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Gifted and Talented Education · North Dakota

Gifted Education in North Dakota: A Statutory Definition, $800,000 in Biennial Reimbursement, Cooperative LSEU Structure, and NAGC-Aligned Best Practices

North Dakota defines students who are gifted in statute (NDCC 15.1-32-01(4)) and gives every district permissive authority to provide special education services (NDCC 15.1-32-10). The 2025-27 budget appropriates $800,000 for reimbursing districts and special education units. NDDPI’s Best Practices document, grounded in all six NAGC Programming Standards, guides identification, equity, affective development, and programming.

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$800K
biennial G/T reimbursement for school districts and special education units (2025-27 HB 1013, Section 8)
171
LEAs organized into 31 Local Special Education Units (LSEUs) that support cooperative G/T programming
6
NAGC Programming Standards addressed in NDDPI’s Best Practices for Gifted Education (2021)
4 phases
Best Practices identification process: Pre-Referral, Nomination, Universal Screening, MDT Selection
NDCC 15.1-32-01(4) and 15.1-32-10

The Statutory Foundation: A Clear Definition and Permissive District Authority

North Dakota’s gifted education framework sits within Chapter 15.1-32, the state’s special education statute. Two provisions establish the complete statutory framework:

NDCC 15.1-32-01(4): Definition
Student Who Is Gifted
“Student who is gifted means an individual who is identified by qualified professionals as being capable of high performance and who needs educational programs and services beyond those normally provided in a regular education program.”

Two operative elements: the student must be identified by qualified professionals (not teacher-nominated alone, not parent-nominated alone, not self-referred alone, but identified by professionally qualified individuals), and the student must need services beyond the regular program. This “beyond the regular program” service trigger matches the NAGC and federal definitions and is the standard that drives what a gifted program must deliver.
NDCC 15.1-32-10: District Authority
The “May” Provision
“A school district may provide special education to students who are gifted.”

The complete statutory text is a single sentence. The operative word is “may” rather than “shall.” North Dakota does not mandate that every district serve gifted students. However, “may” is not “cannot”: the statute grants clear legal authority to provide services, access reimbursement, and use the special education cooperative (LSEU) structure. Districts choosing to provide G/T services operate on solid statutory footing.
What “may” means in North Dakota’s context: Unlike South Dakota (which has no statute, no definition, and no funding mechanism), North Dakota’s “may” is embedded in a framework with genuine infrastructure. A district that says “may” and acts gets: a statutory definition to build identification criteria around, state reimbursement dollars, access to the LSEU cooperative structure, NDDPI’s comprehensive Best Practices guidance, and a G/T funding distribution every February. A district that says “may” and does not act faces no legal consequence but also foregoes all of these supports. The legislature’s 2025-27 budget language actively encouraging cooperative G/T efforts signals a policy environment that wants districts to act.
2025-27 HB 1013, Section 8 and NDDPI school finance

The $800,000 Biennial Reimbursement and the Cooperative LSEU Structure

The 2025-27 legislative budget includes a specific provision for G/T education within the Department of Public Instruction appropriation (HB 1013, Section 8):

2025-27 Budget Language (Section 8): “Section 8 would provide that DPI use $800,000 of the 2025-27 legislative appropriation for integrated formula payments for reimbursing school districts or special education units for gifted and talented programs. The department is to encourage cooperative efforts for gifted and talented programs among school districts and special education units.”

Key points: (1) $800,000 is set aside specifically for G/T reimbursement; (2) eligible recipients include both individual school districts AND special education units (LSEUs); (3) NDDPI is explicitly directed to encourage cooperative G/T efforts. NDDPI’s school finance guidance confirms that gifted and talented funding is distributed annually in February alongside other formula payments.
NDCC 15.1-33 and the Special Education Cooperative Structure

171 LEAs, 31 LSEUs: North Dakota’s Cooperative Vehicle for G/T Services

171
Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in North Dakota
31
Local Special Education Units (LSEUs) organizing districts cooperatively
20
multidistrict LSEUs supporting small rural districts pooling resources
11
single LEAs operating independently with their own special education programs

The LSEU structure (authorized under NDCC 15.1-33) is the primary mechanism for G/T service delivery across North Dakota’s smaller communities. A small district that cannot employ a full-time G/T specialist can cooperate with neighboring districts through its LSEU, pooling resources, students, and staff. The 2025-27 budget language explicitly makes LSEU-delivered G/T programs eligible for the $800,000 reimbursement and directs NDDPI to encourage these cooperative efforts. This is the design response to the same rural access challenge that Montana addresses through its match grant and Wyoming addresses through local discretion: cooperative delivery within an organized regional structure.

