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Gifted & Talented Education · Maryland
Gifted Education in Maryland: Four Areas of Giftedness, Universal Screening by Grade 3, and Accelerated Pathways to College Readiness
Maryland’s gifted and talented framework is one of the most structured and accountability-focused in the nation — with a statutory definition, a 10% minimum identification floor, three grade-band identification windows, ESSA accountability group status, and a Blueprint mandate requiring accelerated pathways to college and career readiness by the end of 10th grade. Renzulli Learning supports all 24 local school systems in delivering on this mandate.
24
local school systems each required to maintain MSDE-approved GT identification and programs
10%
minimum percent of students each local school system must identify as gifted and talented
Grade 3
universal screening deadline — plus additional windows at grades 3–5 and 6–9
4
areas of giftedness recognized by Maryland’s statutory definition and MSDE guidance
The statutory framework
Maryland’s Gifted Education Law: What §8-201, §8-202, and COMAR 13A.04.07 Require
Maryland’s gifted and talented framework is built on three interlocking layers — a statutory definition, an equity and services mandate, and a minimum-standards regulation — all of which every local school system must implement:
Education Article §8-201 — Definition: Gifted and talented students are identified by professionally qualified individuals as having outstanding talent and performing or showing the potential for performing at remarkably high levels compared with students of similar age, experience, or environment — in one or more of four areas: General Intellectual Ability, Creative or Artistic areas, unusual Leadership capacity, or specific Academic Fields.
Education Article §8-202 — Equity mandate and accelerated pathways: Gifted and talented students are to be found “in youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor.” Beginning with SY2022–23, each local school system shall develop accelerated pathways and enrichment programs for gifted and talented students to achieve college and career readiness before the end of the 10th grade. This is a binding statutory requirement — not guidance.
Education Article §8-203 — Service mandate: A gifted and talented student “needs different services beyond those normally provided by the regular school program in order to develop the student’s potential.” This is the service obligation that every Maryland school system carries for each identified student.
COMAR 13A.04.07 — Minimum standards regulation: Sets the floor for identification, programs, professional learning, and reporting across all 24 local school systems. MSDE reviews and approves each school system’s identification process. Gifted students are an ESSA accountability group in Maryland’s state plan, with systems reporting GT data in their consolidated local ESSA plans. MSDE facilitates peer reviews and reports annually to the State Board.
Maryland is one of the few states to designate gifted students as an ESSA accountability group. Beginning September 1, 2019, each local school system must report in its consolidated ESSA plan: the process for identifying GT students, the number identified, the programs and services provided, and the schools exempted from the significant-number identification requirement (with rationale provided to MSDE). This creates statewide visibility and accountability for GT program quality that goes well beyond most state frameworks.
The definition — §8-201 and MSDE guidance
Maryland’s Four Areas of Giftedness: What Each Encompasses
Maryland’s statutory definition and MSDE’s General Guidance on Areas of Giftedness recognize four distinct areas in which students may be identified. Identification procedures and criteria are specific to each area and must be directly related to the programs and services provided:
Area 1
General Intellectual Ability
Students who perform, or show the potential to perform, at remarkably high levels across several fields of study. Common traits: extensive and detailed memory in areas of interest; precocious vocabulary; rapid learning with few repetitions; complex reasoning; conceptual thinking. Measured through cognitive abilities tests, achievement testing, observational checklists. MCAP score “5” (highest level) is an MSDE-recommended review trigger. Renzulli Profiler contributes intellectual curiosity & learning pattern data
Area 2
Creative & Artistic Ability
Students exhibiting high performance capability in creative or artistic areas. Includes creative thinking, creative production, and high-level performance in visual arts, performing arts, or other creative fields. Measured through creativity tests, portfolio evidence, observational checklists, juried performance. One of the areas where a single test score is least appropriate as the sole indicator. CTC directly measures creative thinking and production
Area 3
Leadership
Students possessing unusual leadership capacity — one of the four areas explicitly named in §8-201. Measured through observational checklists rating leadership behaviors, student involvement records, teacher and peer input, structured interviews. Often one of the least-served areas in local programs due to the complexity of identifying and programming for leadership giftedness. Leadership Assessment provides scored behavioral leadership profile
Area 4
Specific Academic Fields
Students who excel in specific academic fields — typically English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. Most Maryland local school systems concentrate their GT programs primarily here. High school students may also be identified through MCAP, PSAT, SAT, ACT, AP, IB, Career and Technical Certification, and Seal of Biliteracy assessments (per Criteria for Excellence guidance). Enrichment database delivers subject-specific advanced content across all four areas
No single criterion may exclude a student. COMAR and the Criteria for Excellence both state explicitly: “no single criterion — such as a test score or teacher recommendation — should be used to exclude a student from consideration for gifted programs or services.” Multiple indicators of potential, ability, and achievement must be used from MSDE’s annually reviewed approved list of assessments and checklists. Students may also be placed provisionally prior to formal identification — a talent development approach — to assess suitability of services and monitor growth.
