On June 27, 2024. the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) announced that $3.5 million in grant funding has been awarded to expand access to gifted education programming in schools and serve more students through the Pennsylvania Gifted Equity Initiative (PGEI).
Under the grant program, a total of $3.5 million will be allocated to expand gifted services under a statewide support team consisting of state level leads, intermediate units, local education agencies (LEAs), and national leaders in equity to advance the equitable practices in gifted identification across the Commonwealth. The state team will interact with 400 school districts—or 80% of school districts—and each intermediate unit will receive approximately $135,000 over the five-year grant period to serve as the training hub for their region.
The selected intermediate units are as follows:
Midwestern IU 4
Tuscarora IU 11
Lancaster-Lebanon IU 13
Berks County IU 14
Central Susquehanna IU 16
BLaST IU 17
Carbon-Lehigh IU 21
Bucks County IU 22
Montgomery County IU 23
Delaware County IU 25
As research shows that there is severe underrepresentation of African American, American Indian, and Hispanic/Latino students in gifted education, PGEI will provide school districts with the tools, training, and resources necessary to implement identification procedures that will increase the number of students identified as gifted.
The program will use federal Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program funding to develop systemic technical assistance and support to help school districts better identify and provide services to gifted students. This will allow educators to use culturally responsive tools to recognize potential in students; increase identification and retention rates of underrepresented students in gifted education; encourage collaboration between institutions of higher education to prepare pre-service teachers to better serve underrepresented gifted students; and provide support and training to families. For more information on the Pennsylvania Department of Education, please visit the website.