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1999 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 727
Encouraging local school divisions to establish internship programs for advanced, gifted and talented, underserved, and nontraditional students with academic potential.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 7, 1999
Agreed to by the Senate, February 18, 1999

WHEREAS, among us are students who have very unique cognitive abilities, talents, and latent potential to excel, from whom will rise noted scientists, mathematicians, artists, authors, doctors, musicians, athletes, computer geniuses, government officials, corporate executives, and leaders in every discipline; and

WHEREAS, such students may be enrolled in gifted education, advanced placement or honors classes, or in the regular classroom, yet they all demonstrate or have the potential for high academic achievement and/or express unusual artistic, mechanical, and technological abilities and talents; and

WHEREAS, the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Educational Needs of Certain Underserved Gifted Students pursuant to House Joint Resolution No. 90 (1996) reiterates the fact that persons possessing gifts and talents can be found in all populations, and that such gifts and talents are not relegated to only certain racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups; and

WHEREAS, during the course of its study, the joint subcommittee found that although many minority and poor students, and other students who, generally, are not considered for gifted education or advanced placement and honors classes, have requested learning opportunities that will allow them to apply their knowledge and skills, while gaining practical experience in areas of interest to them; and

WHEREAS, the joint subcommittee recommended the development of an internship program in which such students can be placed in business and corporate settings, in federal, state and local government offices, with institutions of higher education, specialists in technology, art galleries, museums, and entities for the performing arts, or in mentorships with professionals and other qualified persons who will motivate and encourage them, and nurture their gifts and talents; and

WHEREAS, the implementation of internship programs for these students would augment their traditional educational experience, unearth latent abilities, enable them to use their gifts and talents, and prepare them to compete successfully in a global economy; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That local school divisions be encouraged to establish internship programs for advanced, gifted and talented, underserved, and nontraditional students with academic potential. Such internship programs should focus on providing opportunities to gifted students, and students who, generally, would not be selected for gifted education programs or advanced course work, but who demonstrate the ability or potential to excel academically, and express an interest in the program; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit a copy of this resolution to the President of the Board of Education, requesting that he disseminate copies of this resolution to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the chairmen of local school boards, the division superintendents, the directors of the summer residential and regional academic year Governor’s schools, the administrators of magnet school programs, and the presidents of the Virginia School Boards Association, the State Advisory Board for Gifted Education, the Virginia Education Association, the Virginia Congress of Parents and Teachers, and the Virginia Consortium on Administrators for the Education for the Gifted so that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly in this matter.