Identification requirements — COMAR 13A.04.07.02
Three Grade-Band Identification Windows: How Maryland’s Universal Screening Works
COMAR 13A.04.07.02 mandates a structured, multi-window identification process. The identification pool encompasses all students — and identification must occur at three distinct points in a student’s education:
By Grade 3
Universal Screening
Universal Screening — At Least 10% of Students, Every School
A universal screening process must be used to identify a significant number of students in every school and at least 10 percent in each local school system, as early as possible but no later than Grade 3. The 10% floor is a regulatory minimum — school systems may identify more. MSDE provides the Maryland Model of GT Education with state-mandated achievement assessments for screening, including an MSDE identification model that can be implemented at no cost to the school system. All students are in the identification pool — this is not a referral-only process at this stage.
Grades 3–5
Additional Identification
Additional Identification for Programs and Services
Additional identification must occur at the grades 3–5 grade band for participation in GT programs and services. This window captures students who did not meet criteria in the primary universal screening but demonstrate readiness as they develop, and ensures continuity as students move from early elementary to upper elementary programming. Local school systems define their specific assessment procedures for this window within MSDE-approved parameters.
Grades 6–9
Additional Identification
Additional Identification Through Middle and Into High School
A third identification window covers grades 6–9. For high school students, the Criteria for Excellence guidance notes that additional methods should include students scoring at highest levels across multiple state and national assessments — MCAP, PSAT, SAT, ACT, AP, IB, Career and Technical Certification, and Seal of Biliteracy. This window is also critical for the accelerated pathways to CCR by end of 10th grade requirement, since students identified in this band need immediate placement in appropriate acceleration programs.
Talent Development pathway: Maryland’s framework explicitly recognizes a Talent Development tier alongside full GT identification. Students who show emerging advanced potential but do not yet meet full GT criteria receive differentiated instruction and support to nurture their abilities, with progress monitoring over a defined period. Talent development counts as gifted programming. This two-pathway approach — GT + Talent Development — allows Maryland school systems to serve a broader population of advanced learners without diluting the GT identification standard, and supports equity by catching students whose potential may emerge later through intervention.
School excellence recognition
EGATE: Maryland’s Excellence in Gifted and Talented Education School Award
The EGATE (Excellence in Gifted and Talented Education) awards program, established in 2010 by MSDE and the Maryland Gifted and Talented Advisory Council, recognizes PK–12 Maryland public schools whose GT programs meet the highest alignment with the Criteria for Excellence: Gifted and Talented Program Guidelines and COMAR 13A.04.07. Schools apply by documenting 21 criteria across four program objectives over a 27-month program period:
Objective 1
Student Identification
Documentation that identification processes are equitable, use multiple indicators, encompass all students, include the universal screening mandate, address all four giftedness areas served, and include an appeals process.
Objective 2
Curriculum and Instruction
Evidence of appropriately differentiated, evidence-based programs and services that accelerate, extend, or enrich content; alignment with Maryland Learning Standards; affective learning integration; and continuum of services during the regular school day.
