#NAGC25 Session Overview: Leveraging Talent Development to Identify Underrepresented Gifted Learners

This year at NAGC25, I had the privilege of presenting alongside Dr. Kimberly Beckerdite from Newport News Public Schools (VA) and Esther Gencheva from Baltimore City Public Schools (MD) on a topic that is both urgent and energizing: how intentional Talent Development practices can expand access to gifted services for students who are too often overlooked. Our three districts represent different contexts, from suburban to large urban systems, yet we share a commitment to one central idea: Talent is universal, but opportunity is not. When schools create structured, research-informed systems that nurture early potential, more students are able to show what they know and can do.

We opened with a simple truth drawn from the work of Del Siegle and colleagues: before talent can grow, students must have authentic opportunities to demonstrate strengths (see article). This means moving beyond a narrow view of giftedness and giving all students opportunities to do challenging things. Effective talent development involves purposeful exposure to challenging higher order thinking skills (such as Harvard’s Project Zero Thinking Routines), hands-on tasks, and high quality discussions that activate strengths that standardized tests alone may miss.

Across Baltimore City, Newport News, and Williamsburg-James City County, our teams have some talent development strategies in common for our K-2 students such as conducting Talent Development Push-In Lessons and providing robust teacher training in gifted characteristics and ways to nurture talent. Another talent development strategy we all had in common was utilizing the Legends of Learning Analogies Program to teach our students analogical thinking skills. This program has hands-on activities and digital game-based experiences that allow students to think critically, solve problems, and show growth from pre-to-post tasks involving verbal, non-verbal, and quantitative analogies. The data has been powerful. For example, Newport News saw seventy-two students qualify for gifted services after using the program, with ninety-five students moving on to the next round, all from Title I schools. Baltimore City continues to use the Legends of Learning Analogy Program to raise identification rates by providing direct support to schools with the lowest representation. In my small school division, early data from our two Talent Development schools will help us refine talent development instruction and strengthen our gifted identification process through triangulated evidence.

Each of our divisions is now expanding its talent development work by:  

• Providing more training for teachers.
• Supporting more intentional Tier I rigor in all classrooms.
• Teaching more integration of clear thinking routines.
• Committing to more support for families.

Talent Development is not a program. It is a mindset. When schools commit to nurturing early strengths, more students begin to shine. If you attended our session, thank you for joining the conversation. Share in the comments what you thought about our work so far. If you would like our handouts or want to learn more, feel free to reach out to me. The work is worth it because our students are worth it! ~Ann