LGBTQ Diversity Toolbox for Administrators - Professional Development

The following recommendations should be taken into consideration when preparing appropriate professional development that will help to develop a safe and nurturing environment for gifted LGBTQ students:

• Teachers and gifted coordinators should participate in professional development that allows them to enhance their creation and sustainment of safe and productive environments for gifted LGBTQ (Briggs, Reis, & Sullivan, 2008; NAGC, 2015).
• The unique educational needs and learning characteristics of gifted LGBTQ students should be emphasized in professional development (NAGC, 2015).
• Increasing curricular visibility, to support gifted students from diverse gender/sexuality backgrounds in seeing themselves reflected in the full range of academic subjects, should be a focus for educators learning about and dedicated to supporting these students (NAGC, 2015).
• Educators should be given the opportunity to conduct research and study the literature pertaining to gifted LGBTQ students (NAGC, 2015; Sedillo, 2015; Treat, 2008).
• Educators at elementary, middle, and high-school levels should purposefully distinguish between tolerance (which implies enduring the differences of others) and integration (which supports integrating in the strengths of all students) when seeking strategies to create positive classroom environments (Danuta Walters, 2014).