Objective 3
Professional Development
Documentation of ongoing professional learning aligned with GT Education Specialist certification competencies; teacher selection aligned with GT pedagogy; support for teachers pursuing GT Specialist certification.
Objective 4
Program Management & Evaluation
Evidence of a written GT policy, clearly defined management structure, data-driven equitable representation analysis, annual program evaluation, and reporting to MSDE per ESSA requirements.
EGATE schools receive a Governor’s citation, the EGATE banner to display on school buildings and websites, recognition at a Maryland State Board of Education meeting, and serve as models for schools working toward EGATE status. In February 2025, 14 Maryland schools received EGATE awards — including first-time designees from Frederick County and Baltimore City. EGATE has recognized schools across Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Carroll, Charles, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, and other counties since 2010.
GT Education Specialist Certification (COMAR 13A.12.03.12): Teachers assigned specifically to work with identified GT students shall engage in professional learning aligned with the competencies specified by Maryland’s GT Education Specialist certification. Teachers wishing to pursue leadership roles in GT education are encouraged to obtain this certification. It is an add-on endorsement available through approved Maryland teacher preparation programs. EGATE’s third objective explicitly assesses whether schools are actively supporting teachers in pursuing this credential.
Blueprint for Maryland’s Future
The 10th Grade CCR Mandate: Why Every Maryland GT Program Now Has an Acceleration Deadline
Maryland’s Blueprint for Maryland’s Future — the state’s comprehensive K–12 education reform law — set a goal of enabling most students to achieve college and career readiness by the end of 10th grade. For gifted students, this goal became a statutory mandate: beginning with SY2022–23, §8-201 now includes a provision allowing GT students in middle school, 9th grade, or 10th grade to meet the CCR standard under §7-205.1, and §8-202 requires every local school system to develop accelerated pathways and enrichment programs enabling GT students to achieve CCR before the end of 10th grade.
What accelerated pathways look like in practice Acceleration options include: subject-matter acceleration (compacted math sequences, early algebra); whole-grade acceleration; dual enrollment with community colleges; AP and IB coursework in 8th grade or 9th grade; early completion of high school graduation requirements; and above-grade-level coursework pathways. Each school system defines its specific pathways — but every system must now have them in writing and in practice.
Connection to grades 6–9 identification window The third COMAR identification window (grades 6–9) becomes operationally critical under the 10th grade CCR mandate. Students identified in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade need immediate placement in accelerated coursework to have a realistic path to CCR by 10th grade. This tightens the link between identification at the middle school band and program placement — making timely identification and placement decisions more consequential than ever.
MSDE statewide support structure
What MSDE Provides: Advanced Academics, Peer Review, Summer Centers, and Advisory Council
Maryland’s Advanced Academics & Gifted and Talented Programs Branch (within MSDE’s Division of College & Career Pathways) provides a comprehensive support infrastructure for all 24 local school systems:
MSDE-approved assessment and program lists: COMAR requires identification using instruments from MSDE’s annually reviewed approved list of assessments and checklists. MSDE also maintains the MSDE-approved list of programs and services from which school systems must draw their GT programming. Both lists are updated annually — ensuring that all local GT programs use current, validated tools.
Peer review of local GT programs: Beginning September 1, 2019, MSDE facilitates peer reviews of local school systems’ GT identification, programs, and services. Results are reported annually to the State Board. This is the external accountability mechanism that keeps the 24 systems accountable to COMAR standards — peer review adds a layer of scrutiny beyond self-reporting in ESSA plans.
MSDE Gifted and Talented Summer Centers: MSDE offers state-supported summer educational opportunities for GT students across Maryland. Programs include Creative Writing, Global Languages, and Performing Arts. Applications typically open around February 1. These residential-style summer programs supplement local school system services — particularly important for students whose home district has limited fine arts GT programming.
Maryland Advisory Council on Gifted and Talented Education (MACGTE): Maintained by the State Superintendent of Schools to advise on issues and best practices relevant to GT education. Council members review EGATE applications, provide guidance on GT policy development, and facilitate statewide professional learning. The Criteria for Excellence document and the Maryland Model of GT Education are products of this advisory structure.
