I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2960 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to aid 

gifted and talented and high-ability learners by empowering the Nation’s 

teachers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 7, 2015 

Mr. POLIS (for himself and Mr. YOUNG of Iowa) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, 

and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to aid gifted and talented and high-ability learners by empowering the Nation’s teachers, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘To 

5 Aid Gifted and High-Ability Learners by Empowering the 

6 Nation’s Teachers Act’’ or the ‘‘TALENT Act’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

2 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. References. 

TITLE I—IMPROVING BASIC PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS 

Sec. 101. State plans. 

Sec. 102. Annual State report cards. 

Sec. 103. Local educational agency plans. 

Sec. 104. National assessment of title I. 

TITLE II—IMPROVING TEACHING FOR GIFTED AND TALENTED 

STUDENTS 

Sec. 201. State applications. 

Sec. 202. Local applications and needs assessments. 

Sec. 203. Local use of funds. 

Sec. 204. Subgrants to eligible partnerships. 

TITLE III—GIFTED AND TALENTED STUDENTS IN RURAL 

SCHOOLS 

Sec. 301. Small rural school achievement program. 

Sec. 302. Rural and low-income school program. 

TITLE IV—SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH ON THE 

LEARNING NEEDS OF GIFTED AND TALENTED STUDENTS 

Sec. 401. Supporting essential research on the learning needs of gifted and talented students. 

TITLE V—GENERAL PROVISIONS 

Sec. 501. Definitions. 

Sec. 502. Amendments to other laws. 

Sec. 503. Effective date. 

3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress makes the following findings: 

5 (1) Academically gifted and talented students 

6 make up an estimated 6 to 10 percent of the pre7 kindergarten through grade 12 student population, 

8 totaling between 3,000,000 and 6,000,000 students. 

9 (2) There is a growing excellence gap at the 

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1 ance of subgroups of students, particularly between 

2 the performance of students who are African-Amer3 ican or Hispanic and the performance of White stu4 dents, and between low-income students compared to 

5 their more advantaged peers, on statewide assess6 ments and on the National Assessment of Edu7 cational Progress. 

8 (3) Advanced students in the United States lag 

9 behind the performance of similar students in other 

10 countries, which puts the Nation at a competitive 

11 disadvantage. 

12 (4) Gifted and talented students, and high-abil13 ity students who have not been formally identified 

14 for gifted education services, require modifications to 

15 the general education curriculum to fully meet their 

16 potential. 

17 (5) Effective assessment and instruction of gift18 ed and talented students requires educators to have 

19 specialized knowledge and skills. 

20 (6) Ninety percent of teachers nationwide want 

21 more professional development focused on the skills 

22 necessary for teaching advanced students. 

23 (7) Interventions and strategies that have been 

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1 ented students can be modified to improve the 

2 achievement of all students. 

3 (8) The availability of gifted education pro4 grams and services to students who require such 

5 services is unequal and often relies solely on local re6 sources and leadership, leaving many high-ability 

7 students from rural areas or who are English lan8 guage learners or Hispanic, African-American, or 

9 Native American, among others, without access to 

10 appropriate services. 

11 (9) There are an estimated 360,000 students in 

12 the United States who are both gifted and have a 

13 disability. These ‘‘twice exceptional’’ children present 

14 special challenges because their disability often 

15 masks their academic potential or their academic 

16 strengths may mask their disability, resulting in a 

17 lack of services and supports for this student popu18 lation. 

19 (10) The development and dissemination of re20 search and national data on gifted and talented stu21 dents is necessary to— 

22 (A) guide evidence-based classroom prac23 tices vital to meeting the unique needs of this 

24 population of students; and 


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1 (B) contribute to the decisionmaking of 

2 educators, families, and policymakers. 

3 SEC. 3. REFERENCES. 

4 Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 

5 this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 

6 of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi7 sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a 

8 section or other provision of the Elementary and Sec9 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.). 

10 TITLE I—IMPROVING BASIC 

11 PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS 

12 SEC. 101. STATE PLANS. 

13 (a) ACCOUNTABILITY.—Section 1111(b)(2)(A) (20 

14 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)(A)) is amended— 

15 (1) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ after the 

16 semicolon; 

17 (2) in clause (iii), by striking the period at the 

18 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

19 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(iv) include a recognition program 

21 for local educational agencies in the State 

22 that, for each category of students de23 scribed in subparagraph (C)(v), signifi24 cantly increase the proportion of students 

25 scoring at or above the advanced level of 


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1 achievement on the State academic assess2 ments under paragraph (3).’’. 

