Dear Members of the NJ State Board of Education and Commissioner Harrington

Dear Members of the NJ State Board of Education and Commissioner Harrington:

I workas a teacher ofGifted and Talentedstudentsin a large,suburban township inMiddlesex County. I have been ateacher ofgifted and talented for 10 years and in that time,there have been, across our state,a reduction in gifted and talented staff.It almost happened in my district too.Due to parentalinvolvement at board meetings, the board ofeducation reinstated the three gifted and talentedteaching positions that werepreviously cut. This shouldhave never happened in the first place, but it did because gifted education is not a priority.

As a G&T teacher, I am currently volunteering to go to all of theelementary schools in my district to discussthe gifted children and their needswith thegeneraleducation teachers.This is neededbecause there is no training about the academic,social oremotional needs of gifted studentsrequired of teachers in NJ.This is something that I do on my own; it is not in my jobdescription. I feel that it is important to have opencommunicationabout the needs of gifted students. There is an even split betweenteacher advocates for thegiftedstudentsand teachersthat consider the program anuisance and a program that disrupts everyday activity. Because of this, many schools in the townshipin whichI workareunderrepresented because teachers do notfullyunderstand the importance of gifted education and do not recommend or advocate for the giftedservicesprovided in ourdistrict.

Since the last workshop by the DOE about gifted education washostedin 2004 (4 years before Istarted teaching), I rely on the Rutgers and NJAGC conferences to learn more about gifted education.These are excellent add-ons for keeping current in the field but do not replace the need for guidance by the NJ Department of Education for every public school in our state. It is the NJ DOE'sresponsibility to provide administrators, general subject educators, and teachers of the giftedthe knowledge and skills toaccommodate our gifted studentsso that they get the modifications required by law.Neededtopics include:understanding andmeeting the needs of twiceexceptional students, ways to identify and serve gifted students, testing, parental involvement,English language learners being under-identified for gifted education services, etc. How do we expect to progress as a state or country if we are not challenging our brightest stars?

New Jersey is a front runnerin education for the country. Let'snot assume that only the affluent parents and school districts have gifted students. All teachers need training in meeting the needs of gifted learners, both academic and social/emotional. Let's make sure thateverydistrictis doing all it can to satisfythe requirements and meetthe needs of gifted education.80,000 to 160,000 of New Jersey's students are counting on you toimprove gifted educationand leadership from the DOE in 2018.

Sincerely,

Erica Azar