National Association for Gifted Children

The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) is an organization of parents, teachers, educators, other professionals, and community leaders who collectively advocate for the unique needs of children and youth with demonstrated gifts and talents as well as those children who may be able to develop their talents and potential with appropriate educational experiences.

NAGC supports and develops policies, standards, and practices that encourage and respond to the diverse expressions of gifts and talents in children and youth from all cultures, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and socioeconomic groups. NAGC also supports research and development, staff development, advocacy, communication, and collaboration with other organizations and agencies to improve the quality of education for gifted and all students.

NAGC was founded more than 50 years ago by a group of educators and parents to serve an estimated 3 million academically gifted children in classrooms across the United States. For more than five decades, NAGC has worked to increase public awareness of the needs of gifted and high-potential children and to create positive changes in their classrooms. More than 8,000 teachers, parents, educators, and researchers belong to NAGC, an organization that invests its resources to train teachers, encourage parents, and educate administrators and policymakers on how to develop and support gifted children and to understand the loss to society if high-potential learners are not challenged and encouraged.

Many state gifted education associations are affiliates of NAGC, and they offer an array of services, education opportunities, and publications for their members. Many of these groups host state conferences and also provide speakers to local groups and advocate for gifted students in their state capitals. The NAGC publishes Gifted Child[Page 629]Quarterly (GCQ), acknowledged to be the preeminent scholarly journal of the field of gifted education. Since 1957, GCQ has published manuscripts offering new information and creative insights about giftedness and talent development, including quantitative and qualitative research studies written by experts in gifted education and related fields as well as manuscripts reviewing policy and policy implications. GCQ also serves an archival function for NAGC, publishing position papers and other official documents of the organization.

NAGC also produces magazines for both teachers and parents. Parenting for High Potential, a quarterly magazine, is designed for parents and caregivers who want to help develop their children's gifts and talents. Teaching for High Potential is a journal for educators, offering practical guidance and classroom-based materials for educators striving to understand and challenge their highpotential learners.

NAGC believes that in order to ensure that highly able learners are adequately identified and nurtured in our schools, it is essential that teachers are educated in the relevant theory, research, curriculum strategies, and educational practices necessary for developing and sustaining classroom-based opportunities for advanced student learning. NAGC has addressed this issue through its many publications, annual conferences, and professional development programs, as well as its comprehensive Web site, which contains practical information and resources for parents and teachers. The Web site also includes PreK–12 professional standards to help educators identify the characteristics of exemplary gifted programming, nationally approved standards to accredit college and university teacher preparation programs in gifted education, position statements that are well researched, endorsed viewpoints of NAGC, advocacy guides, a listing of summer programs, and helpful links to articles and Web sites that provide information about gifted education.

...