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Gifted & Talented Education · Vermont

Vermont Advanced Learner Education: A No-Mandate State Operating Within Act 77 (Flexible Pathways) and State Board Rule 2000 (Education Quality Standards) \u2014 Personalized Learning Plans, Proficiency-Based Graduation Requirements, the Vermont Portrait of a Graduate, Five Transferable Skills, and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

Vermont is one of approximately ten U.S. states with no state mandate for gifted education funding or programming. Instead, advanced learners are served within Vermont’s nationally-recognized student-centered framework: Act 77 (2013) Flexible Pathways and Personalized Learning Plans (PLPs) for grades 7-12, State Board Rule 2000 Education Quality Standards (EQS), proficiency-based learning, the Vermont Portrait of a Graduate, and five Transferable Skills. Renzulli Learning supports districts within this framework while preserving local authority.

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No Mandate
Vermont is one of ~10 U.S. states with no state mandate for gifted education funding or programming
Act 77 + EQS
2013 Flexible Pathways law + State Board Rule 2000 Education Quality Standards establish Vermont’s advanced-learner framework
PLPs 7-12
every Vermont student in grades 7-12 has a Personalized Learning Plan documenting individualized pathway
5 Skills
EQS Transferable Skills required across the curriculum: Communication, Self-Direction, Problem Solving, Citizenship, Integrative Thinking
Vermont policy landscape

What Vermont’s Advanced-Learner Framework Looks Like

Vermont is one of approximately ten U.S. states with no state mandate related to funding or programming for gifted and talented education \u2014 alongside the District of Columbia, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, and South Dakota (per the Council of State Governments Knowledge Center analysis). There is no Vermont gifted education statute, no state-funded categorical aid for gifted services, no state-mandated identification framework, no state-required gifted programming, and no state-mandated reciprocity.

What Vermont does have is one of the most comprehensive student-centered education policy frameworks in the country. Act 77 of 2013 (Flexible Pathways Initiative) and Vermont State Board of Education Rule 2000 (Education Quality Standards or EQS), adopted alongside Act 77 in 2013, together create a personalized, proficiency-based learning system designed to serve all students \u2014 including advanced learners \u2014 through individualized planning and instruction.

Vermont’s framing of advanced learner education is distinctive. Rather than operating a separate gifted program parallel to general education, Vermont serves advanced learners within the four interconnected structures of Act 77 + EQS: the Personalized Learning Plan (PLP) required for every student grades 7-12, proficiency-based learning and graduation requirements, the Vermont Portrait of a Graduate, and the five Transferable Skills. Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) and flexible pathways (CTE, virtual, work-based, service learning, dual enrollment, early college) provide the differentiation and acceleration mechanisms.
Three foundational policy structures

Vermont’s Foundational Policies for Advanced Learners

Vermont’s advanced-learner framework operates within three foundational policy structures rather than a separate gifted statute:

Structure 1 · Act 77 (2013)
Personalized Learning Plans
Every student in grades 7-12 has a Personalized Learning Plan (PLP) identifying emerging abilities, aptitude, and disposition; including family participation; guiding course offerings; and documented in writing. For advanced learners, the PLP is the central documentation tool for individualized acceleration and enrichment.
PLPs grades 7-12 · Flexible Pathways
Structure 2 · State Board Rule 2000
Education Quality Standards
Adopted 2013, the EQS establishes proficiency-based learning, proficiency-based graduation requirements (class of 2020 onward), the Vermont Portrait of a Graduate, MTSS, flexible pathways, and local comprehensive assessment systems. Curriculum responsibility moved from school to supervisory union for alignment and consistency.
EQS · PBGRs · MTSS
Structure 3 · Portrait of a Graduate
College and Career Readiness
The Vermont Portrait of a Graduate clarifies College and Career Readiness expectations specifying cognitive, personal, and interpersonal skills students need to demonstrate upon graduation. Developed by 300+ Vermont students, community members, and educators. Frames advanced learner development beyond pure content acceleration.
cognitive + personal + interpersonal skills
The five EQS Transferable Skills are required across the curriculum. Vermont students must demonstrate proficiency in five Transferable Skills in addition to content-area proficiencies for graduation: Clear and Effective Communication, Self-Direction, Creative and Practical Problem Solving, Responsible and Involved Citizenship, and Informed and Integrative Thinking. For advanced learners, the Transferable Skills frame development beyond content acceleration \u2014 emphasizing the kinds of complex, integrative thinking and self-direction that gifted education research has long identified as essential to talent development.
Flexible pathways for acceleration