NDDPI’s Office of Specially Designed Services oversees G/T within its special education portfolio. Because G/T is classified within Chapter 15.1-32, G/T programs can access the same cooperative infrastructure (MDT processes, LSEU structures, NDDPI technical assistance) that special education programs use, even though G/T services are permissive rather than mandatory.

NDDPI Best Practices for Gifted Education (2021)

The Six NAGC Standards in North Dakota’s Best Practices Framework

North Dakota’s Best Practices document was developed by a NDDPI task force using the NAGC K-12 Programming Standards (endorsed by the Council for Exceptional Children) as its foundation. It is funded through the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Grant. All six NAGC standards are addressed:

NAGC Standard 1

Learning and Development

Educators understand variations in cognitive, affective, and psychosocial development. Programs address both academic growth and affective development, including self-understanding, social awareness, and psychosocial skill development. Career planning and talent development are explicitly included.

NAGC Standard 2

Assessment

Identification uses a four-phase process with universal screening, multiple indicators, and MDT placement decisions. Non-negotiables include multiple assessments, defensible data, trained personnel, and assessment conditions that allow full demonstration of abilities. Equity across diverse groups is a stated principle.

NAGC Standard 3

Curriculum Planning and Instruction

Research-based curriculum and strategies; higher-order and creative thinking; accelerated pace of instruction; rigor and depth. Best Practices cites A Nation Deceived research on the evidence base for acceleration and the harm caused by holding gifted students back.

NAGC Standard 4

Learning Environment

Addresses personal responsibility and leadership, social and cultural skills, communication skills, and service delivery models. Includes cluster groups, pull-out groups, and interest groups. Evidence-based grouping with like-minded individuals is recommended explicitly.

NAGC Standard 5

Services and Programming

Comprehensive, cohesive, and transparent policies and procedures for identification and service. Includes accelerated options, gifted learning environments, supplemental educational opportunities, mentors, Talent Search, and financial support resources. Twice-exceptional students are specifically addressed.

NAGC Standard 6

Professional Learning

Educators need specialized preparation in G/T and Talented development, psychosocial and social-emotional development, equity and inclusion, lifelong learning, and ethics. All district educators should be trained to identify gifted characteristics including social-emotional and unique learning needs.

Best Practices Assessment standard: the four-phase identification process

Universal Screening, Multiple Indicators, and MDT Placement: North Dakota’s Identification Framework

North Dakota’s Best Practices document prescribes a four-phase identification process anchored by the principle that all students deserve an opportunity to be considered:

1

Pre-Referral Phase

Observe student behaviors and include parents and guardians in the observation process. Engage parents in their preferred language. Build diagnostic learning environments that encourage students from diverse backgrounds to express characteristics and behaviors associated with giftedness. This phase establishes the observational data foundation before any formal nomination or assessment.

2

Nomination Phase

Consider ALL students for nomination. This is not a referral-by-request system; it is a deliberate consideration of the full student population. Nominations may come from teachers, parents, counselors, peers, and self-nominations. Broadening the nomination pool to include all students explicitly is how underrepresented populations are surfaced for further consideration.

3

Screening and Identification Phase

Universally screen ALL students using multiple indicators: cognitive data, behavioral observations, achievement data, and performance evaluations. Apply building norms to interpret screening results, allowing students to be compared to their local peer group, not only national norms. Provide multiple entry points across Pre-K through grade 12. No single measure determines identification: multiple assessments (cognitive, academic, gifted characteristic profiles) are required as non-negotiables.

4

Selection and Placement Phase

The Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) makes selection and placement decisions after reviewing all accumulated assessment data. Decisions must be driven by defensible data, not personal relationships, political associations, or parental pressure. The MDT structure mirrors North Dakota’s special education MDT process, integrating G/T identification into the same collaborative decision-making framework. Districts must have clearly stated and implemented identification procedures.

Equity and diversity as a foundation, not an afterthought: North Dakota’s Best Practices document places equity at the center of identification, not as a separate consideration. Best practices incorporate equitable approaches throughout the district to identify populations that are frequently hidden or under-identified: through universal screening, local norms, multiple assessments, multiple nomination sources, and cultivating relationships with students to understand their unique challenges and needs. The identification process must take into consideration culture, language proficiency and development in first and second languages, prior schooling, and parent/teacher interviews or behavioral inventories. The Javits Act framing is explicitly cited: outstanding talents are present in students from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor.
Best Practices Learning and Development standard

Four Categories of Gifted Characteristics: Academic and Affective Development Together

North Dakota’s Best Practices identifies four categories of characteristics that gifted students may share. Crucially, the document addresses all four as equally important: intellectual capacity alone does not define the experience of being gifted, and programs must respond to the affective and behavioral dimensions as fully as they respond to the cognitive.

