Event Information

REGISTRATION CLOSED 10/8/25 at 12pm

The Iowa Talented and Gifted Association (ITAG) is holding its 2025 Annual Conference at the Sheraton West Des Moines on October 13-14, 2025 with the theme Bridging Generations: Honoring Legacy, Empowering Innovation.

The purpose of our Annual Conference is to convene educators, administrators, and parents from across the state of Iowa, so they may network and learn from experts in the field on how to better support the educational needs of gifted children and youth. This year, our first keynote speaker will be University of Calgary Professor and Research Chair in High Abilities Studies, Matt Makel, who will focus on identification and gifted learning programming. Keynote speaker Molly McConnell will focus on issues specific to Iowa Code and gifted services. We are expecting more than 30 additional presenters and over 350 attendees! Registration for this conference includes ITAG annual membership.

Conference Information:

Monday Session Description link
Tuesday Session Description link
Round Table Session Description link
Conference Breakout Schedule link
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Sponsorship Benefits: See our Annual Conference Sponsorship Benefits here!

Our Conference Keynote Speakers:

Dr. Matthew Makel: Professor and Research Chair in High Abilities Studies in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary. His research focuses on academic talent development and open science research methods. In talent development, he investigates the equitable allocation of gifted identification and services as well as how schools can better meet student learning needs. In open science, he explores how to improve research transparency and rigor so that society can better understand the generalizability, reproducibility, and replicability of research findings. The influence of education research is too great to be driven by narrow irreplicable results. He has conducted direct and conceptual replications, both in collaboration with the original authors and independently. He co-edited Toward a More Perfect Psychology: Improving Trust, Accuracy, and Transparency in Research with Jonathan Plucker (American Psychological Association) and From Giftedness to Gifted Education: Reflecting Theory in Practice with Jonathan Plucker and Anne Rinn (Prufrock Press). He has earned degrees from Duke University, Cornell University, and Indiana University.

Molly McConnell: Education Program Consultant for Gifted and Talented at the Iowa Department of Education; a role which she assumed in June 2023. Prior to starting at the department of education, Molly spent 11 years as a gifted and talented educator and coordinator. Molly holds a bachelor's degree in vocal music from Drake University. In 2012 she earned her masters of arts in teaching with endorsements in English, Speech, Theatre, and Talented and Gifted, also from Drake University. Molly lives in Polk City with her husband, 3 sons, Will, Tucker, and Murphy, and their dog, Benny.

Drake University’s 2 Graduate Credit Hours: $360 :LINK
This cost is separate from the event fee. You must be registered for the conference before obtaining graduate credit. If you have not yet registered, please visit the conference section for event fees and to register.
Online Course Details:

Don't miss out on an opportunity to deepen your learning and earn graduate-level credit while attending Iowa’s leading gifted education conference. Students enrolled in this course will deepen their understanding about gifted education theory and practice by attending the annual conference of the Iowa Talented and Gifted Association (ITAG). Students will be asked to attend the ITAG conference and to reflect on both the content presented and on their interactions with fellow attendees/speakers. Students will also be required to complete additional readings (on topics/issues related to gifted education) and two learning projects.
Learning Outcomes
1) Students will attend both days of the 2025 Iowa Talented and Gifted (ITAG) conference and take detailed notes on their experiences.
2) Students will complete a series of instructor selected readings on a variety of talented and gifted related topics.
3) Students will compose an eight-to-ten-page (double-space) paper in which they reflect their experiences at the ITAG conference and on the additional course readings.
4) Students will select and read a book-length text authored by the ITAG conference keynote speaker and then complete two self-selected learning projects (series of three lessons, unit plan, professional development presentation slide deck, etc.) based on the ideas presented in that text.
Required Texts:
Additional course readings will be provided on the Blackboard Learning Management course site.
Students will also be asked to self-select and read ONE of the following texts by the conference keynote speakers.

Thank you to our 2025 Annual Conference sponsors!

Platinum Sponsor ($1000)
   

Gold Sponsor ($500)

Silver Sponsor ($250)
     

Bronze Sponsor ($100)