Gifted & Talented Academy

The Gifted and Talented Academy (G/T Academy) at Heartland AEA is a five-year professional development opportunity for teams of K-12 teachers of gifted education and instructional leaders from individual districts.

Year 1: Comprehensive Gifted and Talented Programming

Participants learn to audit, develop and improve their written Comprehensive Gifted and Talented Program Plan and programming. Teams meet throughout the year to study their current plans, consider best practices in gifted education and analyze data.

Before the Academy

Prior to the first session of the Academy, team members need to complete the survey and establish a Gifted and Talented Advisory. Please bring your advisory membership list and a copy of the survey to Session 1.

Establishing an Advisory (PDF)

Year 2: Curriculum and Instruction

Participants overview gifted program models and develop curriculum framework documents that include student goals/outcomes, strategies, resources and assessment approaches.

Year 3: Program Evaluation

How do we know gifted and talented programs are working, that they’re doing what they are designed to do and that they’re making a difference for the students they serve? These questions and more point to the need for quality gifted and talented program evaluation. This course will assist participants in developing their own program evaluation questions, identifying the stakeholders and data sources most likely to provide insight into the answers and determining the most effective ways to organize, analyze, communicate and use those data. Must have taken Years 1 and 2 to participate.

Comprehensive Gifted and Talented Programming Model