Cognitive Characteristics

Keen power of abstraction, voracious and early reading, large vocabulary, intellectual curiosity, power of critical thinking, skepticism, self-criticism, persistent goal-directed behavior, independence in work and study, and diversity of interests and abilities. These are the characteristics most commonly recognized by classroom teachers, but they represent only one of four dimensions.

Enrichment database: depth, complexity, and abstract challenge
Creative Characteristics

Creativeness and inventiveness, keen sense of humor, ability for fantasy, openness to stimuli, wide interests, intuitiveness, flexibility, independence in attitude and social behavior, self-acceptance and unconcern for social norms, aesthetic and moral commitment to self-selected work. Creative giftedness often goes unrecognized in teacher referral systems that focus on academic achievement.

CTC: scored creative ability evidence
Affective Characteristics

Unusual emotional depth and intensity, sensitivity or empathy to the feelings of others, high expectations of self and others, heightened self-awareness accompanied by feelings of being different, easily wounded, need for emotional support, advanced levels of moral judgment, idealism, and sense of justice. Best Practices notes that gifted students may be at greater risk for specific social-emotional difficulties if their needs are not met.

EFA: self-regulation and emotional depth profile
Behavioral Characteristics

Spontaneity, intense focus on passions, resistance to changing activities when engrossed in own interests, high energy, persistent questioning, insatiable curiosity, strong determination in areas of importance, and high frustration particularly when failing to meet self-imposed standards. These behavioral patterns may be misread as discipline issues when they are expressions of giftedness.

Profiler: interest intensity and engagement pattern documentation
Social-emotional development as a program requirement, not an optional add-on: North Dakota’s Best Practices is explicit that affective development is necessary, not supplementary. Gifted students may experience perfectionism, heightened awareness, anxiety, issues with peer relationships, and concerns with identity and belonging. Very young gifted learners show asynchronous development across domains. Best Practices directs educators to develop specialized, research-supported intervention services for diverse gifted student needs including underachieving, twice-exceptional, English-language learner, and socio-economically diverse gifted students. The NAGC Bill of Rights for Gifted Students (featured prominently in the foreword) includes rights to make mistakes, have an identity beyond their talent area, and not be gifted at everything: a framework for affective program design.
Platform tools

