Be an Advocate for Children with Gifts and Talents!
IAGC needs you to advocate for important issues affecting advanced learners.
Be an Advocate!
You can make a difference in the life and education of advanced and high-potential children in Illinois.
It is not necessary to have a knowledge of statistics or legislation to be able to make a case for advocating for all children to have the opportunity to grow, develop, and reach for their potential. By focusing on these three things, you can be an effective advocate:
- Tell your story. Administrators, legislators, and the governor may not be aware of the particular needs of high- ability students or the special training to prepare their teachers. Anecdotes give rulemakers more insight into gifted children than a table of numbers.
- Be specific. For example, as a parent, your story of your child’s frustration reviewing curriculum she mastered three years ago or your concern regarding the inconsistent training her teachers have had in appropriately differentiating curriculum are important specifics. As a teacher, you might mention the range of abilities in your classroom and how, in your ongoing attempts to assist struggling learners, you fear high-ability students are being neglected.
- Review the issues. For more background information on IAGC’s stances on issues related to gifted students and their education, please check out the information in this Advocate section.
Make contact with your local school.
- If you are a parent seeking academic changes for your high-ability child, consider specific topics you wish to discuss first with the classroom teacher.
- Parents and teachers are partners in each child’s education and, while acknowledging limits within the home and school, they can work together positively toward goals for the student.
- After the first conversation, you or the teacher may choose to involve other school or district staff in planning the best academic, social and emotional course for the child.
- For more tips on school meetings you may want to view this parent resource on the National Association for Gifted Children’s website: http://www.nagc.org/get-involved/advocate-high-ability-learners/advocate-your-child)
Make contact at the State level.
Explore the links below to Be an Advocate!