Platform tools
What Renzulli Learning Provides: Mapped to Maryland’s Requirements
Cebeci Test of Creativity (CTC) — Area 2 (Creative/Artistic) & Multiple Indicators: A validated, scored creativity assessment that directly contributes to the Creative/Artistic area of Maryland’s four-area identification framework. The CTC generates objective creativity scores that enrich the multiple-indicator evidence file required under COMAR — providing a creativity dimension that complements cognitive ability tests and achievement data. Particularly valuable for identifying students whose creative giftedness may not be visible through academic assessments alone.
Renzulli Profiler — Multiple Indicators & Area 1 (GIA) Evidence: A 20–30 minute interest and learning style inventory generating a strengths profile. Contributes the intellectual curiosity, learning pattern, and interest-depth data that MSDE’s multiple-indicator framework requires. Particularly useful for GT screenings of students from underrepresented populations, where interest-based profiling is more culturally accessible than language-dependent cognitive assessments — directly supporting Maryland’s equity mandate from §8-202.
Leadership Assessment — Area 3 (Leadership) Identification: A scored behavioral profile of leadership strengths. Provides structured, documented data for the Leadership area of giftedness — the area §8-201 explicitly names but that most Maryland school systems have the least infrastructure to assess formally. The Leadership Assessment gives GT coordinators a validated instrument to document leadership potential as part of the multi-indicator identification file.
Enrichment Database — COMAR .03 Programs and Services: Over 40,000 interest-matched, above-curriculum activities from MSDE’s approved categories: acceleration, extension, and enrichment of instructional content. Activities directly deliver the differentiated curriculum required to be “accelerate, extend, or enrich instructional content, strategies, and products” per COMAR 13A.04.07.03 — and do so during the regular school day as the regulation requires, not as purely pull-out or optional add-ons.
Personal Success Plan (PSP) — ESSA Reporting & EGATE Documentation: Tracks student progress toward enrichment and acceleration goals; generates exportable summaries. Directly supports Maryland’s ESSA accountability group reporting — providing documented student growth evidence — and the four EGATE program objectives, particularly Objective 4 (Program Management & Evaluation). PSP data can demonstrate GT program outcomes for MSDE peer review and annual State Board reporting.
Project-Based Learning (PBL) Tools — Accelerated Pathways & EGATE Curriculum Objective: SEM-based student investigations generating original products and demonstrations of advanced learning. Supports Maryland’s accelerated pathways requirement — giving GT students in the grades 6–9 band and beyond a structured framework for original research and advanced product creation that demonstrates CCR-level skills before 10th grade. PBL artifacts document the advanced learning outcomes that EGATE’s Objective 2 (Curriculum and Instruction) requires.
Executive Function Assessment — Talent Development Pathway & Affective Learning: Assesses planning, self-regulation, and metacognition. Supports students on Maryland’s Talent Development pathway — where progress monitoring over time determines readiness for full GT services — by providing functional performance data that informs differentiated support. Also addresses the Criteria for Excellence requirement that GT curriculum integrate affective learning addressing the social-emotional needs of gifted learners.