3 (b) STATE ASSESSMENTS.—Section 1111(b)(3)(C) 

4 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(3)(C)) is amended— 

5 (1) in clause (xiv), by striking ‘‘and’’ after the 

6 semicolon; 

7 (2) in clause (xv), by striking the period at the 

8 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

9 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(xvi) measure individual academic 

11 achievement, including measuring above 

12 grade level achievement.’’. 

13 (c) ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM.—Section 1111(b)(8) 

14 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(8)) is amended— 

15 (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

16 after the semicolon; 

17 (2) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as sub18 paragraph (F); and 

19 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(E) the specific steps the State edu22 cational agency will take to assist each local 

23 educational agency and school affected by the 

24 State plan to provide additional educational as25 sistance to individual students who— 


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1 ‘‘(i) perform at the advanced level of 

2 achievement on the State academic assess3 ments described in paragraph (3); and 

4 ‘‘(ii) are gifted and talented (including 

5 high-ability students with disabilities, high6 ability students who are limited English 

7 proficient, and other high-ability students 

8 who have not previously been formally 

9 identified for gifted education services); 

10 and’’. 

11 SEC. 102. ANNUAL STATE REPORT CARDS. 

12 Section 1111(h)(1)(C) (20 U.S.C. 6311(h)(1)(C)) is 

13 amended— 

14 (1) in clause (vii), by striking ‘‘and’’ after the 

15 semicolon; 

16 (2) by redesignating clause (viii) as clause (ix); 

17 and 

18 (3) by inserting after clause (vii) the following: 

19 ‘‘(viii) a comparison of the perform20 ance of students between different local 

21 educational agencies across the State at 

22 each level of achievement described in sub23 section (b)(1)(D)(ii), disaggregated by the 

24 subgroups described in subsection 

25 (b)(2)(C)(v); and’’. 


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1 SEC. 103. LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY PLANS. 

2 (a) PLAN PROVISIONS.—Section 1112(b)(1) (20 

3 U.S.C. 6312(b)(1)) is amended— 

4 (1) in subparagraph (P), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

5 after the semicolon; 

6 (2) in subparagraph (Q), by striking the period 

7 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(R) a description of how the local edu10 cational agency will— 

11 ‘‘(i) identify gifted and talented stu12 dents, including high-ability students with 

13 disabilities, high-ability students who are 

14 limited English proficient, and other high15 ability students who have not previously 

16 been formally identified for gifted edu17 cation services; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) implement educational ap19 proaches at the elementary and secondary 

20 levels to support the learning needs of gift21 ed and talented students to ensure that 

22 such students make appropriate learning 

23 gains, such as early entrance to kinder24 garten, enrichment, acceleration, cur25 riculum compacting, and dual enrollment 


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1 in secondary school and postsecondary edu2 cation.’’. 

3 (b) SCHOOLWIDE PROGRAMS.—Section 1114(b)(1) 

4 (20 U.S.C. 6314(b)(1)) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘(K) A description of how the school will 

7 identify gifted and talented students, including 

8 high-ability students with disabilities, high-abil9 ity students who are limited English proficient, 

10 and other high-ability students who have not 

11 previously been formally identified for gifted 

12 education services, and provide services to sup13 port the learning needs of gifted and talented 

14 students to ensure that such students make ap15 propriate learning gains.’’. 

16 (c) TARGETED ASSISTANCE SCHOOLS.—Section 

17 1115(c)(1) (20 U.S.C. 6315(c)(1)) is amended— 

18 (1) in subparagraph (G), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

19 after the semicolon; 

20 (2) in subparagraph (H), by striking the period 

21 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

22 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(I) identify gifted and talented students, 

24 including high-ability students with disabilities, 

25 high-ability students who are limited English 


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1 proficient, and other high-ability students who 

2 have not previously been formally identified for 

3 gifted education services, and provide services 

4 to support the learning needs of gifted and tal5 ented students to ensure that gifted and tal6 ented and high-ability students make appro7 priate learning gains.’’. 

8 SEC. 104. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF TITLE I. 

9 Section 1501(a)(2)(E) (20 U.S.C. 6491(a)(2)(E)) is 

10 amended— 

11 (1) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘and’’; 

12 (2) in clause (v), by striking the period at the 

13 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

14 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(vi) made public an analysis of excel16 lence gaps and a description of activities to 

17 close any such gaps.’’. 