What Renzulli Learning Provides: Mapped to North Dakota’s Six NAGC Standards

Renzulli Profiler, NAGC Standards 1 and 2 (Learning and Development; Assessment: Multiple Indicators and Parent Engagement): Best Practices calls for multiple nomination sources and engagement with students to understand their unique challenges. The Profiler is a structured student self-report instrument covering intellectual interests, learning strengths, and engagement patterns. It qualifies simultaneously as a multiple-indicator assessment tool (student-generated data) and as a vehicle for the student voice that Best Practices identifies as a required nomination source. For Building Standard 1 (Learning and Development), the Profiler generates the interest and strength profile that educators need to engage students as partners in discovering their talents and to implement learning plans incorporating personal and social awareness.
Cebeci Test of Creativity (CTC), NAGC Standard 2 (Assessment: Creative Characteristics) and Standard 3 (Curriculum and Instruction): North Dakota’s four characteristic categories include creative characteristics as a distinct domain. The CTC provides scored creativity evidence that directly addresses this category during the identification phase, contributing to the multiple-indicator profile the Screening and Identification Phase requires. In programming (Standard 3), the CTC data informs which creative strengths are most pronounced, allowing educators to match curriculum to demonstrated creative ability rather than defaulting to uniform enrichment approaches.
Leadership Assessment, NAGC Standards 2 and 4 (Assessment; Learning Environment: Personal Responsibility and Leadership Skills): Best Practices Standard 4 addresses personal responsibility and leadership skills as a component of the gifted learning environment. The Leadership Assessment provides scored behavioral evidence of leadership characteristics, serving both identification purposes (contributing to the multi-indicator profile) and programming purposes (identifying students whose primary talent domain is leadership). For North Dakota’s many community-oriented rural settings where student leadership manifests in agricultural, community, and family contexts as much as classroom contexts, the Leadership Assessment can surface gifted potential that academic measures miss.
Enrichment Database, NAGC Standard 3 (Curriculum and Instruction) and the “Beyond the Regular Program” Service Trigger: North Dakota’s statutory definition requires services beyond those normally provided in a regular education program. The enrichment database is the mechanism for delivering that “beyond” at scale. Over 40,000 interest-matched, above-curriculum activities provide the depth, complexity, and creative challenge that Standard 3 requires. For North Dakota’s LSEU-based delivery model, where one coordinator may serve students across multiple small districts, the enrichment database provides a curated content library that makes differentiated programming practical across the geographic distances involved in cooperative service delivery.
Project-Based Learning (PBL) Tools, NAGC Standards 3 and 5 (Curriculum and Instruction; Services and Programming: Talent Development): North Dakota’s Best Practices cites A Nation Deceived’s research on the importance of letting advanced learners advance at their natural pace. PBL tools deliver the self-directed, depth-driven investigations that best serve students who are ready for more than sequential coverage of grade-level material. For Standard 5 (Services and Programming), PBL addresses the supplemental educational opportunity dimension: original student investigations that go beyond enrichment into genuine talent development. PBL products also provide the student work evidence needed for MDT identification decisions in the Screening Phase.
Personal Success Plan (PSP), NAGC Standard 5 (Services and Programming: Individual Plans) and LSEU Cooperative Documentation: Best Practices Standard 5 calls for comprehensive, cohesive, and transparent policies and procedures for ongoing identification and service. The PSP generates the individual student records that make a G/T program transparent to students, families, teachers, and LSEU coordinators. For districts accessing the $800,000 biennial reimbursement, PSP records provide organized evidence of services delivered per student, supporting reimbursement documentation. For LSEU-coordinated programs serving students across multiple districts, PSP records travel with students and provide continuity when students move between member districts of the same LSEU.
Executive Function Assessment, NAGC Standards 1 and 5 (Affective Characteristics; Twice-Exceptional Students): North Dakota’s Best Practices identifies affective characteristics (emotional depth, perfectionism, heightened self-awareness, anxiety, identity concerns) as one of four gifted characteristic domains, and Standard 5 explicitly calls for specialized intervention services for twice-exceptional gifted students. The EFA addresses both populations. For the affective characteristic domain, the EFA provides self-regulation and metacognitive profile data that helps educators understand where emotional intensity may be shaping a student’s engagement. For twice-exceptional students, the EFA can reveal where executive function challenges are masking gifted potential, informing both the MDT identification process and the individualized support services that Standard 5 requires.
Statutory and guidance alignment

North Dakota’s G/T Framework and Renzulli Learning: Side by Side

NDCC 15.1-32-01(4) NDCC 15.1-32-10 2025-27 HB 1013 Sec. 8 NDDPI Best Practices (2021)
North Dakota Requirement or Guidance Renzulli Learning Contribution
Definition: NDCC 15.1-32-01(4)
Capable of high performance; identified by qualified professionals; needs services beyond the regular program		 Profiler, CTC, Leadership Assessment, EFA provide data for the qualified professional identification process. Enrichment database and PBL deliver the services beyond the regular program that the statutory definition requires.
Funding: 2025-27 HB 1013 Sec. 8
$800,000 biennial reimbursement to districts and LSEUs; NDDPI to encourage cooperative efforts; distributed February		 PSP records provide the service delivery documentation that supports reimbursement claims. For LSEU cooperative programs, PSP records organize evidence across multiple member districts. All Renzulli tools support the kind of programmatic documentation that makes reimbursement applications credible.
Assessment: Best Practices Phase 3
Universal screening ALL students; multiple indicators (cognitive, behavioral, achievement, performance); building norms; multiple entry points Pre-K through grade 12		 CTC (creative indicator), Profiler (interest and behavioral indicator), Leadership Assessment (leadership indicator), PBL products (performance indicator) collectively contribute four evidence types to the multi-indicator universal screening process. Together they ensure identification is not reduced to a single cognitive test score.
Four Characteristics
Cognitive, creative, affective, and behavioral characteristics; all four addressed in program design; social-emotional development as a program requirement		 Enrichment database and PBL (cognitive and creative), CTC (creative), Leadership Assessment (behavioral), EFA (affective and psychosocial), Profiler (intellectual curiosity and intrinsic motivation, both behavioral and cognitive). All four characteristic categories are addressed across the platform.
Equity: Best Practices
Underrepresented populations including culturally and linguistically diverse students, low-income students; building norms; identification process accounts for culture, language, prior schooling; multiple nomination sources		 CTC provides creativity evidence that surfaces gifted potential in students whose achievement test scores are depressed by language barriers, limited prior academic opportunity, or economic disadvantage. Profiler student self-report reduces teacher referral bias. Combined, these tools directly address the equity identification practices Best Practices names as best practice for reaching underrepresented populations.
LSEU Cooperative Programs
20 multidistrict LSEUs serving small rural communities; G/T reimbursement available to LSEUs as well as districts; NDDPI encourages cooperative approaches		 The enrichment database makes quality differentiated content accessible regardless of district size, filling the gap in districts too small to staff dedicated G/T teachers. The PSP supports multi-district record-keeping for LSEU-coordinated programs, providing the documentation continuity that cooperative service delivery requires.
Frequently asked questions

