Gifted education can’t be an afterthought. It must be integrated into the core identity of your school.

• Review your mission and vision through the lens of equity and excellence. Do they include language about meeting the needs of all learners, including the most advanced?

• Consider how your vision statements can drive inclusive talent development rather than narrow selection or elitism.

• Frame your work with high-ability students as a schoolwide commitment, not a standalone initiative.

Action Idea: Add language around “meeting the needs of all learners, including those with advanced potential” into your vision/mission statements or learning principles.

Supporting advanced learners isn’t always about new funding—it’s about intentionally prioritizing resources.

• Is there a line item in your budget that supports gifted programming, enrichment, or professional learning?

• Are time and staffing allocated to identify, mentor, and challenge high-ability learners?

• Is there access to advanced content, competitions, or partnerships that go beyond the standard curriculum?

Investing in these areas signals to staff and families that this work is not optional—it’s part of your core educational values.

Action Idea: Audit your current resource allocations (human, financial, and time) to identify where enrichment and advanced programming are supported—or left unsupported.

Even the best curriculum or plan will fall flat without teacher understanding and buy-in.

• Are teachers trained in recognizing potential in culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students?

• Do they have strategies for differentiation, curriculum compacting, tiered assignments, or project-based enrichment?

• Are specialists, coordinators, or gifted liaisons part of your staffing model?

Building capacity isn’t just about compliance—it’s about equipping teachers to see and grow talent everywhere.

Action Idea: Incorporate ongoing training around giftedness, talent development, and equitable identification practices into your PD calendar.

Is your school’s approach coherent, or are strategies siloed and dependent on specific teachers?

• Does enrichment link to classroom learning, or does it happen in a vacuum?

• Is there a shared language and system for how students move from exploration to advanced opportunities?

• Are online courses, competitions, and mentorships part of an intentional student pathway, or added case-by-case?

System-wide coherence ensures your school can scale and sustain gifted services, even when staff changes.

Action Idea: Create a K–12 continuum that maps out how students can access and progress through advanced learning pathways (e.g., enrichment, subject acceleration, online courses, real-world projects).

Sustainable gifted programming requires more than good intentions—it requires evidence. Measuring the impact of your strategies helps ensure that high-ability learners are not only being served, but are thriving. It also helps leaders make data-informed decisions, allocate resources wisely, and refine programming year over year.

Here’s what to focus on:

• Student Growth and Opportunity
  Track more than grades. Are students gaining access to appropriate challenge, such as acceleration, enrichment, or advanced coursework? Are underrepresented students being identified through improved screening or teacher referral practices?

• Engagement and Belonging
  High-ability students need to feel seen and supported, not just academically successful. Use surveys and SEL check-ins to understand whether students feel challenged, connected, and motivated—and whether families feel the same.

• Teacher Capacity and Practice
  Are teachers using what they’ve learned in PD to differentiate and refer students for enrichment? Is there evidence of increased confidence and collaboration in serving advanced learners?

• Program-Level Indicators
  Look at the system as a whole. Are more students participating in enrichment or online opportunities? Are gifted goals embedded in your school improvement plan? Is your team using data to reflect and adjust annually?

By weaving together quantitative data and qualitative insights, you create a full picture of how well your school is identifying and supporting advanced learners—and how it can keep improving. What gets measured, gets improved.