Thursday, March 31, 2016

Wave #2 - AAGT Legislative Update & Call to Action!

The Arizona Association for Gifted & Talented has provided us with this detailed update and targeted call to action.  Even if you have already sent an email to your legislator, send another one with the talking points below.  This will help draw attention to the need for gifted education to have its funds reinstated.  Remember that it is the sqeaky wheel that gets the grease!


An Affiliate of the National Association for Gifted Children

IMPORTANT Legislative Call to Action!
March 24, 2016

Gifted Education Needs Your Support

We are writing this special AAGT newsletter to present you with an immediate opportunity to make a difference in gifted education in the state. This legislative session has seen several targeted investments in education in Arizona. We need your help to make sure gifted education is one of those targets.

Your legislators need to hear from you TODAY that gifted education is budget priority.

The more vocal our community can be showing support of gifted education, the more likely it is that we will get this funding restored. Here is what you need to know:

Arizona schools are mandated to provide services to gifted students. During the Great Recession, this funding was eliminated, yet our schools still operate under the unfunded mandate to provide gifted education. For the last six years this has meant fewer highly qualified teachers, fewer gifted classrooms, and less administrative support for these programs. This year, members of Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented have met with legislators, testified before the House Education Committee, and reached out to countless parents, teachers, and administrators about the need to restore funding for gifted education.

Now we need your help to keep up the momentum. As the legislature begins negotiations over a final budget, we need you, the greatest advocates for your gifted students, to get involved. Will you please write your representatives today and tell them that this vital funding should be restored?

  • Restored funding helps gifted students. We know that the hallmark of giftedness is the exceptional ability to reason and learn. Gifted students learn differently and need well-trained teachers who challenge and support them in order to fully develop their abilities.

  • Restored funding helps parents by increasing opportunities for their child. We all know parents who are willing to brave any traffic and travel any distance to find the school best able to meet their child’s needs. A quality education for gifted students should be available no matter where you live within the State. Gifted classrooms in both public and charter schools are included in this measure.

  • Restored funding helps teachers by funding training in identifying gifted pupils in underserved populations as well as training teachers in gifted child development and gifted teaching strategies.

  • Restored funding helps the Arizona economy by investing in the future Arizona workforce. Funding gifted classrooms creates the homegrown talent needed in this State for a robust economy in the coming years.  

Representative Heather Carter has worked with AAGT to propose two items for the
budgetary process that need your support:
  1. A commitment of one million dollars to partially fund gifted programs according to existing law as a one-year pilot.  
  1. The creation of a study committee to review whether gifted funding is more appropriately placed in Group B funding rather than Group A funding. This distinction matters because under Arizona’s school funding regime, Group A funding is pooled funding, rather than distinct, per-pupil funding. Moving gifted to Group B funding would provide, and potentially add, more stable funds to gifted classrooms in addition to encouraging the identification of gifted students in all populations.

Would you show your support of gifted education?

Step One: Click Here to find your legislators.  

Step Two: Cut and paste the letter (or create your own) into the email box.

Dear (LEGISLATOR),

My name is (INSERT YOUR NAME), and I want to encourage you to restore funding for gifted education in Arizona. I am a (PARENT OF A GIFTED CHILD; GIFTED EDUCATOR; GIFTED STUDENT) and a member of Arizona Association for Gifted & Talented. Gifted Education is a state mandate, yet it has not been funded in Arizona since FY2009, even though gifted pupils have different and unique learning challenges.

Gifted education needs to be a budget priority. A targeted investment in gifted education is evidence based, and helps students, teachers and the economy alike.

There is a common myth that gifted students will do fine on their own. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many gifted students are so far ahead of their same-age peers that they know more than half of the grade-level curriculum before the school year begins. Their resulting boredom and frustration can lead to low achievement, despondency, or unhealthy work habits. The role of the teacher is crucial for spotting and nurturing talents in school. It is often difficult for parents of gifted children to find academic programs and teachers who understand the strengths and struggles of gifted kids.

Investing in Arizona’s gifted children is an investment in our Intellectual Capital and our State’s economy. It will foster a home-grown workforce to fuel growing local businesses. Restoring funding to gifted education will help fund the training of teachers in identifying gifted pupils in underserved populations as well as training teachers in child development and gifted teaching strategies.

The philosophy of gifted education is to identify and support a student’s strengths as well as in their areas of struggle. When gifted education is supported this philosophy can permeate the schools and make a difference in the education of ALL students.

Please make restoring this funding a priority during budget negotiations by supporting the one year, one million dollar pilot funding for gifted education and supporting a study committee to review whether gifted funding would be more appropriately placed in Group B funding rather than Group A.

