tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/gifted-programs-24367/articlesGifted programs – The Conversation2024-01-11T13:25:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2155732024-01-11T13:25:42Z2024-01-11T13:25:42Z7 strategies to help gifted autistic students succeed in college<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567746/original/file-20240103-510735-5j56ht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C15%2C5119%2C3338&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Only 39% of autistic students who start college finish.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/students-studying-in-computer-lab-royalty-free-image/153337890?phrase=gifted+college+students&adppopup=true">Hill Street Studios / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>About <a href="https://sites.ed.gov/idea/files/44th-arc-for-idea.pdf">1 out of every 100</a> students in American public schools has autism. A subset of these students also have academic gifts and talents in a broad range of areas, including math, science, technology, the humanities and the arts. These students are often referred to as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05290-4">twice exceptional</a>.” </p>
<p>To learn more about this population, we <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1125904">conducted research with three groups</a>: twice-exceptional autistic college students, their parents and college staff who work with them. The students were all enrolled in or recent graduates of competitive and very competitive colleges, including Ivy League institutions. We identified several strategies that can help these students transition to and succeed in college.</p>
<h2>1. Identify both autism and giftedness</h2>
<p>Identifying twice-exceptional students can be difficult because their gifts may mask their disabilities. Conversely, their disabilities may mask their gifts.</p>
<p>One student stated, “My mother was told that I was too smart to have a disability, so I did not really believe that I had a disability.”</p>
<p>When these students are identified only as autistic, they may be placed in special education programs that focus on remediation of deficits, rather than encouraging students to develop and build upon their strengths. They might not be enrolled in challenging courses. On the other hand, when gifted autistic students are identified only as gifted, they might not receive the support needed to accommodate their disabilities.</p>
<p>The students in our research project discussed how important it was for both their academic success and self-confidence to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05290-4">appropriately identified</a>. One student stated: “I had an amazing teacher who gave me opportunities to participate in projects. One of my mentors was a science teacher, and she also gave me advanced opportunities. She gave me so many chances for advanced work. She let me apply science to the real world and to me; that was beautiful. She gave me the confidence to know that I could go beyond and do extra work.”</p>
<h2>2. Take challenging courses</h2>
<p>Nearly every student and parent stated that college attendance was an expectation from an early age. To prepare for this goal, students took challenging courses focused on their strengths.</p>
<p>For example, of the students we interviewed, nearly three-quarters were enrolled in Advanced Placement, honors or college credit-bearing courses while in high school.</p>
<h2>3. Pursue extracurricular activities</h2>
<p>Almost every student participated in at least one extracurricular activity, and some in multiple activities.</p>
<p>Many of the students assumed leadership roles. One parent discussed how her son tutored his peers in high school and was seen as a leader. “He was a role model there,” the parent told us. “He had a lot of friends, and people really looked up to him and respected him. … He built his self-esteem, which really made a big difference.”</p>
<p>Both the students and parents discussed the importance of these activities as ways to pursue areas of interest, gain leadership experiences and find peers with similar interests.</p>
<p>About half of the students participated in residential camp or program experiences while in high school. They described how these programs helped them prepare to live away from home during college. One student said such programs “really helped, as it helped my ability to communicate with others and helped me to understand how to explain what I need to explain to others.” </p>
<h2>4. Be aware of factors in choosing a college</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10354361/">students reported</a> that they were active participants in selecting their college. Finding a school with a program or major of interest was their biggest consideration.</p>
<p>Slightly less than half of the students interviewed started at a smaller school, or a smaller regional campus, before transferring to their final college or university. These smaller schools were often closer to home, enabling students to adjust to college life before they moved to their final competitive college or university. One parent told us that the family looked at schools that they could reach in two hours or so. “And that is because in case he had a meltdown, I wanted him to be in an area where I could drive and calm him down,” the parent said.</p>
<h2>5. Understand differences in laws and supports</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/helping-your-student-with-disabilities-prepare-for-the-future-79625">Different laws</a> exist at the high school and college level regarding disability supports. For example, special education services will not be provided in college. Students will not receive modified instruction or assessments and instead may be eligible for reasonable accommodations, such as extended test time. </p>
<p>Each of the groups we studied spoke about the importance of understanding these differences and what they mean for the student seeking supports in college. One college staff member stressed that high school students should receive accommodations, if needed, and not modifications. He also suggested students understand “what a college professor is going to expect from them and how … parents aren’t going to contact professors.”</p>
<p>Colleges may offer different amounts of support for disabled students. These can range from basic accommodations to specific programs that provide an individual professional to support students. Colleges cannot charge extra fees for accommodations, but they can charge students to participate in more extensive and individualized support programs. Therefore, the level of disability support that the college offered was also a common consideration.</p>
