By Kristin DeCarr

School districts across the nation are beginning to implement more programs — and earlier — for gifted students before they become underachievers.

In order to help these schools better identify their gifted students, and therefore allow teachers to be better able to address their skills District Administration has outlined a number of suggestions.

• “A lack of federal funding and patchwork policies across states often leave decisions on identifying and serving gifted students to district administrators. An estimated 3 million to 5 million academically gifted students attend K12 schools, and it is unknown how many are receiving services, according to the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC),” according to the District Administration.

Currently, 15 states have no gifted programs, and only 3 states ask their general education teachers to have training specifically for gifted students. As a result, many gifted students, especially minorities and English Language Learners, end up unchallenged in regular classrooms, writes Nicole Gorman for Education World.

via Schools Re-evaluating Gifted Programs, Early Intervention.