Legal Issues in Gifted

Genius Denied How to Stop Wasting our Brightest Young Minds. Jan & Bob Davidson. Simon & Schuster, 2004.
Written by the founders of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, this book sheds light on the failure of our nation's public schools to adequately educate gifted students. Genius Denied makes the compelling argument that while school districts are required to “leave no child behind,” the needs of our most talented students are being overlooked.
According to this book, most of the 29 states with funding for gifted programs are not specialized to address and develop the academic needs of highly gifted children. Also, in the midst of major federal and state initiatives to provide funding for low performing schools and children with disabilities, virtually no new funding is available for gifted and talented programming. The authors argue that the quest for equity in schools should aim to provide all children with “an education appropriate to their abilities - one that challenges them and helps them grow.”
Genius Denied describes this “quiet crisis” in education with colorful examples and well -supported statistics, but it does not leave the reader hopeless. The book provides parents and educators with suggestions for how to overcome these inadequacies in the current educational system. The Davidsons use real life scenarios to teach parents about becoming their child's advocate, seeking out supplemental educational services, and finding mentors for their children. They discuss ways in which teachers, mentors and parents can work together to create more challenging academic programs in schools.
The Davidsons argue that continued failure to address the needs of the nation's brightest students means a loss of potential in a country that depends on talented people to continue its forward progress. This book provides an eloquent illustration on this national problem complete with an inspiring set of action steps that can ultimately lead to a solution.

Gifted Children and Legal Issues. An Update. Frances A. Karnes and Ronald G. Marquardt. Gifted Psychology Press. 2000.
This is meant to be an update to the 1991 volume. It has several new chapters including one on the role of the Office of Civil Rights in legal issues surrounding gifted children and a brief chapter on negotiation.

Gifted Children and Legal Issues in Education. Parent's Stories of Hope. By Frances A. Karnes and Ronald G. Marquardt. Ohio Psychology Press. 1991.
This is really a companion piece to the book above and is riveting reading for anyone interested in the field. Karnes and Marquardt collected 13 case studies of various legal cases involving gifted children, school policies, etc. The stories were written by the parents themselves and detail their struggles with obtaining appropriate instruction and programs for their children, obtaining admissions to schools or in some cases, early admissions, and in obtaining credit for courses done outside of school or earlier than typical.

Gifted Children and the Law. Mediation, Due Process and Court Cases. By Frances A. Karnes and Ronald G. Marquardt. Ohio Psychology Press, 1991.
This book was meant for many audiences--parents embroiled in battles with local schools who may be seeking legal action, school districts who need to be better informed about legal issues surrounding gifted children, and lawyers who may be representing children and families. The book has chapters devoted to the current status of state and federal statues pertaining to gifted children, the process involved in taking legal action on behalf of a gifted child, a review of cases involving gifted children and their education, and other kinds of legal issues that may involve consideration of giftedness, e.g., custody. Several chapters are devoted to describing due process and mediation. The last chapter is very interesting and addresses potential future issues in gifted education which may end up in the courts such as whether state law may limit the age at which a student can enter a post-secondary institution.