18 TITLE II—IMPROVING TEACHING 

19 FOR GIFTED AND TALENTED 

20 STUDENTS 

21 SEC. 201. STATE APPLICATIONS. 

22 Section 2112(b)(5) (20 U.S.C. 6612(b)(5)) is amend23 ed by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(C) A description of the comprehensive strat25 egy the State educational agency will use to improve 


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1 the teaching skills of teachers, principals, pupil serv2 ices personnel, and other instructional leaders in 

3 order to enable them to employ strategies that focus 

4 on— 

5 ‘‘(i) the identification of students’ specific 

6 learning needs, particularly students with dis7 abilities, students who are limited English pro8 ficient, students who are gifted and talented, 

9 and students with low literacy levels; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) the tailoring of academic instruction 

11 to such needs.’’. 

12 SEC. 202. LOCAL APPLICATIONS AND NEEDS ASSESSMENTS. 

13 (a) LOCAL APPLICATIONS.—Section 2122(b) (20 

14 U.S.C. 6622(b)) is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(12) A description of how the activities will 

17 have a substantial, measurable, and positive impact 

18 on student academic achievement and how the activi19 ties will be used as part of a broader strategy to 

20 eliminate the achievement gap and the excellence 

21 gap.’’. 

22 (b) NEEDS ASSESSMENT.—Section 2122(c)(2) (20 

23 U.S.C. 6622(c)(2)) is amended by inserting ‘‘shall be 

24 based on an analysis of the achievement and learning 

25 needs of students at each level of achievement described 


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1 in section 1111(b)(1)(D)(ii) on the State academic assess2 ments, disaggregated by each subgroup described in sec3 tion 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II),’’ before ‘‘shall be conducted’’. 

4 SEC. 203. LOCAL USE OF FUNDS. 

5 Section 2123(a) (20 U.S.C. 6623(a)) is amended— 

6 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

7 striking ‘‘to carry out’’ and inserting ‘‘to increase 

8 student achievement for all students, including lim9 ited English proficient students, students with dis10 abilities, and gifted and talented students, by car11 rying out’’; and 

12 (2) in paragraph (3)(B)— 

13 (A) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘and’’; 

14 (B) in clause (v), by striking the period at 

15 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

16 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(vi) provide training to support the 

18 identification of students who are gifted 

19 and talented, and to implement instruc20 tional practices that support the education 

21 of such students, such as early entrance to 

22 kindergarten, enrichment, acceleration, 

23 curriculum compacting and dual enroll24 ment in secondary school and postsec25 ondary education.’’. 


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1 SEC. 204. SUBGRANTS TO ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIPS. 

2 Section 2134(a)(1) (20 U.S.C. 6634(a)(1)) is amend3 ed— 

4 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

5 after the semicolon; and 

6 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(C) teachers, principals, and pupil service 

8 personnel have the training to support— 

9 ‘‘(i) the identification of students who 

10 are gifted and talented, including high-abil11 ity students with disabilities, high-ability 

12 students who are limited English pro13 ficient, and other high-ability students who 

14 have not previously been formally identified 

15 for gifted education services; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) implementation of instructional 

17 practices that support the education of 

18 gifted and talented students, such as early 

19 entrance to kindergarten, enrichment, ac20 celeration, curriculum compacting, and 

21 dual enrollment in secondary school and 

22 postsecondary education; and’’. 


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1 TITLE III—GIFTED AND TAL2 ENTED STUDENTS IN RURAL 

3 SCHOOLS 

4 SEC. 301. SMALL RURAL SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM. 

5 Section 6211(a)(1) (20 U.S.C. 7345(a)(1)) is amend6 ed by inserting ‘‘, including supporting gifted and talented 

7 students (including high-ability students with disabilities, 

8 high-ability students who are limited English proficient, 

9 and other high-ability students who have not previously 

10 been formally identified for gifted education services),’’ 

11 after ‘‘local activities’’. 

12 SEC. 302. RURAL AND LOW-INCOME SCHOOL PROGRAM. 

13 Section 6222(a)(2) (20 U.S.C. 7351a(a)(2)) is 

14 amended by striking ‘‘and to train’’ and inserting ‘‘, train 

15 teachers to meet the unique learning needs of gifted and 

16 talented students, including high-ability students with dis17 abilities, high-ability students who are limited English pro18 ficient, and other high-ability students who have not pre19 viously been formally identified for gifted education serv20 ices, and train’’. 


