[2] The organization was founded in the Autumn of 1976 by Iraj Broomand as National Iranian Organization for Gifted and Talented Education (NIOGATE), with two mixed-gender schools in Tehran (Alvand and Bolvar), with a budget of 13 million tomans.

[6] Several international and American organizations collaborated with this nascent program,[4] including the University of Southern California and the United Nations Education Commission.

[7] After 1979 Revolution, the organization was continuing its work unofficially, until it was re-established in 1987 as National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents (NODET; Persian: سازمان ملی پرورش استعدادهای درخشان Sāzmān-e Melli-ye Parvaresh-e Este'dādhā-ye Derakhshān, acronym سمپاد SAMPAD).

[8] The educational materials, facilities, instructional methodologies, coursework and curriculum are different in these schools, and intended to develop the students' talents.

[8] Notable alumni include the mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani,[16] chess grandmaster Elshan Moradi, computer scientist Farinaz Koushanfar, and Unicode expert Roozbeh Pournader.