Advocacy is important in order to have policy that establishes best practices at the local, state, and national levels. Planning an advocacy initiative includes setting the goal, crafting the advocacy message, having a point person for coordinating communication, researching the individual or group that can make the decision to put the initiative…

Legislation and policy lead to action. In the absence of law or policy, situations are addressed on a case-by-case basis or they are sometimes ignored. Legislation and policy become extremely important when they relate to groups that have traditionally been marginalized, such as students with disabilities or students with gifts and talents, and…

In their last column, the authors described a Gold Standard School--a place in which all children thrive including the gifted and talented. The Checklist for a Gold Standard School, which is included in this article, highlights the main characteristics of such a school including a focus on continuous progress, talent development, policies that…