Requirement by requirement
Maryland’s COMAR 13A.04.07 Requirements & Renzulli Learning: Side by Side
§8-201 §8-202 COMAR 13A.04.07| Maryland Requirement | Renzulli Learning Contribution |
|---|---|
| Four Areas — §8-201 Identification in four areas: General Intellectual Ability; Creative/Artistic; Leadership; Specific Academic Fields. Identification procedures specific to each area, directly related to programs provided | CTC addresses Creative/Artistic area directly. Leadership Assessment addresses Leadership area. Renzulli Profiler and enrichment database address GIA and Specific Academic Fields. Together these cover all four areas with validated, documented instruments appropriate for multiple-indicator evidence files. |
| Universal Screening — COMAR .02 ID pool = all students; at least 10% per local school system; no later than Grade 3; additional at grades 3–5 and 6–9 bands; multiple indicators from MSDE-approved list; no single criterion excludes | Renzulli tools generate documented multiple-indicator evidence for each grade-band window. The Profiler and CTC provide culturally accessible, validated instruments that expand the indicator set beyond cognitive testing — supporting equity-focused identification that reaches underrepresented students across all three grade-band windows. |
| Programs & Services — COMAR .03 From MSDE-approved list; accelerate, extend, or enrich; continuum PreK–12; adequate instructional time during the regular school day; evidence-based; aligned with student strengths/interests/needs | The enrichment database delivers all three modes — acceleration (above-grade content), extension (depth), and enrichment (breadth) — during the school day. Interest-matching ensures alignment with student strengths. Activity logs document instructional time and service delivery for ESSA and EGATE accountability. |
| Equity Mandate — §8-202 GT students found in all cultural groups, all economic strata, all areas of human endeavor; identification must reflect this; talent development pathway for emerging potential | The Profiler (interest-based, linguistically accessible) and CTC surface creative and intellectual potential in students from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds who may be missed by language-heavy cognitive tests. The EFA supports talent development monitoring — tracking growth trajectories for students on the TD pathway. |
| CCR by 10th Grade — §8-202 Each local school system shall develop accelerated pathways and enrichment programs for GT students to achieve college and career readiness before the end of 10th grade (SY2022–23+) | PBL tools and the advanced enrichment database provide the accelerated learning experiences that GT students in the 6–9 identification band need to demonstrate CCR-level skills before 10th grade. The PSP tracks acceleration goal progress and documents advanced skill development — generating evidence of the CCR pathway outcomes each school system must now demonstrate. |
| ESSA Accountability — COMAR .06 GT students are an ESSA accountability group; school systems report identification, programs, and services in consolidated ESSA plans; MSDE peer review; annual State Board reports | PSP exportable progress summaries and activity logs provide the program outcome documentation Maryland school systems need for ESSA GT reporting — moving accountability from enrollment headcounts to documented evidence of differentiated services and measurable student growth. |
| EGATE — 21 Criteria / 4 Objectives School award recognizing alignment with Criteria for Excellence across identification, curriculum, professional development, and program management; applications document 27-month period | Renzulli tools support all four EGATE objectives: CTC + Profiler + Leadership Assessment for Objective 1 (identification). Enrichment database + PBL for Objective 2 (curriculum). Educator support tools and research base for Objective 3 (PD). PSP + activity logs for Objective 4 (program management and evaluation). |
From Maryland educators
What Implementation Looks Like Across Maryland’s 24 Local School Systems
“The challenge in Maryland is that the regulation is strong but local implementation varies enormously. In our system, we take the 10% floor seriously — we’re not just identifying the obvious students, we’re running universal screening and then doing the work to find advanced learners in every school, including our Title I schools. The multiple-indicator requirement matters for that. If we only used IQ tests, we’d miss the creative kids, the leadership kids, the kids who score 5s on MCAP but don’t look like traditional GT students. Maryland’s framework actually supports finding them — but you have to use it intentionally.”GT Coordinator · Maryland local school system
For large systems (Montgomery, Prince George’s, Baltimore County, Anne Arundel) Maryland’s four largest systems serve hundreds of thousands of students across dozens of schools. For these systems, consistency of identification across schools — ensuring the 10% floor is met equitably in high-poverty schools as well as affluent ones — is the persistent operational challenge. Universal screening with validated instruments that don’t systematically disadvantage any student group is essential.
For EGATE-aspiring schools Schools working toward EGATE status need organized documentation of 21 criteria across a 27-month period — spanning identification, differentiated curriculum delivery, teacher professional learning, and program evaluation. Tools that log student services and generate exportable progress evidence reduce the documentation burden and create the audit trail that EGATE applications require.