<h2>6. Find supportive professionals</h2>
<p>Having a go-to contact person – an adviser, counselor, teacher or faculty member – was essential, the parents and students told us. Such professionals may recognize the student’s talents, support their interests and nurture opportunities for their growth. </p>
<p>One student said: “There were so many people that believed in me and gave me advanced courses and advanced independent projects. They gave me time to write short stories. They let me explore my strengths and interests.”</p>
<h2>7. Teach students to take initiative</h2>
<p>It is important to teach students how to advocate for themselves while in high school. The students we spoke with learned how to take care of their emotional and physical health through diet, exercise, meditation, music or finding time alone to recharge and deal with stress. They were involved in a variety of clubs and extracurricular activities. They used these experiences to make friends with similar interests.</p>
<p>These students also learned how to request and use available campus supports and academic accommodations when needed. Many of the students stated that they wished they had more opportunities to develop these skills while in high school.</p>
<p>One college staff member summarized: “one of the key successful skill sets is self-advocacy and being able to recognize when things are not going well and being able to speak up and say, ‘I need help.’ And then taking that even a step further to say, ‘Not only do I need help, but here’s how I need help.’ So it’s that level of self-awareness and then being able to articulate those needs to the right people.” </p>
<p>Gifted autistic students have tremendous potential but too often do not have the opportunity to develop their talents. Nationwide, <a href="https://collegeautismnetwork.org/jcsd-article/#:%7E:text=However%2C%20national%20statistics%20confirm%20that,et%20al.%2C%202011">only 39% of autistic students who start college finish</a>, compared with <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40">64% of all students</a>. </p>
<p>With high expectations, support for talent development from teachers and careful transition planning that takes a strength-based approach, gifted students with autism can succeed in competitive colleges. </p>
<p>Links to our research, instructional videos and other resources are available for free on our <a href="https://giftedasd.project.uconn.edu/">project website</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215573/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph Madaus receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Grant Program (Grant Number: S206A190023) and the Neag Foundation, Wyomissing, PA.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Gelbar receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Grant Program (Grant Number: S206A190023).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Reis receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Grant Program (Grant Number: S206A190023).</span></em></p>Self-advocacy and taking initiative have proven critical for autistic students who are also gifted, new research shows.Joseph Madaus, Professor of Education, University of ConnecticutNicholas Gelbar, Associate Research Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, University of ConnecticutSally Reis, University Teaching Fellow, Educational Psychology, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1924902022-11-01T20:16:59Z2022-11-01T20:16:59ZWhy attending publicly funded schools may help students become more culturally sensitive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492625/original/file-20221031-25-klp6rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C148%2C4712%2C2341&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new study found that graduates of publicly funded schools were more likely to disagree with statements such as 'discrimination is no longer a major problem.'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Being an intercultural citizen — someone who supports the principle of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878503001002001">multicultural state and also demonstrates positive personal attitudes towards diversity</a>
— is considered essential <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/in/documentViewer.xhtml?v=2.1.196&id=p::usmarcdef_0000147878&file=/in/rest/annotationSVC/DownloadWatermarkedAttachment/attach_import_c86aa337-73af-4adb-bbe3-f7ae0e8126cc%3F_%3D147878eng.pdf&locale=en&multi=true&ark=/ark:/48223/pf0000147878/PDF/147878eng.pdf#%5B%7B%22num%22%3A89%2C%22gen%22%3A0%7D%2C%7B%22name%22%3A%22XYZ%22%7D%2C-75%2C627%2C0%5D">from a human rights perspective</a>. What kind of learning best supports its development? </p>
<p>To try to answer this question, I surveyed close to 400 recent Ontario high school graduates who attended regular and specialized programs in public and private schools and interviewed 14 students. </p>
<p>My survey questions sought to gauge the extent to which graduates demonstrated openness, interest, positivity and comfort with others. My study defined this as having <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878503001002001">an open intercultural</a> orientation.</p>
<p>I found that graduates who attended publicly funded schools were more likely to have open intercultural orientations than those who attended private schools. I also found positive associations between those who attended schools with students of different backgrounds and experiences. </p>
<p>Yet despite these positive associations, my research also suggested that learning environments may constrain intercultural relationships and fail to support racialized students, LGBTQ+ students and students from non-Christian religious backgrounds in expressing their views.</p>
<h2>Gauging perspectives</h2>
<p>To gauge the intercultural orientations of graduates, I used survey questions developed by the Ontario Human Rights Commission for <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/taking-the-pulse-peoples-opinions-human-rights-ontario">a 2017 survey that took the pulse on people’s opinions on human rights in the province</a>. </p>
