VERY GOOD NEWS FOR THE ROEPER INSTITUTE

KIT VERY GOOD NEWS

Sarah Miller

Associate Director, The Roeper Institute

I am incredibly pleased to announce that, along with several dedicated partners, The Roeper Institute has been awarded an extremely competitive and coveted Jacob K Javits Gifted & Talented Students Education Program Grant Award totaling more than $2 5 million dollars over five years!

The federal Department of Education opens this award periodically, and it represents the only federal dollars dedicated to gifted and talented education, specifically intended to address inequities in existing gifted and talented programs This investment will fund the continuation of the very successful Matter of Equity work that began in Detroit more than five years ago At that time The Roeper Institute and The Roeper School began in earnest to consider our role in the inequitable landscape of education in southeast Michigan that allows some gifted and talented students access to identification and education that meets their needs but leaves many more behind

By way of background, in 2016, The Roeper Institute (a separate but school affiliated 501c3), took stock of this enormous need and heeded an internal call to be part of the solution in increasing educational equity for gifted and talented students After concentrated relationship building with key stakeholders in the educational landscape in Detroit, a successful case was made for the inclusion of the needs of gifted and talented students in the larger efforts to advance educational equity in Detroit The Roeper Institute applied for, and received, an Educational Leadership Award matching grant from The Edward E Ford Foundation to seed an unusual public-private collaboration for advancing this cause A Matter of Equity (MoE) was created to provide intensive education and training in evidence-based best practices for identifying and serving economically disadvantaged and racially/ culturally marginalized high-potential students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) The original MoE project successfully launched a Professional Learning Community (PLC) in DPSCD, first with an intensive cohort of both DPSCD and Roeper teachers and, proving its responsiveness and flexibility both with COVID and newly revealed needs, expanded education to principals and finally to school counselors and psychologists Additionally, in part as a result of this project, DPSCD was able to create a robust district-wide Gifted & Talented Education (GATE) plan and succeeded in securing Board approval for its implementation Just as the original grant was ending, DPSCD was at the precipice of deeper and more sustainable change as they looked to the ’22’23 school year and the rollout of this new GATE program Everyone’s sights were set on how to continue the partnership and this critical work Despite this Javits Grant money never before being awarded in the state of Michigan, as Michigan is one of the few states with no mandate or funding for gifted education, we made a strong (and successful!) argument that the children in Detroit deserve this investment With a bold vision and collective determination, the original Matter of Equity program succeeded in making real change for gifted and talented students in the Detroit Public School Community District Building on the established, highly successful public-private partnership MoE model, this new Javits funded project, Matter of Equity 2.0, is ready to be a catalyst for greater change for gifted and talented youth in Southeast Michigan, centering the students most often left out of the conversation — those that are racially/culturally marginalized, economically disadvantaged, English language learners (ELL) and students with disabilities (2e) MoE 2.0 offers a robust, evidence-based vision and practical roadmap to expand the scope and scale of the foundational work and create sustainable systemic change

Joining with established and new partners including Eastern Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, Kennesaw State University and Wayne State University, we know this grant has the potential to position DPSCD as the leader in serving gifted and talented students in the state of Michigan This important work will raise awareness about the exceptional needs of gifted and talented students and to elevate the message that refusal to serve gifted and talented youth is NOT a neutral proposition, as well as provide a roadmap for how other school districts can create and sustain equitable GATE programs We know gifted students exist in every school and district, and these children, like all children, deserve an opportunity to reach their potential It is truly an honor to be awarded a 2022 Javits Award and are incredibly grateful for DPSCD’s ongoing partnership and leadership in identifying and educating underrepresented gifted and talented students F

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Matter of Equity 2 0 offers a robust, evidencebased vision and practical roadmap to expand the scope and scale of the foundational work and create sustainable systemic change