Local teacher awarded scholarship for gifted conference

WASHINGTON — Kelly Troe, the gifted and talented coordinator at Prairie Elementary in Worthington, is one of 12 educators from Title I schools selected by the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) for its fourth annual class of Javits-Frasier Teacher Scholars.

The group of 12 will attend a special strand of sessions at the NAGC Annual Convention and receive a travel stipend through support made possible by the Javits-Frasier Teacher Scholarship Fund for Diverse Talent Development.

The teacher training program honors Mary Frasier, the late past president of the association who led the way in identifying under-served gifted children. Frasier’s work in the state of Georgia increased by three-fold the number of African American and quadrupled the number of Hispanic children in gifted/talented programs. She later consulted across the U.S. and became well known in the field of gifted on the topic of under-served children.

In order to take expertise and tools back to their schools, Troe and her fellow educators will be trained using the tools Frasier developed and inspired during her career. A four-day program has been designed as part of NAGC’s 57th annual convention in Atlanta, where all of the experts in the field will gather Nov. 11-14. The scholars were selected from numerous applicants across the country.

The national scholarships include a two-year membership to the National Association for Gifted Children, convention registration, four days of training at convention as well as a travel stipend.

Donna Ford of Vanderbilt University, a former chair of the NAGC Diversity Committee is confident of the purpose and success of the project.

“I cannot thank the donors enough for making this dream a reality,” said Ford, a lifelong friend and colleague of Frasier. “There is no more fitting extension of Mary’s legacy than to dispatch 12 newfound voices for culturally and economically diverse students who are struggling to be recognized for their potential. This is a program that I am certain has a great future.”

For more than three decades, NAGC members have addressed the issue of under-representation of culturally and economically diverse students. The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act was passed by Congress in 1988 in memory of the late senator. The program has funded grants to focus on giftedness in disadvantaged youth. Much of the research contained in the Frasier methodology has its origins in this research.

“Until now, we’ve not had an organizing principle around which to coalesce and provide this critical training. Thanks to the generosity of our members and other contributors, we can truly advance the cause of leaving no talent behind, no matter what the economic circumstance of the child,” said Nancy Green, executive director of NAGC.

Tags: gifted and talented, kelly troe, prairie elementary, news, education