Vermont’s Flexible Pathways: Six Routes for Advanced Learner Acceleration

Act 77 created Flexible Pathways to Secondary School Completion designed to encourage high-quality educational experiences, promote post-secondary readiness, and increase school completion. For advanced learners, flexible pathways provide acceleration options when the regular curriculum has been mastered \u2014 documented in the PLP and aligned to proficiency-based graduation requirements:

Career and Technical Education

Access to Vermont’s regional CTE centers \u2014 advanced career pathways for students whose interests and aptitudes align with technical fields, often combined with academic acceleration.

Virtual Learning

Online courses for content not available in the local school \u2014 particularly valuable in Vermont’s small rural supervisory unions where advanced course offerings may be limited locally.

Work-Based Learning

Internships, apprenticeships, and other real-world learning supervised by Work-Based Learning Coordinator endorsement holders. Connects academic principles with real-world applications.

Service Learning

Community-based projects integrated with academic learning. For advanced learners, often a vehicle for authentic application of higher-order thinking and the EQS Citizenship Transferable Skill.

Dual Enrollment

High school students taking college courses for credit \u2014 a primary acceleration route for academically advanced learners ready for post-secondary content during high school.

Early College

A full year of college-level classes during the senior year, with funding equal to 87% of base education funding accepted by participating Vermont colleges and universities in lieu of tuition.

Real challenges

What Vermont Educators Struggle With for Advanced Learners

These are the challenges we consistently hear from Vermont educators serving advanced learners in a no-mandate, locally-led framework:

Identifying advanced learners without state criteria

Without a state-mandated identification framework, supervisory unions and districts design their own approaches. Some use cognitive ability testing, achievement testing, and creativity assessments; others rely on PLP development conversations and proficiency-based progress data. Coordinators often work without peer benchmarks across the small Vermont supervisory union landscape.

Documenting acceleration in the PLP defensibly

For advanced learners, the PLP is the documentation vehicle for individualized acceleration and enrichment. Coordinators need structured strength-based evidence that supports the Act 77 PLP element identifying “the student’s emerging abilities, aptitude, and disposition” \u2014 not just course list entries.

Resource constraints in small supervisory unions

Vermont’s small geographic and student-population scale (roughly 50 supervisory unions/districts statewide; many with under 1,000 students) means dedicated gifted coordinators are rare. Advanced-learner programming often falls to classroom teachers or supervisory union curriculum coordinators alongside many other responsibilities.

Demonstrating EQS Transferable Skills development

Advanced learners must demonstrate proficiency in the five Transferable Skills (Communication, Self-Direction, Problem Solving, Citizenship, Integrative Thinking) for graduation. Coordinators need authentic learning experiences that genuinely develop these skills \u2014 not just additional content coverage \u2014 and produce evidence the supervisory union can document.

Platform tools mapped to VT's framework

What Renzulli Learning Provides: Mapped to Vermont’s Framework

Each tool maps to specific Act 77 / EQS / Portrait of a Graduate / Transferable Skills requirements and produces concrete, exportable artifacts \u2014 while preserving supervisory union and district authority:

