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Article Excerpt
The law on gifted education is primarily a matter of state legislation and regulations. In states that do not have legislation or regulations providing specific and strong requirements for gifted education (i.e., individually defined and enforceable rights akin to those under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA]), the "case law"--the published hearing/review officer and court decisions concerning who is eligible as gifted and, for those who are eligible, what is their educational entitlement--has been adverse to plain tiff-parents (Zirkel, 2004). Moreover, although of undisputed practical significance, "guidelines" and other state agency policy interpretations that have not been subject to the applicable administrative procedures for regulations are, at most, entitled to deference by, not binding effect on, the courts (e.g., Zirkel, 2002).
Literature Review
The professional literature lacks a current and comprehensive canvassing of the statutes and regulations specific to gifted education. Rather, the published compilations mix the statutes and regulations specific to gifted education with sources that do not have the full force of law, such as state policies and practices. Some sources are limited to particular aspects of gifted education and extend well beyond the pertinent legislation and regulations. For example, focusing on identification policies and practices, researchers at the University of North Carolina (Coleman, Gallagher, & Foster, 1994) requested and analyzed a whole host of state policies and practices, including "state laws, mandates, regulations, and guidelines," "statements of philosophy and/or goals," and "procedural information." Neither their survey nor their results differentiated binding rules of law from their interpretation and implementation in the other requested sources. The line of successive studies limited to the definition or identification of gifted students (Cassidy & Hossler, 1992; Karnes & Collins, 1977; Karnes & Koch, 1985; Stephens & Karnes, 2000) more closely adhered to state statutes and regulations. However, this research did not expressly exclude state guidelines or other such policy interpretations, and it also had the limitations of survey methodology.
Other sources were more comprehensive in focus. For example, Passow and Rudnitski (1993) analyzed various components of state gifted education policies, including philosophy or rationale, identification procedures, and program elements. Although the title of their work focused on legislation and regulations, their study was based on "documents dealing with policies, legislation, regulations, handbooks and other materials guiding gifted education in [the 49 responding] states" (p. xix). Moreover, their definitions of these terms, particularly "policy," reflected at least partial confusion, and their findings were not differentiated by source or by state. Similarly, Landrum, Katsiyannis, and DeWaard (1998) surveyed the state directors for gifted education, using a relatively short questionnaire and requesting supporting materials for three items: legislation, funding sources, and current initiatives or trends. They obtained completed questionnaires from 40 states and supplemental documentation from only 31 states. Moreover, their single survey item regarding "legislation" did not include regulations, and their reported results referred additionally to "policies" and "policy documents" without any definition or differentiation. Similarly, the most recent biannual survey of the state directors reported the number of states with mandated funding, data-collection practices, identification procedures, district participation, and teacher certification or training requirements; however, it too is based on indiscriminately mixed sources and additionally has the limitations of survey research, such as a lack of response from 16 of the 50 states (Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted & National Association for Gifted Children, 2001).
In a more recent survey, Shaunessy (2003) categorized state gifted education "policies" without specifically defining this generic term, in relation to various selected features of the IDEA. Finally, a Tennessee advocacy organization's survey of the 50 states, which had more comprehensive data and a higher response rate, was based on policies and practices, not just laws (Swanson, 2002).
In contrast, very few studies have specifically canvassed state statutes for gifted education (Ackerman & Weintraub, 1969; Zettel 1980) or their combination with state regulations (Mitchell, 1981) exclusive of state guidelines and practices. Moreover, these analyses are not sufficiently in-depth or up-to-date.
State Statutes and Regulations
To fill this gap on the bookshelf in gifted education, the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented has recently published an exhaustive, impartial, and yet relatively compact synthesis of the law specific to gifted education. In addition to summarizing the case law, the monograph includes an appendix that provides a tabular analysis, excerpted provisions, and legal citations of the pertinent...
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