Frequently asked questions
Maryland Gifted Education: Common Questions
Education Article §8-201 of the Annotated Code of Maryland defines a gifted and talented student as one identified by professionally qualified individuals as: (1) having outstanding talent and performing or showing the potential for performing at remarkably high levels compared with students of similar age, experience, or environment; (2) exhibiting high performance capability in intellectual, creative, or artistic areas; (3) possessing an unusual leadership capacity; or (4) excelling in specific academic fields. Maryland embraces a multidimensional view — recognizing intellectual/academic giftedness and also creativity, arts, and leadership. §8-202 further specifies that GT students are to be found in all cultural groups, all economic strata, and all areas of human endeavor.
COMAR 13A.04.07.02 requires universal screening that identifies at least 10% of students in each local school system, with a significant number in every school, as early as possible but no later than Grade 3. Additional identification must occur at the grades 3–5 and grades 6–9 grade bands. The identification pool is ALL students — this is not a teacher-referral-only process. Multiple indicators of potential, ability, and achievement must be used from MSDE’s annually reviewed approved list. No single criterion may exclude a student from consideration. MSDE reviews and approves each school system’s identification process.
The EGATE (Excellence in Gifted and Talented Education) awards program, established in 2010, recognizes Maryland public schools with GT programs aligned with the Criteria for Excellence guidelines and COMAR 13A.04.07. Schools submit a comprehensive application documenting 21 criteria of excellence across four objectives: student identification, curriculum and instruction, professional development, and program management and evaluation. The application covers a 27-month period. Awards include a Governor’s citation, the EGATE banner, recognition at the State Board, and model-school visits. In February 2025, 14 schools received EGATE awards. EGATE applications are submitted to MSDE, reviewed by the Maryland Advisory Council on GT Education.
Beginning with SY2022–23, §8-202 of the Annotated Code of Maryland requires each local school system to develop accelerated pathways and enrichment programs enabling gifted and talented students to achieve college and career readiness before the end of 10th grade. §8-201 was also amended to explicitly allow GT students in middle school, 9th grade, or 10th grade to meet the CCR standard. This mandate is part of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform law. Pathways include subject acceleration, dual enrollment, compacted courses, AP/IB in earlier grades, and other mechanisms — defined locally within each school system.
Maryland’s framework explicitly recognizes a Talent Development (TD) tier alongside formal GT identification. Students who demonstrate emerging advanced potential but do not yet meet all GT identification criteria receive differentiated instruction and monitored support on a defined growth trajectory. Talent development counts as gifted programming under Maryland’s framework. Students on the TD pathway are progress-monitored over a defined period, and that monitoring informs future GT identification decisions. This approach supports equity — serving students whose potential needs nurturing before they can demonstrate it formally — and reduces the risk that late-blooming or underrepresented students fall through the identification gap.
Renzulli Learning addresses each of Maryland’s four giftedness areas: the CTC provides scored creativity evidence for the Creative/Artistic area; the Leadership Assessment documents leadership potential for the Leadership area; the Renzulli Profiler provides intellectual curiosity and interest data supporting General Intellectual Ability and specific academic field identification; the enrichment database delivers programs across all four areas. The PSP documents growth for ESSA reporting and EGATE documentation. The EFA supports Talent Development pathway monitoring.
Official sources
Maryland Gifted Education Resources
All identification, programming, and EGATE decisions should reference primary MSDE sources. Renzulli Learning is designed to complement — not replace — Maryland’s regulatory requirements and your local school system’s MSDE-approved identification process and program design.
- MSDE — Advanced Academics & Gifted and Talented Programs Branch (programs, EGATE, Maryland Model, Criteria for Excellence, Advisory Council)
- COMAR 13A.04.07 — Gifted and Talented Education (full regulation text — identification, programs, PD, reporting)
- Criteria for Excellence: Gifted and Talented Education Program Guidelines (EGATE criteria, NAGC alignment, areas of giftedness guidance)
- MSDE General Guidance: Areas of Giftedness (GIA, Creative/Artistic, Leadership, Specific Academic Fields — with identification measures for each)
- Education Article §8-201 — Gifted and Talented Student Defined (Annotated Code of Maryland)
Explore Renzulli Learning’s gifted education alignment for neighboring states:
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