As an educator and mother of an identified gifted learner, I am quite disheartened that Gifted Education seems to be going backwards instead of forward in Virginia.  It is with great hope that someone will stop the backwards pendulum that I post this comment regarding the proposed changes in gifted regulations.  I have worked in schools in which the quality of the gifted program was the very last concern of the administration.  For this reason, it is crucial to earmark funding for gifted education which can be used ONLY for gifted education.  Five year plans are necessary to keep gifted education moving forward in Virginia...and these plans should be approved by evaluators knowledgeable in the area of gifted students, not local school boards who may or may not understand the needs of this special population.  Please continue to support a rigorous identification process consistent with research regarding characteristics of the gifted.  Reinstate the Criteria for Identification Option permitting individual or group achievement tests for identification of students in specific academic areas with the revision of  "individual or group nationally norm-referenced aptitude and / or achievement tests."  If a school division wisely chooses to identify students with specific academic aptitudes , it should include procedures for identification and service in one or more of the following: language arts, math, social studies, or science. 

If we don't give our gifted students the opportunities to be challenged through quality gifted programs early on, we may never know the potential future benefits forever lost.