Mikulski Applauds Unanimous Approval of Her Amendment to Support Gifted and Talented Students in HELP Committee Markup

Press Release

U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee today announced that her amendment to reauthorize the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Education Program passed unanimously at a markup of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The program supports gifted and talented students, especially disadvantaged gifted students who often go unnoticed in school and are not being challenged.

The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act is the only federal program that provides dedicated funding to states, districts and institutions of higher education to develop curricula and implement teaching strategies to meet the unique needs of gifted and talented students. It especially focuses on disadvantaged gifted students who often go unnoticed in and are not being challenged in school. As the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Mikulski has fought each year to put funds in the federal checkbook for the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act.

Senator Mikulski's opening statement as prepared for delivery follows:

"My amendment is simple. It reauthorizes the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Education Program for the life of this bill (six years). We just appropriated $10 million for Javits in the Fiscal Year 2015 Omnibus bill.

"Javits is the only federal program that provides competitive grants to help states and school districts get the tools and resources they need to support gifted students. The average grant award is $400,000, so we're not talking about a big pot of money here.

"The National Association of Gifted Children estimates that three million kids have been identified as gifted but not getting the support they need. We also know there are more kids out there who are not being identified.

"There are two types of Javits grants. The first is capacity-building grants, what I like to call the "doing' grants. The boots on the ground work. These grants can be used to support professional development for teachers so they know how to identify these kids and how to teach them. They help schools create the curriculum and course work that's appropriate for these kids. They also provide technical assistance to schools on how to develop gifted and talented programs.

"The second type is research grants. These grants look at what needs to be done to serve these kids better. That includes research on how best to train teachers, research on how to best identify gifted kids, research on the kind of programs that work and research to support states. They look at how states provide training for teachers and determines what the needs and gaps are.

"There is a persistent bias against believing that gifted children and their teachers need help. There is a lingering perception that gifted kids and rich and that they don't come from the neighborhoods of West Baltimore -- where they filmed The Wire. Gifted students have unique needs -- they need to be engaged, challenged and encouraged. Somehow or another, we've gotten away from believing that intelligence and ability is randomly distributed throughout our population. Serving students who are low-achieving is important, but so is nurturing students who have high-ability and enormous potential. I believe we need to know more about these kids and our teachers need to know how to help these children achieve and succeed.

"My amendment makes sure that this dedicated funding stream remains in place. My amendment makes sure that we continue to support these high-ability learners. I urge the Committee to support this important program."

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