Missouri on deck to boost access to gifted education

About 40-percent of Missouri’s K-12 public schools have a state-approved program for high-achieving and high-ability students. 

For school year 2024-25 and all subsequent school years, if three percent or more of students enrolled in a school district are identified as gifted and their development requires programs or services beyond the level of those ordinarily provided in regular public school programs, the district shall establish a state-approved gifted program for gifted children.

Beth Winton, chair of a statewide advisory council for talented and gifted students, says high school gifted programs are disproportionately absent in rural and smaller Missouri communities.

Winton told Newstalk KZRG:  “Bigger kids, bigger problems. So, their needs get more individualized and more diverse and more necessary as they get older, as they make bigger decisions about their future,” she says.

The council will offer a step-by-step guide to districts to help them create a gifted education program.