HM 53

1A MEMORIAL
2  REQUESTING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO STUDY THE
3  CREATION OF A "GIFTED IN-FIELD" ENDORSEMENT FOR SECONDARY
4  SCHOOL GIFTED EDUCATION TEACHERS.
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6WHEREAS, the needs of gifted students attending
7  secondary school, who are ready for greater independence and
8  development of their talents and expertise in specific areas
9  of study, are often substantially different from those of
10 gifted students attending elementary school; and
11      WHEREAS, while gifted students at the secondary school
12 level can benefit from beginning to develop expertise through
13 accelerated coursework delivered from sources such as dual
14 enrollment, advanced placement and the international
15 baccalaureate, those programs often do not consistently
16 address the social, emotional, creative and leadership
17 development needs of those students; and
18      WHEREAS, rules promulgated by the public education
19 department require teachers obtaining a gifted education
20 endorsement to have demonstrated competency to deliver
21 content area instruction to gifted students from a position
22 of expertise, to apply pedagogy appropriate to the content
23 area being taught and to apply higher-level thinking and
24 meta-cognitive models to those content areas; and
25      WHEREAS, the public education department's rules require   HM 53
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1  that individual education programs for gifted students in the
2  state produce advanced outcomes, develop the strengths and
3  interests of gifted students and address other educational
4  needs; and
5WHEREAS, the public education department's rules allow
6  students to be identified as gifted in a wide range of
7  fields, including all subject areas for which educational
8  standards for students have been adopted, but teachers with
9  gifted education endorsements often do not possess content
10 expertise in all of those subject areas; and
11      WHEREAS, the public education department currently
12 allows special education teachers without expertise or
13 endorsement in gifted education to teach gifted education
14 classes because of an ongoing lack of gifted education
15 teachers; and
16      WHEREAS, secondary school teachers with advanced
17 knowledge in a subject area in addition to knowledge about
18 the needs of gifted learners could provide advanced
19 instruction to students with advanced readiness who are not
20 identified as gifted;
21      NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF
22 REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public
23 education department be requested to collaborate with the
24 state's public post-secondary educational institutions and
25 gifted education organizations to study the creation of a       HM 53
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1  "gifted in-field" endorsement for secondary school gifted
2  education teachers and to consider courses available from the
3  state's public post-secondary educational institutions and
4  other criteria necessary to establish advanced content
5  knowledge that could fulfill endorsement requirements for
6  those teachers; and
7BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department be requested
8  to study and evaluate criteria to determine the amount of
9  expertise necessary in various subject areas for the state to
10 develop a gifted in-field endorsement teacher workforce that
11 can both deliver advanced coursework in various content areas
12 and serve the needs of secondary school gifted students to
13 develop expertise in those subject areas; and
14      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
15 transmitted to the public education department and the
16 governor.  HM 53
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