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1 TITLE IV—SUPPORTING ESSEN2 TIAL RESEARCH ON THE 

3 LEARNING NEEDS OF GIFTED 

4 AND TALENTED STUDENTS 

5 SEC. 401. SUPPORTING ESSENTIAL RESEARCH ON THE 

6 LEARNING NEEDS OF GIFTED AND TALENTED 

7 STUDENTS. 

8 The Secretary, acting through the Director of the In9 stitute of Education Sciences, shall— 

10 (1) continue research and development activities 

11 related to the education of gifted and talented stu12 dents, particularly research and development activi13 ties related to such students who reside in rural 

14 communities or have been underrepresented as gift15 ed and talented, including students who are low-in16 come or limited English proficient, students with 

17 disabilities, and students from minority back18 grounds; 

19 (2) support a National Research and Dissemi20 nation Center on the Gifted and Talented that con21 ducts research and serves as a national clearing22 house for evidence-based best practices to improve 

23 the identification and instruction of gifted and tal24 ented students; 


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1 (3) administer demonstration grants that build 

2 and enhance the ability of elementary school and 

3 secondary school personnel to support gifted and tal4 ented students; and 

5 (4) ensure that statistical data related to the 

6 education of gifted and talented children in kinder7 garten through grade 12 in the United States and 

8 in other nations is collected, reported, analyzed, and 

9 disseminated. 

10 TITLE V—GENERAL PROVISIONS 

11 SEC. 501. DEFINITIONS. 

12 Section 9101 (20 U.S.C. 7801) is amended— 

13 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (19) through 

14 (42) and paragraph (43) as paragraphs (20) 

15 through (43) and paragraph (45), respectively; 

16 (2) by inserting after paragraph (18) the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(19) EXCELLENCE GAP.—The term ‘excellence 

19 gap’ means differences in the percentage of students 

20 performing at the highest level of achievement de21 scribed in section 1111(b)(1)(D)(ii) between dif22 ferent subgroups described in section 

23 1111(b)(2)(C)(v)(II).’’; and 

24 (3) by inserting after paragraph (43), as redes25 ignated by paragraph (1), the following: 


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1 ‘‘(44) TEACHING SKILLS.—The term ‘teaching 

2 skills’ has the meaning given the term in section 200 

3 of the Higher Education Act of 1965.’’. 

4 SEC. 502. AMENDMENTS TO OTHER LAWS. 

5 (a) COORDINATION OF FEDERAL STEM EDU6 CATION.—Section 101(b) of the America COMPETES 

7 Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 6621(b)) is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) in the first subsection (b)— 

10 (A) in paragraph (5)(D), by striking 

11 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

12 (B) in paragraph (6), by striking the pe13 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

14 (C) by inserting after paragraph (6), the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘(7) encourage participating agencies to develop 

17 and implement activities and programs that support 

18 advanced students in kindergarten through grade 

19 12, including advanced students who are from low20 income families and advanced students from other 

21 groups that are underrepresented in the STEM 

22 fields, in order to promote advanced students’ pur23 suit of careers in STEM fields.’’; and 


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1 (2) by redesignating the second subsection (b) 

2 and subsection (c) as subsection (c) and subsection 

3 (d), respectively. 

4 (b) LABORATORY COOPERATIVE SCIENCE CENTERS

5 AND OTHER AUTHORIZED EDUCATION ACTIVITIES.—Sec6 tion 3164 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 

7 Fiscal Year 1991 (42 U.S.C. 7381b(a)) is amended— 

8 (1) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘The Sec9 retary shall determine which students are eligible to 

10 participate in such mathematics and science edu11 cation programs based on the academic achievement 

12 of such students.’’ after ‘‘development facilities.’’; 

13 and 

14 (2) in paragraph (13), by inserting ‘‘The Sec15 retary shall determine which middle-school students 

16 are eligible to participate in such prefreshman en17 richment program based on the academic achieve18 ment of such students.’’ after ‘‘by universities on 

19 their campuses.’’. 

20 (c) ADVANCED PLACEMENT AND INTERNATIONAL

21 BACCALAUREATE PROGRAMS.—Section 6123 of the Amer22 ica COMPETES Act (20 U.S.C. 9833) is amended— 

23 (1) in subsection (d)— 

24 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

25 after the semicolon; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe2 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(3) the availability of Advanced Placement or 

5 International Baccalaureate mathematics, science, 

6 and critical foreign language courses earlier than is 

7 typical to students who are prepared for such 

8 work.’’; and 

9 (2) in subsection (f)(2)— 

10 (A) in subparagraph (E), by striking 

11 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

12 (B) in subparagraph (F), by striking the 

13 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(G) how the eligible entity will make Ad16 vanced Placement or International Bacca17 laureate mathematics, science, and critical for18 eign language courses available earlier than is 

19 typical to students who are prepared for such 

20 work.’’. 

21 SEC. 503. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

22 This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, 

23 shall take effect 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

24 Act. 

Æ 


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