The Syllabi Project

Most gifted students receive the majority of their instruction in the regular classroom, yet --

  • Most teacher candidates receive less than 2 clock hours of instruction over their entire preparatory program on how to indentify and respond to students who are ready for instruction above the student's grade level.
  • Sixty-five percent of classroom teachers report that they have received none or very little training on working with these students.1

It is imperative that all teacher preparatory programs increase candidates’ exposure to the academic diversity they will find in their classrooms, including high-ability students.  Individuals preparing to teach need to learn how to recognize and serve not only high achieving but also high-potential students.

NAGC urges its university faculty members to reach out to their non-gifted education colleagues who are training teachers to help them include in their courses the instruction, readings and other strategies teacher candidates need to be able to identify and serve advanced learners.  The NAGC Professional Standards Committee developed exemplar syllabi in core classes, with modifications to address advanced learners, to help you provide suggestions to colleagues in your institutions on extending instruction to include advanced learners.

The syllabi modifications show how teachers can:

♦  recognize the learning differences, developmental milestones, and cognitive/affective characteristics of gifted and talented students, including those from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and identify their related academic and social-emotional needs;

♦  design appropriate learning and performance modifications for individuals with gifts and talents that enhance creativity, acceleration, depth and complexity in academic subject matter and specialized domains; and

♦  select, adapt, and use a repertoire of evidence-based instructional strategies to advance the learning of gifted and talented students

See examples of modified syllabi for you to share


1Farkas, S. & Duffett, A. (2008). Results from a national teacher survey. In Thomas B. Fordham Institute, High-achieving students in the era of NCLB (pp. 50-82)



Books on the National Standards

CCSS ELA resize.jpg Provide differentiated learning experiences for advanced students.  

Identifying Gifted Students: A Practical Guide (2nd ed.)

Identifying-Gifted-Students.jpgAligned with the NAGC Pre-K–12 Gifted Program Standards