[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 26 (Thursday, March 1, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1748-S1749]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. Cleland, Mr. Cochran, Mr. 
        Wellstone, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Baucus, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Johnson, 
        Mr. Bunning, and Ms. Snowe):
  S. 421. A bill to give gifted and talented students the opportunity 
to develop their capabilities; to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, today I am reintroducing, with nine of 
our colleagues, the Gifted and Talented Students Education Act. It is 
vital

[[Page S1749]]

that we recognize the nearly three million students in the United 
States who are talented and gifted and provide them with a challenging 
education.
  Our nation depends on students who will become the next generation of 
leaders in business, economics, the sciences, medicine, and education. 
Our lives will be enriched by the next generation of performing and 
fine artists. However, many of our gifted and talented students are not 
being challenged to their fullest ability at school and, as a result, 
are not performing at world-class levels. Worse, many of our top 
students lose interest in school and abandon their education 
altogether. If these gifted students are not adequately challenged, 
they will direct their energy and gifts toward destructive and wasteful 
activities and become a burden to society, instead of the most 
productive contributors.
  The Gifted and Talented Students Education Act will help to ensure 
that gifted and talented students have the opportunity to achieve their 
highest potential by providing block grants, based on a state's student 
population, to state education agencies. These grants will be used to 
identify and provide educational services to gifted and talented 
students from all economic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds, including 
students with limited English proficiency and students with 
disabilities. The bill outlines four broad spending areas but leaves 
decisions on how best to serve these students to states and local 
school districts. The legislation ensures that the federal money 
benefits students by requiring the state education agency to distribute 
not less than 88 percent of the funds to schools and that the funds 
must supplement, not supplant, funds currently being spent. 
Additionally, rather than simply accepting federal funds for a new 
program, states must make their own commitment to these students by 
matching 20 percent of the federal funds. The matching requirements 
will help ensure that programs and services for gifted education 
develop a strong foothold in the state.
  Currently, the only support talented and gifted students receive from 
the federal government is through the successful research based Javits 
Gifted and Talented Students Education Program. One well-known effort 
is Project CUE, a collaborative effort that included the College of New 
Rochelle and School District 9 in the South Bronx, which serves 
approximately 32,000 mostly poor and minority students. The program was 
designed to institute high-level challenging content for elementary 
school students, and to identify and nurture those students whose 
interests and talents could be developed in mathematics and science. 
Evaluation of the project indicated a significant improvement in the 
overall academic achievement of those students identified as 
potentially gifted, as well as increases in school attendance rates. 
Furthermore, the project resulted in a twenty percent improvement 
school-wide in science and math achievement, as measured in both local 
and statewide standardized tests. Just imagine how ALL talented and 
gifted students could benefit from consistent funding and support to 
implement programs like the one in the South Bronx.
  Mr. President, our nation's gifted and talented students are among 
our great untapped resources. We must help states and local school 
districts provide a challenging education for these students so their 
particular gifts can flourish and be fully realized. It is my sincere 
hope that you and the rest of our colleagues will make this commitment 
to talented and gifted students this year.
                                 ______