North Dakota Gifted Education: Common Questions

No. NDCC 15.1-32-10 says a school district may provide special education to students who are gifted. There is no obligation for districts to identify or serve gifted students. However, North Dakota’s “may” framework is substantially different from states with no structure at all. North Dakota has a statutory definition, a biennial $800,000 reimbursement appropriation, a cooperative LSEU structure explicitly extended to G/T programs, and a comprehensive NAGC-aligned Best Practices guidance document. Districts choosing to serve gifted students operate with significant state support, infrastructure, and financial incentive even without a mandate.
The 2025-27 legislative budget (HB 1013, Section 8) provides $800,000 from DPI’s integrated formula payments appropriation specifically for reimbursing school districts or special education units for G/T programs. NDDPI distributes gifted and talented funding in February annually. Reimbursement is available to both individual school districts and multidistrict Local Special Education Units (LSEUs), with the legislature explicitly directing NDDPI to encourage cooperative G/T efforts between districts and special education units.
North Dakota’s 171 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) are organized into 31 Local Special Education Units (LSEUs) under NDCC 15.1-33. In 2023-24 there were 11 single LEAs and 20 multidistrict LSEUs. LSEUs allow small rural districts to pool resources for special education services, including G/T programs, that individual districts could not provide alone. A small district of 50 students cannot hire a full-time G/T specialist, but through its LSEU it can share a specialist with neighboring districts, pool students for enrichment clusters, and split reimbursement claims. The 2025-27 budget language explicitly makes LSEUs eligible for G/T reimbursement alongside individual districts.
NDDPI’s Best Practices for Gifted Education (2021) recommends a four-phase process: Pre-Referral (observe behaviors, engage parents in their preferred language), Nomination (consider ALL students), Screening and Identification (universally screen ALL students using multiple indicators, apply building norms), and Selection and Placement (MDT makes decisions based on defensible data). Non-negotiables include using multiple assessments rather than a single measure, ensuring assessment conditions allow students to demonstrate their actual abilities, using appropriately trained personnel, and making decisions based on data rather than personal relationships or parental pressure. Equity for underrepresented populations is explicitly addressed throughout the identification section.
North Dakota’s Best Practices document treats affective development as a required component of gifted programming, not an optional add-on. Affective characteristics (emotional depth, sensitivity, heightened self-awareness, need for emotional support, advanced moral judgment) are identified as one of four categories of gifted characteristics alongside cognitive, creative, and behavioral characteristics. NAGC Standard 1 (Learning and Development) specifically calls for programs addressing social and emotional needs and psychosocial skill development. Standard 5 (Services and Programming) calls for specialized intervention services for diverse gifted student needs, including twice-exceptional students, underachievers, and students with social-emotional challenges. The EFA provides the self-regulation and metacognitive data that educators need to understand and address the affective dimension of their gifted students’ profiles.
North Dakota’s cooperative LSEU model requires tools that work across district boundaries. The enrichment database provides rich differentiated content accessible to any student in any member district, making quality programming feasible even when students are spread across a large geographic area and cannot regularly meet in person. The PSP generates portable individual student records that travel with students across LSEU member districts, providing the documentation continuity that cooperative delivery requires. The Profiler, CTC, and Leadership Assessment can be administered online from any location, supporting identification screening for students in participating districts without requiring in-person specialist visits to every school.
Official sources

North Dakota Gifted Education Resources

All identification, programming, and reimbursement decisions should reference primary NDDPI and statutory sources. Renzulli Learning complements each district’s or LSEU’s locally designed G/T program within North Dakota’s permissive framework.

Explore Renzulli Learning’s gifted and advanced learner alignment for neighboring states:

All States G&T Alignment South Dakota Montana Minnesota Wyoming Iowa

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