"State of the State" in Gifted Education - April 2018

Dr. Pamela Clinkenbeard, Professor of Educational Foundations, UW-Whitewater and WATG Board Member
 
Following are updates, announcements, and information items about gifted education and advanced learners in Wisconsin.  Please contact Pam Clinkenbeard if you have questions or see any errors in the information.
 
DPI (see https://dpi.wi.gov/gifted)

• State consultant position – The new GT/AP Consultant is Dr. Mark Schwingle, mark.schwingle@dpi.wi.gov.  Dr. Chrys Mursky left her position last year but continues to assist with some items including the DPI Javits grant. 
• DPI gifted grants (current year and next year) - Nine grants for 2017-18 were awarded: seven to CESAs and two to non-profit organizations. Various regulatory delays meant that the grants were awarded quite late.  Planning is underway for the 2018-19 grants; the process is complicated because the 2017-19 state budget expanded the applicant pool to all school districts but did not expand the funding.
• WI ESSA plan – DPI’s ESSA plan has been approved; there is more language specific to gifted education than in NCLB, but districts also have more flexibility in implementation. WATG seeks ideas from district GT personnel on how to encourage/monitor districts, particularly with respect to applying for (1) Title I funds that support underrepresented gifted students and (2) Title II funds that support teacher professional development in gifted education and meeting the needs of advanced learners.

 
OTHER STATE

• WATG participated in the NAGC “Leadership and Advocacy” conference in Washington, DC in mid-March; President Cathy Schmit and board member and advocacy co-chair Deb Kucek visited every WI Congressional office and were invited to an important appropriations subcommittee meeting.
• Javits grants update – Wisconsin currently holds three federal Javits grants, which is impressive.  The DPI grant “Expanding Excellence” will end in fall 2018; the UW-Madison/WCER/WCATY “Smart Spaces” grant continues until fall 2020; and MPS is in its first year of a five-year grant, “SEE US!”
• University programs - UW-Whitewater and UW-Stevens Point are both changing the format of their programs due to low or inconsistent enrollment in regular hybrid and on-campus courses.  Gifted-emphasis master’s programs and licensure programs will continue at this time only on a cohort basis: that is, when there is a request from a defined group with enough participants to offer the program.  There may be regular offerings of online-only programs developed in the future.  Concordia University offers online-only licensure and a master’s emphasis.
• “Last chance” UWW hybrid courses – the “coordinator course” (EDFOUND 785, leading to the 5013 license) will be offered one more time in hybrid format through UW-Whitewater in summer 2018, then likely will not be offered for at least a few years.  Prerequisites: the three “core” gifted courses (foundations, psych, curric).  For more information, contact Pam Clinkenbeard at clinkenp@uww.edu.  The “psych issues” course (EDFOUND 782) will be offered one more time in hybrid format in fall 2018.  For more information, contact Scott Peters at peterss@uww.edu.
• Education savings accounts for low-income gifted – AB 830 and SB 725 remained in committee and did not go forward in the state legislature, so this issue is probably dead until it is possibly re-introduced during the next legislative session beginning in January 2019. For background on the issue, see the WATG website at http://www.watg.org/ and scroll through the Advocacy section (under “Get Involved”).
• WATG acceleration project – WATG will be pursuing a project to investigate district acceleration practices and to develop model acceleration policies.  Stay tuned!
• WATG annual conference – the next state gifted conference will be Nov. 1-2, 2018 at the Wilderness in Wisconsin Dells.  Consider bringing a team, and meanwhile share your expertise through a conference proposal!  Proposals relating to the conference theme are particularly sought: “The Power Of Student Voice: Our Dreams, Our Needs.”  For more information on the conference and how to propose a session (due April 13) see http://www.watg.org/about-the-conference.html.

 
OTHER (upcoming events)

• WATG advocacy agenda – The Wisconsin Association for Talented and Gifted (WATG) will be meeting in late April partly to work on advocacy strategic planning.  What would you like gifted education and advanced learning to look like in Wisconsin?  Submit your thoughts to watg@watg.org or to President Cathy Schmit at watgpresident@watg.org.
• Aug. 8-11, 2018 in Dublin, Ireland – ECHA biennial conference (European Council for High Ability). http://echa2018.info/
• Nov. 1-2, 2018 at the Wilderness in WI Dells – WATG annual conference – see above
• Nov. 15-18, 2018 in Minneapolis – mark your calendars for the NAGC annual conference (National Association for Gifted Children) – invite administrators & school board members – the conference is rarely held in a location that is within easy driving distance!  http://www.nagc.org/
• July 24-28, 2019 in Nashville, TN; World Conference of the WCGTC (World Council for Gifted, Talented and Creative).  https://www.world-gifted.org/wcgtc-world-conference/
• Oct. 3-4, 2019 in WI Dells – WATG conference at the Wilderness
• Nov. 7-10, 2019 in Albuquerque - NAGC annual conference