Renzulli Profiler — Act 77 PLP “Emerging Abilities, Aptitude, and Disposition” Documentation: A 20-30 minute interest, learning style, and expression-style inventory available in 20+ languages through the Global Profiler. Generates documented strength-based evidence supporting the Act 77 PLP requirement (element A) to identify the student’s emerging abilities, aptitude, and disposition. Profiler results provide the substantive content that turns a PLP from a course list into a meaningful student-centered planning tool.
Cebeci Test of Creativity (CTC) — EQS Transferable Skill: Creative and Practical Problem Solving: A validated, scored creative thinking assessment producing a ready-to-file report in under an hour. Directly supports the Creative and Practical Problem Solving Transferable Skill required by EQS for graduation. Provides documented creativity evidence that supervisory unions can incorporate into proficiency-based assessment of this Transferable Skill.
Executive Function Assessment (EFA) — EQS Transferable Skill: Self-Direction: Measures self-regulation, planning, working memory, and metacognition \u2014 directly supports the Self-Direction Transferable Skill required by EQS. Surfaces twice-exceptional students whose disability-related profiles may suppress academic performance even when intellectual abilities are outstanding.
Leadership Assessment — EQS Transferable Skill: Responsible and Involved Citizenship: Identifies leadership and psychosocial strengths \u2014 supports the Responsible and Involved Citizenship Transferable Skill. Particularly relevant in Vermont’s small-community context where student leadership often manifests in service learning and community engagement.
Personal Success Plan (PSP) — PLP-Compatible Goal and Progress Documentation: A student-driven goal and progress tracker generating exportable summaries that supervisory unions can incorporate into PLP documentation. The PSP’s student-centered planning model aligns with Act 77’s explicit student-voice intent for the PLP \u2014 supporting both the PLP requirement and the proficiency-based progress documentation expectations.
Enrichment Database — MTSS Differentiation and Flexible Pathway Exploration: Over 40,000 curated activities matched to student Profiler results. Supports MTSS Tier I/II/III differentiation under EQS and provides interest-aligned content for flexible pathway exploration. Particularly valuable in small Vermont supervisory unions where local advanced course offerings may be limited.
Project-Based Learning (PBL) Tools — Authentic Demonstration of Multiple Transferable Skills: Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM)-based investigations and Renzulli Type III independent investigations produce authentic student work products that simultaneously demonstrate multiple EQS Transferable Skills (Creative Problem Solving, Self-Direction, Integrative Thinking, Communication) \u2014 the kind of integrative authentic assessment Vermont’s proficiency-based system was designed to recognize.
Side-by-side alignment

How Renzulli Learning Aligns with Vermont’s Framework

No State Mandate Act 77 (2013) EQS Rule 2000 PLPs 7-12 Portrait of a Graduate 5 Transferable Skills
Vermont ContextRenzulli Learning Contribution
Act 77 PLPs
Personalized Learning Plans Grades 7-12
PLP must identify emerging abilities, aptitude, and disposition; include family participation; guide course offerings; be documented		The Renzulli Profiler generates documented strength-based evidence that directly supports the “emerging abilities, aptitude, and disposition” PLP element. The PSP supports student-led goal-setting and progress documentation aligned with PLP intent.
Transferable Skill 1
Creative and Practical Problem Solving
Required across the curriculum for graduation		The CTC provides a validated creativity assessment that supervisory unions can incorporate into proficiency-based assessment of this Transferable Skill. The PBL Type III investigations produce authentic problem-solving work products.
Transferable Skill 2
Self-Direction
Required across the curriculum for graduation		The Executive Function Assessment directly measures self-regulation, planning, working memory, and metacognition \u2014 the components of self-direction. The PSP requires students to set their own goals and track progress, exercising self-direction.
Transferable Skill 3
Responsible and Involved Citizenship
Required across the curriculum for graduation		The Leadership Assessment identifies leadership and psychosocial strengths supporting citizenship development. The Enrichment Database includes service learning and community-engagement activities that authentically develop the skill.
EQS · MTSS
Multi-Tiered Systems of Support
Tier I/II/III differentiation for all students; advanced learners served at Tier I/II		The 40,000+ Enrichment Database and SEM-based PBL tools provide differentiation content at any tier. Profiler-driven matching ensures activities are interest-aligned and developmentally appropriate.
Flexible Pathways
Six Acceleration Routes
CTE, virtual, work-based, service learning, dual enrollment, early college		The Profiler and Enrichment Database support pathway exploration. PSP documentation captures the student’s pathway choice rationale and progress \u2014 evidence the supervisory union can incorporate into PLP records.
From Vermont educators

What Implementation Looks Like in Vermont Supervisory Unions

“Vermont doesn’t have a gifted statute, but we have something arguably better \u2014 a state framework that requires us to do personalized learning for every student. The PLP is where advanced-learner programming happens; we don’t need a parallel structure. Renzulli’s Profiler gives us substantive evidence about the student’s ‘emerging abilities, aptitude, and disposition,’ which is the actual Act 77 language. The CTC and EFA give us evidence for the Transferable Skills. It fits Vermont’s framework natively, not awkwardly.”
Curriculum Coordinator · Northern Vermont supervisory union
Operationalizing PLPs for advanced learners Act 77’s PLP element A (“emerging abilities, aptitude, and disposition”) is the entry point for advanced learner programming in Vermont. The Profiler generates the substantive strength-based evidence that turns a PLP from a course list into a meaningful student-centered planning tool. The CTC, EFA, and Leadership Assessment expand the evidence base across the EQS Transferable Skills.
Supporting small supervisory unions Vermont’s small district scale (~50 supervisory unions/districts statewide; many with under 1,000 students) means dedicated gifted coordinators are rare. Advanced-learner work often falls to classroom teachers or curriculum coordinators alongside many other responsibilities. Renzulli’s integrated platform reduces tool-switching burden by delivering identification evidence, differentiation content, and progress documentation in one place.
Frequently asked questions

