Gifted New York State, Inc. (GiftedNYS), is a not-for-profit organization of parents, educators, and professionals who have come together to support the needs of New York’s gifted and twice-exceptional (2E) student population and their families.
The Need
New York has neither a mandate to identify or serve gifted learners nor state funding for gifted education leaving far too many futures to chance.
While the nationwide average for identified gifted students is almost 7%, only 1.7% of all New York students are identified. Within minority populations, only 0.9% Black, 0.6% Hispanic, and 1.1% Native American are identified as gifted. The number of gifted students with disabilities, also known as twice-exceptional (2e), is not even tracked. (Source)
With only a small fraction of our school districts providing gifted education of any kind, most of our gifted students remain unidentified and under-served.
Our Mission
- To build awareness and understanding of what it means to be gifted or twice-exceptional
- To promote federal, statewide, and local policies and initiatives that support and protect these underrepresented children in our schools
- To create community for gifted and twice-exceptional children and their families
Strategic Initiatives
Our top priorities for the upcoming year are:
- Growing our community
- Building diversity in our membership and leadership
- Establishing ongoing committees to further GiftedNYS’ mission and work, including the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Board Development, Community Development, and Advocacy committees
- Laying valuable groundwork and building stakeholder relationships to support the pursuit of legislation