<p>These questions presented graduates with examples of human rights accommodations and discriminatory statements and asked respondents the extent to which they agreed with them. I also asked graduates about the characteristics of the high schools they attended.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students seen congregating on steps in dicussion." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492619/original/file-20221031-25-ibj2i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students were asked their opinions concerning discrimination and human rights accommodations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of the 390 survey respondents, graduates self-identified their backgrounds, based on categories from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, as: British (84); other European ancestry (49); Chinese (50); South Asian (47); Black (30); Arab (19); Latin American (13); French (11); South East Asian (14); Indigenous (10); West Asian (7); Multiple (8); Filipino (6); Korean (6); Japanese (1). Thirty-five respondents preferred not to say.</p>
<p>Study participants were more likely to disagree with statements such as “we would be better off in Ontario if we stopped letting in so many immigrants,” “some jobs are better suited for men, some are better suited for women,” “discrimination is no longer a major problem,” if they attended schools that were publicly funded. </p>
<p>They were also more likely to disagree if they attended schools where many or most other students did not share their ethnicity or belong to their religious group.</p>
<h2>Friendships across differences</h2>
<p>My study, drawing on both survey questions and interviews, found that higher levels of diversity in school enrolment and graduates’ relationships — the friendships they had with people from different ethnicities and faiths — were related to higher levels of interculturalism. </p>
<p>Thirteen students I interviewed attended public schools throughout all or most of high school; one interviewee attended a private school. Eight interviewees self-identified as having European ancestry, four identified as Black and two as Asian. </p>
<p>Six of the seven interviewed graduates with higher levels of interculturalism had attended schools they reported had diverse enrolments and the seventh attended a school with a significant number of Indigenous students. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students seen working at a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492621/original/file-20221031-16-c0j3b8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The study found an association between diversity in a school, the students’ interpersonal relationships and higher levels of intercultural openness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Marginalized perspectives in classrooms</h2>
<p>Graduates who had regular contact with or were members of groups that are often the target of discrimination — people of colour, LGBTQ+ graduates, those with disabilities and women — held fewer discriminatory views. </p>
<p>However, surveyed graduates who were Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim or Sikh, and interviewed graduates who were people of colour or LGBTQ+, reported less comfort expressing their views in their high schools. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/schools-need-to-step-up-to-address-islamophobia-169937">Schools need to step up to address Islamophobia</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This suggests that students who are racialized, from non-Christian faiths and LGBTQ+ may be more open to others, while experiencing more exclusion themselves. </p>
<p>It also suggests schools have work to do in order to make all students comfortable enough to share their perspectives. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-spark-change-within-our-unequal-education-system-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-3-152355">school teaching and learning environment, curricula and how teachers engage students in discussion all impact</a> what students learn and how they affirm cross-group relationships and perspectives.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students seen drawing on a disc in a science demo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492617/original/file-20221031-13-zornp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Study participants who were members of groups more likely to have experienced discrimination had fewer discriminatory attitudes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Programs of choice</h2>
<p>My research also found that students developed relationships with those they interacted with on a daily basis at school. In specialized programs, this often meant only with others in their program.</p>
<p>As education researchers Gillian Parekh and Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández have found, students within <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40317-5_43">specialized arts, gifted and French immersion programs are disproportionately white and wealthy</a>. This should make us question whether such programs help graduates adapt successfully to environments of increasing diversity.</p>
<p>It is also a reason to ask whether such programs will build the more inclusive, innovative and safer future societies we want, or serve to rationalize and perpetuate division, inequality, distrust and violence.</p>
<p>Research shows that when parents choose educational programs based on large scale assessments and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2020.1843112">measurable achievement</a> outcomes, they are often choosing programs that rank <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.18546/LRE.14.3.06">racialized</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.12.005">socio-economic privilege</a> rather than quality teaching and learning. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-choice-policies-are-associated-with-increased-separation-of-students-by-social-class-149902">'School choice' policies are associated with increased separation of students by social class</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Graduates who attended specialized programs felt they were more academically inclined and motivated than those in regular programs, and graduates in regular programs had <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/1011668ar">internalized the view that</a> these programs were for students who were smart. </p>
<p>Taken together with <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831212468290">existing research</a>, the intercultural associations in this study suggest that enrolment in specialized programs, schools ranked by standardized assessments and private schools may work to <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1312139">silence minority voices</a> and help <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2013.816037">maintain cultures of privilege and power</a>.</p>