Vermont Advanced Learner Education: Common Questions

Questions Vermont educators, supervisory union leaders, and parents ask most often:

Does Vermont have a state mandate for gifted and talented education?
No. Vermont is one of approximately ten U.S. states with no state mandate related to funding or programming for gifted and talented education \u2014 alongside the District of Columbia, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, and South Dakota (per the Council of State Governments Knowledge Center analysis). There is no Vermont gifted education statute, no state-funded categorical aid for gifted services, no state-mandated identification framework, no state-required gifted programming, and no state-mandated reciprocity. Instead, Vermont’s framework for serving advanced learners operates within the broader student-centered education policy ecosystem established by Act 77 of 2013 and Vermont State Board of Education Rule 2000 (Education Quality Standards). Within that framework, supervisory unions and school districts have flexibility to identify and serve advanced learners through enrichment, acceleration, and individualized programming.
What is Vermont’s framework for serving advanced learners?
Vermont’s framework for serving advanced learners operates within four interconnected policy structures rather than a separate gifted statute. (1) Act 77 of 2013 (Flexible Pathways Initiative) requires every student in grades 7-12 to have a Personalized Learning Plan (PLP) that identifies the student’s emerging abilities, aptitude, and disposition; advanced learners use the PLP to document accelerated and enriched experiences. (2) Vermont State Board of Education Rule 2000 (Education Quality Standards or EQS) establishes proficiency-based learning, proficiency-based graduation requirements, the Vermont Portrait of a Graduate, transferable skills, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, and flexible pathways. (3) The Vermont Portrait of a Graduate clarifies College and Career Readiness expectations specifying cognitive, personal, and interpersonal skills students need to demonstrate upon graduation. (4) Five Transferable Skills (Clear and Effective Communication, Self-Direction, Creative and Practical Problem Solving, Responsible and Involved Citizenship, Informed and Integrative Thinking) are required across the curriculum.
What is a Personalized Learning Plan (PLP) under Vermont Act 77?
Act 77 of 2013 requires schools to work with every student in grades 7 through 12 in an ongoing personalized learning planning process that: (A) identifies the student’s emerging abilities, aptitude, and disposition; (B) includes participation by families and other engaged adults; (C) guides decisions regarding course offerings and other high-quality educational experiences; and (D) is documented by a personalized learning plan (PLP). PLPs should be developmentally appropriate and define the scope and rigor of academic and experiential opportunities necessary for a secondary student to complete secondary school successfully, attain postsecondary readiness, and be prepared to engage actively in civic life. For advanced learners, the PLP becomes the central documentation tool for individualized acceleration, enrichment, and flexible pathway choices. The Vermont Agency of Education provides PLP framework guidance but supervisory unions and school districts adapt formats and platforms to meet local needs.
What are Vermont’s Education Quality Standards (EQS)?
The Vermont State Board of Education adopted Rule 2000 (Education Quality Standards or EQS) in 2013 alongside Act 77, creating the policy environment for personalized, proficiency-based learning. The EQS establishes: proficiency-based instructional practices; proficiency-based graduation requirements (PBGRs) effective with the class of 2020 (progression and graduation decisions based on demonstration of proficiency rather than time spent in classrooms); the Vermont Portrait of a Graduate; five Transferable Skills required across the curriculum; Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS); flexible pathways including career and technical education, virtual learning, work-based learning, service learning, dual enrollment, and early college; local comprehensive assessment systems; and Personalized Learning Plans for all students in grades 7-12. Curriculum responsibility under EQS rests with the supervisory union (rather than the individual school) to create alignment and consistency across schools \u2014 supporting advanced learners who progress beyond grade level.
How do Vermont supervisory unions identify advanced learners without a state framework?
