ABSTRACT
The Office of Gifted and Talented and National/State Leadership Training Institute on the Gifted and Talented offered much-needed structure and support for gifted education to the states at the federal level. In 1975 the Education for All Handicapped Children Act passed and for the first time identified and defined free appropriate public education for all children with disabilities. In 2013–2014, 6.5 million students in public schools received special education services, while approximately 3.1 million gifted students were identified and enrolled in services. A Nation at Risk exposed some glaring chasms in the education of gifted children and after considerable and continued efforts, particularly by Senator William Bradley and Representative Mario Biaggi, Congress finally passed legislation to help rectify this problematic condition. A lack of coordinated efforts between federal recommendations and state and local commitments have often led to inaction for gifted students or other priorities being identified by local education agencies.