<h2>More research needed</h2>
<p>My study calls for more research on <a href="https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/2013/08/unesco-united-nations-educational-scientific-and-cultural-organization/">intercultural dialogue through education</a>, one of the objectives of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.</p>
<p>It asks how our publicly funded schools can move towards contextualizing academic merit and away from specialized programs and schools of choice. It also asks how these schools can ensure more students are comfortable in their classrooms and all student voices are heard.</p>
<p>Doing so would mean all students experience a sense of belonging and could provide Ontario high school students with greater understanding of the full range of cultural perspectives that exist in society.</p>
<p>This will be important for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/10888683114111">creating intercultural citizens</a> poised to contribute to our societies, and enhancing the intercultural understanding and co-operation so urgently needed to tackle the democratic and climate crises that threaten our collective future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A study finds that graduates who attended publicly funded schools were more likely to have open intercultural orientations than those who attended private schools.Wendy Hughes, EdD student, OISE, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1790622022-07-11T12:30:32Z2022-07-11T12:30:32ZGifted-student screenings often miss poor students who should qualify<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468296/original/file-20220610-28923-w6iof2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C81%2C5973%2C3919&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some students aren't identified as gifted but should qualify.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/school-children-teacher-having-class-outside-with-royalty-free-image/1049275916">Klaus Vedfelt/Digital Vision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>High-achieving students from low-income backgrounds are half as likely to be placed in a gifted program as their more affluent peers, according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/01623532211063936">a study we published in 2022</a>.</p>
<p>Arkansas, like all the other states, has a unique process for identifying gifted kids. We wondered whether <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412455052">academically advanced</a> students – the top 5% of scorers in math and literacy, who are ready for greater academic challenges – would be placed as gifted irrespective of their socioeconomic background. We examined test scores of third grade students from 2014 to 2019. </p>
<p>We found that of the 4,330 students who made up the top 5%, 1,310 – about 30% – were left out of gifted programming. This rate of identification was about equal across various racial backgrounds, but economic differences mattered. Among low-income students, about 37% were missed, a greater proportion than the overall number.</p>
<p>Once we statistically controlled for variation in district enrollment, location, region and differences in gifted selection or school policies, being from a low-income family was associated with a 50% lower likelihood of being identified as gifted relative to similar peers from higher-income backgrounds.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>States have <a href="https://www.nagc.org/gifted-state">different gifted identification policies</a>. In Arkansas, students are first <a href="https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Files/20201223145241_2009_GT_Revised_Program_Approval_Standards.pdf">nominated</a> by parents, school personnel or community members. Next they are evaluated on multiple measures, including a creativity test. Finally, a team of educators uses all the information to make the placement decision.</p>
<p>Nationally, students from disadvantaged communities, such as low-income communities and communities of color, are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/001698620605000103">underrepresented</a> and are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986216656256">less likely to be nominated</a> for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858415622175">gifted programs</a> than other students. </p>
<p>Other research has found that when nomination is a first step, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986216656256">some gifted students are missed</a>, particularly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2332858415622175">those from low-income backgrounds</a>. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1605043113">screening all students</a> significantly improves the chances that a disadvantaged student who is gifted will be identified for gifted programs.</p>
<p>We suggest using state standardized tests as universal screeners to increase the number of low-income and other disadvantaged students in gifted programs. These tests are already given to all students, so districts could use the tests without added expense.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>We do not know what specific measures were taken into account when students were placed into their school’s gifted programs or not. </p>
<p>We examined gifted identification rates of students scoring in the top 5% in both math and literacy in Arkansas. We do not know why so many high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds were not identified as gifted, but we hypothesize the difference may be the result of inconsistent identification practices. </p>
