Achieving Equity in Gifted Programming by April Wells

Author:April Wells
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks

CHAPTER 4

Talent Spotting

Raising awareness about what privilege looks like in gifted programming involves heavy lifting. National norm comparisons for gifted identification have been widely used for years. Addressing the inequities that arise from such restrictive identification protocols has proven to be difficult. Educators, parents, and stakeholders who hold longstanding perceptions of giftedness and notions of exceptionality may be reluctant to respond to the inequities and cast wider nets for gifted identification. In a field that has historically and overwhelmingly identified White and Asian students for services, equitable identification has been criticized for permitting “unqualified” students to access programming. At the same time, the field at large recognizes the constraints of gifted programs, namely with regard to identification and the unequal results it yields, but there has not been clear focus on ways to remedy underrepresentation.

The notion of exceptionality has historically been associated with Whiteness and middle-class values. Raising awareness about underrepresentation is only the beginning. Challenges abound with implementations aimed at addressing underrepresentation and creating responsive practices that will yield sustainable participation by students from diverse populations. Although disproportionality (i.e., inequities in participation in gifted programs by students from diverse populations) is easy to identify, sustainable strategies aimed at making strides in responsive participation can be challenging to implement. This shift allows educators to tap potential of students who are overwhelming excluded from programs for high-ability learners. Although 2014 was the first year that schools were majority minority, gifted programs have not evolved to reflect the population shift. For example, according to national statistics, in the 2013–2014 school year, Black (15.5%) and Latino (24.8%) students made up 40.3% of the public school population, but they only made up 28% of students in gifted programs (U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 2014). Emergent bilinguals or ELLs were the most disproportionately represented groups.

Talent development not only is a potential pathway to gifted services, but also may be a way to close the excellence gap.

Elitist gifted programs assess students’ privilege. With an understanding of the power of language and an awareness of culture, the intersectionality of identity is foundational in talent development programs. For years, educators have identified students and then served them; talent development flips that model. Students are provided exposure to enrichment as a platform for their talents to emerge and be nurtured. Talent development is a way to level the playing field for students who have not had similar previous opportunities for learning when compared to those of their more affluent peers. Talent development can be a service in the continuum of services, acting as one delivery model in the umbrella of gifted services. Talent development not only is a potential pathway to gifted services, but also may be a way to close the excellence gap. The excellence gap measures the disproportionate participation rates of low-income students in advanced learning environments as well as the unequal outcomes of students from low-income households at advanced levels. The gap appears before students enroll in elementary school and continues as students matriculate through middle school, high school, college, and beyond.

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