Missouri schools would be required to conduct gifted screenings for students under legislation passed overwhelmingly by the Missouri House on Monday.
House members voted 142-8 to pass the bill. It now goes to the Senate.
Through the legislation, school districts would be required to provide universal screenings for students to see if they qualify to be in a gifted program. Students would have to be screened at least once before the third grade.
The House gave initial approval to the bill last week. Sponsor Brenda Shields, R-St. Joseph, said Missouri is underserving its students by not identifying those who would benefit from a gifted program in their school.
"If gifted students aren't identified, it leads to untapped potential, and I believe as a state, that we would have this potential tapped early, allowing these students to thrive and become leaders in our state," Shields said.
The legislature passed a law in 2022 that requires schools to establish a gifted program if at least 3% of students are identified as gifted. However, that legislation did not have a screening mechanism.
"If screenings do not happen, school districts will never reach the threshold of 3% of their students identifying for gifted, and they won't offer a gifted program," Shields said.
The legislation received bipartisan backing. Rep. Kem Smith, D-Florissant, spoke in support of the bill before the vote on Monday.
"I am one of those teachers that believes that every child would benefit from a gifted education, and this bill helps to identify some of those students who we would actually miss," Smith said.
Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, D-Columbia, said last week she was happy the legislation contained several ways a screening could occur.
"Traditionally, it has been tests and it's been maybe teacher recommendation, and we know there's bias in both of those," Steinhoff said.
The bill states that the screenings will "provide a body of current, valid, and reliable evidence from a minimum of two areas."
Those areas include general mental ability testing, academic achievement, creativity, reasoning and problem-solving. They can also use parent, teacher, student or self-referrals.
"We know that IQ tests can be affected by where someone lives or family resources," Shields said.
Those screenings must also be reviewed by a minimum of three staff members who are trained in gifted education, administration, assessment or a combination of those areas.
Schools would have to begin gifted screenings for the 2027-28 school year.
The legislation is HB1757.
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