<p>Wealthy parents may be more active in seeking and providing services for their children. And low-income families may lack information, available programs or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986219833738">access</a> to testing services to identify gifted students.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Future research can provide insight into why academically advanced students from economically struggling backgrounds are left out of gifted programs. We would like to know more about how decisions are being made and what criteria are being used to identify students for gifted programs. In addition, ensuring programming matches student needs might lead to serving more students who are ready to learn something new each day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179062/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Wai receives funding from the Walton Family Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and the Institute for Education Sciences for projects related to gifted education.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:scmcken@uark.edu">scmcken@uark.edu</a> receives funding from the Walton Family Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bich Thi Ngoc Tran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Common methods for identifying gifted students often miss students from lower-income families who should qualify for gifted programs.Bich Thi Ngoc Tran, Research Associate, The Dartmouth Institute, Dartmouth CollegeJonathan Wai, Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Psychology and Endowed Chair, University of ArkansasSarah McKenzie, Executive Director of the Office for Education Policy, University of ArkansasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1792662022-05-27T12:33:01Z2022-05-27T12:33:01ZStudents are often segregated within the same schools, not just by being sent to different ones<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465073/original/file-20220524-22-jiazkf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C27%2C6029%2C3983&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Classmates in grades 3, 4 and 5 are more likely to come from diverse economic backgrounds than their schoolmates in grades 6, 7 and 8.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/students-pass-a-beach-ball-to-the-next-person-on-the-list-news-photo/1334723214">Paul Bersebach, MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Children from low-income households are <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X221081853">increasingly being segregated into different classrooms</a> from their peers from higher-income households, according to recent research <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=NOT4bMEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I</a> have conducted with education policy scholar <a href="https://www.american.edu/spa/faculty/marcotte.cfm">Dave E. Marcotte</a>.</p>
<p>From 2007 to 2014, we tracked all North Carolina public school students statewide, from third through eighth grades, observing how the students were grouped into math and English language arts classes by each school’s process for creating class groups.</p>
<p>We used course enrollment data to figure out how many students in each classroom were from families whose incomes are at or below 185% of the federal poverty threshold – and how many were not. We found that those economically disadvantaged students were increasingly likely to be concentrated in a subset of classrooms rather than spread out relatively evenly throughout the school. </p>
<p><iframe id="eaY3H" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/eaY3H/9/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Often school segregation is thought about as Black and white students being forced to attend <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/tsq.12010">different schools</a>. This makes sense given the <a href="https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/blackrights/jimcrow">history of Jim Crow</a> – a 19th- and 20th-century legal system meant to <a href="https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/what.htm">relegate Black people to second-class status</a> in white society – and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043152">court orders to desegregate schools</a>. </p>
<p>Another aspect of this issue is how students are sorted into classrooms within schools. A 2021 study found that more racially diverse schools are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-020-09309-w">more likely to have classrooms that are more segregated</a> than schools that are less diverse overall.</p>
<p>Researchers have recently begun to identify <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831216652722">rising levels of segregation between schools</a> based not just on race, but also on household income.</p>
<p>Students from wealthier households are more likely than their less-well-off peers to have <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/whither-opportunity">higher academic achievement as measured by test scores</a> and to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416645834">attend and complete college</a>.</p>
<p>Efforts to provide equitable opportunities for all students often focus on comparing funding and staffing between schools. Indeed, lower levels of school funding lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjv036">lower educational attainment and lower wages in adulthood</a>.</p>
<p>However, resources can also be distributed inequitably within schools, on a classroom-by-classroom basis. For instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2010.11.009">more experienced teachers raise student test scores more than novice teachers, on average</a>. However, novice teachers are <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X13495087">frequently assigned to classrooms with more low-income students</a>. Therefore, the more students are separated along lines of household income, the more likely poorer students are to fall behind academically.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>We aren’t sure why there is an increase in segregation within schools by household income. One potential reason could be an increase in what is called “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4501_2">academic tracking</a>,” which is the process of grouping students into classes based on their prior achievement, such as performance on standardized tests. </p>
<p>If <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.102.5.1927">low-income students perform worse on standardized tests than their peers</a>, they may be placed in lower tracks. However, standardized test scores may not accurately reflect ability for low-income students, since <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2003.09.002">students from marginalized groups perform disproportionately worse</a> on assessments.</p>
