Preparing Gifted Educators for Generative AI: The Essential Role of Educator Preparation Programs

The potential of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to support teachers in providing a more equitable, inclusive, comprehensive, rigorous advanced academics cannot be ignored. GenAI alone is not enough to sustain learning, but when it is guided by a human teacher who knows each student's learning profiles, then realization of potential talent is endless. Educator preparation programs (EPP) must provide guidance, support, and resources so that preservice teachers can maximize the benefits of GenAI while maintaining high ethical expectations. EPPs must develop programming aligned with standards of practice established by CEC, ISTE, and TPACK to prepare educators. If they do not, one must question if EPPs are falling short of their responsibility to prepare preservice teachers to use GenAI as an instructional and pedagogical strategy. This praxis paper contributes to growing literature seeking to understand the transformational pedagogical changes within the field of gifted education with the rise of GenAI.