[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 144 (Thursday, October 6, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 6, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
   STATEMENT OF JACOB K. JAVITS GIFTED AND TALENTED EDUCATION PROGRAM

  Mr. BRADLEY. Mr. President, I am very pleased that the conference 
report on the Improving America's Schools Act, which passed last night 
by an overwhelming margin, included a reauthorization of the Jacob K. 
Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act.
  The Javits Program has had an extraordinary record of success, not 
only by ensuring that gifted and talented students receive the 
attention and challenging schoolwork they need but also by broadening 
the universe of students who are identified as talented beyond those 
who do well on standardized tests. Programs like the Apogee Program 
developed at the Education Information and Research Center in Sewell, 
NJ, or the Rutgers Program that received funding just this week, have 
developed new methods to identify gifted minority and low-income 
students who have traditionally been overlooked.
  Some of the best Javits-funded programs have been so successful at 
reaching a broad range of students that their methods have been 
broadened to the entire school. I would cite in particular the work of 
Dr. Joseph Renzulli, whose National Research Center on the Gifted and 
Talented at the University of Connecticut is funded under this act, for 
developing curricula that can work for all students, not just those 
identified as gifted. Last year, the administration took this insight 
to heart in proposing a thorough revamping of the Javits Program, to 
focus on programs that would serve the whole school. While I agree with 
the Department of Education that these methods can serve all students, 
and should inspire and inform all classrooms, I would not want to lose 
the one initiative that focuses clearly on students with special gifts. 
With only about $10 million in appropriations each year, the funds 
cannot be spread across entire schools. Instead, other programs should 
continue to borrow from Javits to improve title 1 services, the 
Eisenhower Program, and even initiatives that receive no Federal 
funding. I believe the committees in both the House and the Senate took 
the right approach by maintaining the clear focus of Javits while 
requiring applicants to specify how their program can be adopted for 
all students.
  I thank my colleagues Senators Kennedy, Pell, and Jeffords, and 
Senator Dodd in whose state the National Research Center is based, for 
their longstanding support of the Javits Program.

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