<p>If in fact test scores do accurately reflect ability, there may be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.101.5.1739">some educational advantages</a> to track students into certain classes. However, researchers have long argued that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F019263658506948430">tracking perpetuates inequalities between low- and high-tracked students</a>. For example, students who are placed on lower tracks than their peers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3172">suffer from lower self-esteem</a> and are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904816681526">not as well prepared for college success</a> as higher-tracked students with similar test scores.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.axios.com/2021/09/22/charter-school-pandemic-enrollment-growth">growth in charter school enrollments</a> over the past two decades could also contribute to the increases in within-school segregation by income that we find. Public school principals who fear their students may depart for charters may attempt to retain them <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373715577447">by introducing specialized curricula or expanding gifted and talented programs</a>. If these programs continue to primarily serve students from families with higher incomes, that could increase income segregation within schools. This is a possibility we are exploring.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179266/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kari Dalane and Dave Marcotte received funding from the Smith Richardson Foundation.</span></em></p>In middle school classes, students from lower-income families tended to be concentrated in just a few classrooms, new research from North Carolina has found.Kari Dalane, Ph.D. Candidate in Public Administration and Policy, American University School of Public AffairsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1714572022-01-10T13:39:02Z2022-01-10T13:39:02ZWatch for these conflicts over education in 2022<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439216/original/file-20220103-37443-15i668j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C21%2C3631%2C2402&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Louisiana residents object to mask mandates at a state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting in August 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakLouisiana/63969424eeb445a0bd0a8c217e038a34/photo">AP Photo/Melinda Deslatte</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At school board meetings across the country in 2021, parents engaged in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/14/us/loudoun-county-school-board-va.html">physical altercations</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/back-to-school-live-updates/2021/08/30/1032417970/school-board-members-hostile-meetings-mask-mandates-politicized">shouted at</a> school board members and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/podcasts/the-daily/school-boards-mask-mandates-crt-bucks-county.html">threatened them as well</a>.</p>
<p>These disagreements entered state politics, too, such as the 2021 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/12/us/politics/virginia-governor-republicans-schools.html?referringSource=articleShare">Virginia governor’s race</a>, which was largely shaped by conflicts over the <a href="https://www.baconsrebellion.com/wp/yes-virginia-there-is-critical-race-theory-in-our-schools/">how issues of race and racism are taught in the K-12 curriculum</a>, and <a href="https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/10/29/in-2020-the-legislature-passed-a-transgender-students-rights-law-it-largely-hasnt-been-enforced/">transgender student rights</a>. </p>
<p>Our September 2021 article in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048211042567">Educational Policy</a> explains that the short-term conflicts that generate media attention – such as about <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/schools-face-fears-of-critical-race-theory-as-they-scale-up-social-emotional-learning/2021/12">critical race theory</a> across the nation – are part of long-standing ideological debates about education. These conflicts are about issues such as who deserves academic opportunity, what the parameters of public education are and whether schools and universities ought to promote a positive image of the U.S. or explore its shortcomings. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nezgztgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researchers</a> who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OomuRokAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">study conflicts in education</a>, we see clashes like these continuing into 2022.</p>
<h2>1. Virtual education</h2>
<p>In 2022, expect conflicts over virtual school offerings to intensify, especially as the omicron variant surges and as some states push toward <a href="https://edsource.org/2021/california-school-vaccine-mandate-coming-soon-but-questions-remain/662985">vaccine mandates</a> for all students. At stake is whether parents should have control over how public funds are spent on educating their children, and the potential effects of diverting those funds away from traditional public schools. </p>
<p>In fall 2021, U.S. school leaders largely <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/most-schools-are-teaching-in-person-this-school-year-latest-fed-data-say/2021/12">shifted their services back to in-person instruction</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-year-off-to-a-rocky-start-4-ways-parents-can-help-kids-get-back-on-track-167609">after shutdowns and remote instruction</a> dominated the initial response to the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
<p>However, demand for home-schooling and virtual schooling <a href="https://www.edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai21-463.pdf">has risen</a>, as some parents discover that these forms of education offer greater flexibility in scheduling, control over curriculum and safety from the coronavirus. In Washington state, for example, enrollments in publicly funded virtual schools operated by for-profit companies have increased dramatically, such as Washington Virtual Academies, which <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/washingtons-for-profit-online-schools-attract-nearly-6000-more-students-this-school-year/">expanded enrollments by an estimated 85%</a> between the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years. Similar <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/covid-19-fuels-big-enrollment-increases-in-virtual-schools/2020/09">trends happened</a> in school districts across the country.</p>