Without a state-mandated identification framework, Vermont supervisory unions and school districts design their own approaches to identifying advanced learners. Common approaches operate within the EQS and PLP framework: (1) MTSS Tier I universal screening and ongoing assessment data identifies students whose proficiency demonstrations exceed grade-level expectations; (2) PLP development for grades 7-12 surfaces individual student aptitudes and emerging abilities through the planning conversation with the student and family; (3) Proficiency-based grading data shows which students consistently meet or exceed graduation proficiencies ahead of expected pace; (4) Flexible pathway interest \u2014 students choosing dual enrollment, early college, work-based learning, or accelerated coursework demonstrate readiness for advanced work. Some supervisory unions use additional formal measures such as cognitive ability testing, achievement testing, creativity assessments, or multi-source identification frameworks. The absence of a state mandate means supervisory unions decide what evidence to gather, who participates in identification decisions, and what services follow identification.
What flexible pathways does Vermont offer advanced learners?
Act 77 of 2013 created Flexible Pathways to Secondary School Completion designed to encourage and support school supervisory unions to provide high-quality educational experiences. Flexible pathways include: (1) Career and Technical Education \u2014 access to Vermont’s regional CTE centers; (2) Virtual learning \u2014 online courses for content not available in the local school; (3) Work-based learning \u2014 internships, apprenticeships, and other real-world learning supervised by Work-Based Learning Coordinator endorsement holders; (4) Service learning \u2014 community-based projects integrated with academic learning; (5) Dual enrollment \u2014 high school students taking college courses; and (6) Early College \u2014 a full year of college-level classes taken during the senior year, with funding equal to 87% of base education funding accepted in lieu of tuition by participating Vermont colleges and universities. For advanced learners, flexible pathways provide acceleration options when the regular curriculum has been mastered \u2014 documented in the PLP and aligned to the proficiency-based graduation requirements.
What are Vermont’s five Transferable Skills under EQS?
Vermont’s Education Quality Standards establish five Transferable Skills that students must demonstrate in addition to content-area proficiencies for graduation: (1) Clear and Effective Communication \u2014 expression of ideas in spoken, written, and other forms; (2) Self-Direction \u2014 management of one’s own learning, time, and behavior; (3) Creative and Practical Problem Solving \u2014 generating original solutions and applying skills to real-world challenges; (4) Responsible and Involved Citizenship \u2014 understanding and engaging with civic, social, and cultural systems; and (5) Informed and Integrative Thinking \u2014 making connections across disciplines and considering multiple perspectives. The Vermont Agency of Education has developed sample graduation proficiencies and performance indicators for each Transferable Skill. School boards may set their own graduation requirements including Transferable Skills. For advanced learners, the Transferable Skills frame development beyond content acceleration \u2014 emphasizing the kinds of complex, integrative thinking and self-direction that gifted education research has long identified as essential to talent development.
How does Renzulli Learning support Vermont’s framework for serving advanced learners?
Renzulli Learning supports Vermont’s framework while preserving supervisory union and district authority over local identification and service decisions. The Renzulli Profiler captures interests, learning styles, and expression preferences \u2014 generating documented strength-based evidence that supports the PLP requirement to identify the student’s emerging abilities, aptitude, and disposition (Act 77 PLP element A). The Cebeci Test of Creativity (CTC) provides a validated creativity assessment supporting the Creative and Practical Problem Solving Transferable Skill in EQS. The Executive Function Assessment supports Self-Direction (another EQS Transferable Skill) and identifies twice-exceptional students. The Leadership Assessment supports Responsible and Involved Citizenship. The 40,000+ activity Enrichment Database provides interest-aligned content supporting MTSS differentiation and flexible pathway exploration. The Personal Success Plan (PSP) generates exportable summaries that supervisory unions can incorporate into PLP documentation. Together these tools support advanced learner programming within Vermont’s existing EQS/PLP/proficiency-based framework rather than parallel to it.
Official sources

Vermont Advanced Learner Education Resources

All program design decisions should reference these primary Vermont Agency of Education sources. Renzulli Learning is designed to complement \u2014 not replace \u2014 Vermont’s EQS and PLP framework and your supervisory union’s local policies.

Custom Supervisory Union Alignments

Need help operationalizing PLP element A (“emerging abilities, aptitude, and disposition”) for advanced learners, building structured evidence for the five EQS Transferable Skills, or supporting flexible pathway documentation in a no-mandate framework?

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PLP Emerging Abilities Documentation · EQS Transferable Skills Evidence · Locally Designed Identification Framework Support

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