THE FOUNDATION
COLORADO GIFTED & TALENTED
FOR
WHY SUPPORT US?
The Foundation for Colorado Gifted & Talented is committed to supporting the gifted community of Colorado. This is accomplished by offering scholarships and grants to providers of gifted services as well as support for students.
Why is this important?
Gifted students make up approximately 7.6% of the total student population in Colorado. That is over 68,000 students. State funding for these students is just at $10,000,000 or 2.8% of the state's K-12 funding. That's about $147 per student. Traditionally, districts had been able to make up large portions of the funds for gifted programs. However, as funding cuts took place across Colorado, gifted programs were some of the hardest hit.
Why does it matter?
As gifted programs were scaled back, meeting the specific needs of gifted students fell to the general classroom teacher. Not necessarily a problem, except that the majority of general education teachers have had less then three (3) hours of instruction concerning gifted students. Not three credit hours, but three hours. Classroom teachers are expected to understand the characteristics and be able to offer services to this group of students without proper training. Without this training, at-risk students, in particular are being left behind.
What can you do?
DONATE! Our scholarships are designed to encourage and assist educators to receive the specialized training necessary to understand and help Colorado's brightest students progress in their studies. Donations allow us to provide more scholarships to more educators; giving the educators necessary skills to best meet the needs of this group of students.