<p>Enrollment data for the 2021-2022 school year are still emerging, but some school choice <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/taubman/programs-research/pepg/events/school-choice">experts</a> have argued that parental demand for virtual education is here to stay. However, in another research project, one of us found that students who switch to online schools <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20909814">experience substantial learning losses</a> in reading and math during each of the three years after switching. That evidence has forced policymakers to consider <a href="https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/state-committee-recommends-big-shift-for-virtual-charter-school-rules">greater regulation</a> of online schools, even as more parents consider taking their children out of traditional public schools and putting them in virtual ones.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Students sit at computers, separated by clear plastic barriers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439217/original/file-20220103-117041-1ln4m7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schools’ decisions to provide in-person or virtual education sparked concern and conflict in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreak-SchoolDropouts/4fa2bc85087940e9b78914cac886b780/photo">AP Photo/Charlie Riedel</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Affirmative action</h2>
<p>Affirmative action and similar policies in college admissions have always generated controversy, and 2022 will likely be no different. This year, a case that began in 2014 will reach the U.S. Supreme Court. That case, <a href="https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/massachusetts/madce/1:2014cv14176/165519/386">Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard University</a>, alleges that Harvard’s race-conscious admissions policies discriminate against Asian applicants. </p>
<p>The case has worked its way through the court system with a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/19/us/affirmative-action-lawsuits.html">national roster of affluent plaintiffs</a>. This group has filed multiple unsuccessful lawsuits across the U.S., including an October 2021 loss in a similar case over admissions at the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/university-north-carolina-defeats-challenge-race-based-admissions-policies-2021-10-19/">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill</a>.</p>
<p>Similar lawsuits have also sprung up in <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/Lowell-High-lottery-admission-likely-to-remain-16705599.php">San Francisco</a> and <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/09/26/metro/secrecy-around-exam-school-admission-data-prompts-lawsuit/">Boston</a> over school districts’ efforts to make access to academically selective public schools more representative of student populations. These suits reflect broader ideological tensions over who deserves a well-funded, elite education and the government’s responsibility to protect that access.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A student works at a desk while a teacher sits in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/439219/original/file-20220103-25-k4qe4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers unions wielded significant power over how schools responded to the coronavirus pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/first-grade-student-alexis-tenorio-works-on-an-english-news-photo/1232327829">Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Teachers unions</h2>
<p>In 2022, look to teachers unions to continue to assert themselves in the face of ongoing efforts by <a href="https://californiaglobe.com/articles/ca-parents-seek-to-abolish-the-california-teachers-association/">parent</a> and <a href="https://teacherfreedom.org">advocacy groups</a> to limit their power.</p>
<p>Over the past year teachers unions effectively negotiated the implementation of health safeguards against the spread of COVID-19
in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teachers-union-approves-deal-chicago-schools-return-class-n1257247">Chicago</a>, <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/de-blasio-agrees-to-delay-school-reopening-to-avoid-teacher-strike/">New York City</a> and <a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2021/09/22/lausd-strikes-deal-with-teachers-union-to-provide-quarantine-instruction/">Los Angeles</a>. These unions secured protective measures such as virtual instruction, priority vaccine access for teachers, medical and personal leave related to COVID-19, explicit metrics to determine when schools would close, district-provided personal protective equipment for teachers and classroom air filtration systems. </p>
<p>While the pandemic dominates union activity at present, and <a href="https://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai20-304">many unions have not negotiated significant concessions</a>, these wins signal unions’ strategic and legal capacity to negotiate around issues such as compensation and working conditions. Given <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59687947">current shortages of qualified teachers</a>, unions’ negotiation power may intensify. </p>
<h2>4. Gifted programs</h2>
<p>In 2022, gifted education may become a national debate. So far it has been prominent in New York City, but that may spread.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/nyregion/eric-adams-gifted-talented-nyc-schools.html">Mayor Eric Adams</a> said he intends to keep gifted programs in place. Gifted programs offer accelerated learning opportunities for students who score at the top of their class on standardized tests. Critics, such as the <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/1c478c_f14e1d13df45444c883bbf6590129bd7.pdf">School Diversity Advisory Group commissioned by former Mayor Bill de Blasio</a>, argue that gifted programs segregate students by race, since research has shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858415622175">students of color are underrepresented</a> in these programs. </p>
<p>In California, policymakers have <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-05-20/california-controversial-math-overhaul-focuses-on-equity">unveiled a plan</a> to address this issue by grouping students of different mathematical ability in the same classrooms until their junior year. Only then will students be able to select advanced math courses, such as calculus or statistics. </p>
<p>This move may revive the 1980s’ so-called “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/book/the-tracking-wars/">tracking wars</a>,” an intense debate over whether students should be offered different levels of curriculum based on their test scores. As other states and districts <a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-new-york-education-new-york-city-race-and-ethnicity-0f3d92179ff20b45c4747d3c84a026a2">consider overhauling their own gifted programs</a>, these short-term conflicts will likely add energy to the existing national fight concerning what role the education system should play in addressing inequality in the United States. </p>
