ways we can contact you.

Contact your elected officials and share your thoughts:
Jefferson County School Board

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Advocacy - State and National Level

Colorado's ESSA State Plan

In December of 2015, the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was signed into law. The title of the reauthorized legislation, which replaces the No Child Left Behind Act, is the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).  This law requires states to develop plans that address standards, assessments, school and district accountability and special help for struggling schools. Read about the Every Student Succeeds Act.

JAGC's legislative liaisons attended statehouse meetings in May 2017 and submitted this letter to the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) encouraging the inclusion of advanced (gifted) students in the Colorado version of ESSA.  JAGC also organized  a "call to action," wherein JAGC members were notified of the need to advocate at the state level by submitting a letter to the CDE committee encouraging inclusion of gifted and talented students in CO's ESSA proposal.

UPDATE November 2017 - Thanks to JAGC Board members Susan Miller and Michelle Stone for providing the impetus and information for CDE to include advanced students in ESSA in a meaningful way in Colorado.  The state of Colorado ranked "high" in all categories.  For detail click here for "High achievers will benefit from most state ESSA accountability plans" from A+ Colorado.

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Legislative Advocacy

It is important that legislators as well as other elected officials and public representatives be aware of the needs and concerns of gifted students. Your advocacy can help!
Toolkits:
These sites give information you might find useful when speaking with, or writing to, a legislator or other public representative about the concerns of gifted students.
NAGC Advocacy Toolkit
CAGT Advocacy Toolkit
Wright’s Law “Letter to a Stranger”

GT Standards and Legislation:
National Assocation of Gifted Children (NAGC) Gifted Programming Standards
Davidson summary of federal policy
Colorado State GT Laws and Regulations
Davidson summary of Colorado Policy
The latest on federal GT-related legislation: NAGC Legislative update

CAGT

NAGT

CDE - Gifted & Talented

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Elected Officials

 It is important that legislators as well as other elected officials and public representatives be aware of the needs and concerns of gifted students.  Your advocacy can help!  Although it's important to reach out to all Members of Congress, we need to do even more with the men and women serving on these committees, and the specific subcommittees that handle education funding. Senator Bennet is on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, which handles much of the legislation of greatest interest to gifted education advocates.

Find your national and state legislator's information here Colorado and US House and Senate
State Board of Education - Your US Congressional District also determines your State School Board's district representative.