Sincerely,
(INSERT YOUR NAME)

Step Three: Please speak to your friends, family, teachers, and principal in support of this
budget priority. Follow AAGT on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date on gifted issues in
Arizona.

Step Four:  Please make a phone call, send a thank you email, Facebook message or tweet to Representative Carter and Senator Dial for their support of Arizona gifted education.

Thank you so much!

Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented
PO Box 51772, Phoenix, Arizona 85076-1772 Phone 602-882-1848
www.arizonagifted.org

Monday, March 28, 2016

Guest Lecture "How Can I Talk to My Child About Giftedness?" - Thursday, April 14, 2016

Join us for our Gilbert Supporters of the Gifted guest lecture.
Thursday, April 14, 7:00-8:15 p.m.
At the Greenfield Junior High Library
“How can I talk to my gifted child about giftedness?” 
Speaker: Rebecca Baker, Counselor, 
ASU Herberger Young Scholars Academy 
What does it mean to be gifted?
What is the brain development of a gifted child like? 
How do we explain giftedness to our gifted children?

Note: We will be holding Gilbert Supporters of the Gifted board elections at the beginning of this meeting. We are always looking for people to come join forces with us in being advocates for our gifted community. If you are interested, please email us at GilbertGifted@gmail.com for more information.



Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Legislative Action Needed! READ NOW!


Your chance to help make a difference

Per our by-laws, we are informing you, members/subscribers of Gilbert Supporters of the Gifted, of pending Arizona legislation that can positively impact gifted education in our state.

AZ House of Representatives:  HB 2356 on Gifted Education: Group B Weight is now dead for this session.   Click here for more information on HB 2356 

AZ Senate:  Request a restoration of funding to Gifted Education – see ARS 15-779.03 below.
Arizona law on gifted education:

What can you do?  

On Twitter, tweet directly to your state senator that gifted education funding needs to be restored.

Send an email to your Senator weekly for the next month by following these easy steps below.  Send one today!

Get your teachers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends to do the same.  Though gifted children are a small percentage of the total student population, it is a moral issue that these children receive an education that is commensurate with their abilities.  It is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.  We need to become the squeaky wheel.  Our momentum is just starting and we need to carry it through until the end of this legislative session and into the next year as it is needed.



STEP 2:  On the Senate roster click on “send email” for your legislator.

STEP 3:  Complete the fields provided with your contact information.

STEP 4:  Complete the subject line with “Constituent of LD#(INSERT YOUR NUMBER).  Restoration of Funding for Gifted Education” ... Legislators receive hundreds of emails, yet they are more likely to prioritize those from their own constituents.

STEP 5:  Cut and paste the letter below, adding your personal information and story as indicated …

Dear Senator (INSERT NAME OF YOUR SENATOR),

My name is (INSERT YOUR NAME), and I am a constituent of LD#(INSERT #).  I wish to encourage you to vote for a restoration of funding to gifted education.  I am a parent of a gifted child and a member of (INSERT ORGANIZATION, i.e.: the Gilbert Gifted Education Parent Council, Gilbert Supporters of the Gifted, Arizona Association for Gifted & Talented, ETC.)  Gifted Education is a state mandate (ARS 15-779), yet it has not been funded in Arizona since FY2009, even though gifted pupils have different and unique learning challenges.

There is a common myth that gifted children will do fine independently and that they don’t need support.  However, ALL students have strengths and struggles in which they need support, and gifted children are no less.  It is often difficult for parents of gifted children to find academic programs and teachers who understand the strengths and struggles of gifted kids.  

How will supporting gifted students help Arizona?  Investing in Arizona’s gifted children is an investment in our Intellectual Capital and our state’s economy.  It will foster a home-grown workforce to fuel growing local businesses.  Funding gifted education will help fund teacher training regarding the identification of gifted pupils in underserved populations and training regarding gifted child development and gifted teaching strategies. 

My story – (i.e. my fourth grade gifted child needs a teacher who understands her complex learning needs since she can read at a high school level but is still emotionally a fourth grader / my high school sophomore needs a teacher who understands gifted learning strategies so that he can be mentored in doing accelerated projects beyond the classroom in order to maintain engagement in his learning / etc.)

Gifted children who do not have teachers who understand them often do not experience a year’s worth of growth as typical children do in the regular classroom.  Having teachers who are trained in understanding gifted children is critical to gifted children’s success and the development of the skill set needed to contribute back to society. 

The philosophy of gifted education is to identify and support a student’s strengths as well as in their areas of struggle.  When gifted education is supported this philosophy can permeate the schools and make a difference in the education of ALL students.  Please support the restoration of funding to gifted education.

Sincerely,
(INSERT YOUR NAME)

PS. I'm including this quick link so you can see a map of how Arizona compares with other states in gifted education support -http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/StatePolicy.aspx