Ronald G. Marquardt

Gifted education and the courts: Teacher certification and employment decisions

Certification and training of gifted education teachers becomes a legal issue when school boards and school administrators make personnel decisions. This article examines the outcome of an arbitration hearing and several court decisions which involve this legal question. Based upon these proceedings, it was concluded that mandatory certification provides much greater legal protection for gifted education advocates who wish to maintain adequately trained teachers in the gifted student classrooms.

Gifted Education and Discrimination: The Role of the Office for Civil-Rights

A recurrent problem in gifted education has been charges of discriminatory practices. In recent years the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), U.S. Department of Education, has been active in examining gifted programs to determine whether they are operating in a nondiscriminatory manner. The purpose of this article is to examine the amount of activity by the OCR involving gifted programs through the years 1985–1991. Using the Freedom of Information Act, 48 letters of findings were obtained from the OCR. The letters were analyzed as to the issues involved, protected classes, the geographic regions, and the results of the investigations.

Due process in gifted education

Twenty‐eight states and the District of Columbia currently provide due process for gifted students. When parents or administrators cannot settle a dispute at the local school board level, some states by law and/or regulation offer aggrieved parties the right to mediation or due process. Seven states reported holding 26 due process hearings during the years 1992–1995. This article examines these due process hearings describing the types of issues involved and the outcomes of the hearings. The authors report that disparate issues are handled in due process hearings, and they conclude that due process hearings are an inexpensive and relatively expeditious way to resolve disputes in gifted education in comparison to going to court.

The Office of Civil Rights and the Gifted: An Update.

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education is charged with monitoring educational programs and activities for protected classes of youth, including those who are gifted. The purpose of this study was to examine the involvement of the OCR in gifted education from 1992–1995. The results of the 38 OCR investigations were obtained and analyzed as to the issues involved, protected classes, geographic regions, and the results.