<p>In all of these conflicts, be prepared in 2022 for policy advocates to use both conventional and unconventional strategies to advance their efforts. Further, expect those advocates to include politically and economically powerful actors as well as those who rarely have a voice in policy conversations. </p>
<p>In our research, which spanned the years 2010 to 2020, we saw conventional conflict actions such as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/02/19/695856032/w-va-teachers-go-on-strike-over-state-education-bill">teacher strikes</a>, <a href="https://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/02/19/months-after-protests-jeffco-board-scraps-ap-us-history-curriculum-review/">community protests</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/louisiana-gov-bobby-jindal-sues-obama-over-common-core-state-standards/2014/08/27/34d98102-2dfb-11e4-bb9b-997ae96fad33_story.html">lawsuits</a>. However, we also saw the successful use of less common efforts to challenge local, state and federal education policy, such as <a href="https://greensboro.com/news/local_news/deutsche-bank-cancels-job-expansion-in-cary-due-to-hb2/article_fea19dc6-e2c6-575d-adb9-d4a435d2863f.html">canceled business investments</a>, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/11/the-surprising-revolt-at-reed/544682/">classroom sit-ins</a>, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jonathan-butler-how-grad-students-hunger-strike-toppled-university-president-n460161">a student hunger strike</a>, <a href="https://co.chalkbeat.org/2015/11/3/21093016/jeffco-school-board-members-who-pushed-controversial-changes-ousted-in-recall">school board recall votes</a>, <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article163339228.html">teacher panhandling</a>, <a href="https://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20180628/OPINION/180629917/stuyvesant-s-valedictorian-find-a-way-to-diversify-my-school">pointed valedictorian speeches</a> and even <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/11/08/455216375/missouri-football-players-strike-to-demand-ouster-of-university-president">college football players’ threat to walk out on scheduled revenue-generating games</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171457/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph J. Ferrare has received funding from the National Science Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Spencer Foundation, and U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Phillippo has received funding from the Spencer Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.</span></em></p>Short-term disputes are really symptoms of deeper divisions in the US over who deserves academic opportunity, and how to present the nation’s history.Joseph J. Ferrare, Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Data Visualization, University of Washington, BothellKate Phillippo, Professor of Social Work and Education, Loyola University ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1573812021-03-26T12:30:48Z2021-03-26T12:30:48ZEnding testing for New York City’s gifted program may be another blow to Black and Latino students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391284/original/file-20210323-2323-1l3usfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C17%2C5716%2C3811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New York City public school students attend a meeting with school board officials in January 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/new-york-city-public-school-students-meet-with-board-of-news-photo/1203098814?adppopup=true">Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After years of relying on a single controversial test at age 4 for admission to their gifted programs, New York City schools are about to embark upon a new way to identify gifted students. </p>
<p>The city’s Department of Education announced in February that it would <a href="https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2021/2/17/22288448/nyc-gifted-admissions-2021">stop testing students</a> for its gifted program, which places top students in schools with curriculum designed for high academic achievement. Instead, preschool teachers will refer students for consideration.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/meisha-porter-is-the-first-black-woman-chancellor-of-nyc-schools-here-are-the-challenges-she-will-face-156725">The city’s new schools chancellor, Meisha Porter</a>, who was named to that post March 15, has said that overhauling the gifted and talented system is one of her <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-citys-new-school-leader-says-integrating-gifted-program-a-top-priority-11614610857">top priorities</a>. That means the new system likely won’t be long-term, though there’s still reason to be concerned. <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/2332858415622175">Research has shown</a> that teacher referrals tend to lead to fewer Black and Hispanic students’ qualifying for gifted programs, though Black teachers refer Black students more equitably.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://jlakin.people.ua.edu/">education researcher</a> who studies how test data can help teachers tailor their lessons to students’ needs, I believe gifted education is a vital service to help students with exceptional academic ability realize their full potential.</p>
<h2>A fraught program to begin with</h2>
<p>NYC’s old system was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/09/nyregion/nyc-schools-segregation-lawsuit.html">rife with inequities</a> and is due for an overhaul. But I worry the new system will be another blow to children and families of color – a group that has already <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/09/23/914427907/as-pandemic-deaths-add-up-racial-disparities-persist-and-in-some-cases-worsen">suffered disproportionately</a> during the pandemic.</p>
<p>That’s not because the system was an exemplar of best practices, but because the system’s practices were so <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-teaching-the-gifted-after-the-test-20210119-uwhnyjsevbdlfpevyhgfmfzzf4-story.html">consistently criticized</a> by gifted education experts. Its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/09/nyregion/nyc-schools-segregation-lawsuit.html">visible failures in equity</a> could sway public opinion against gifted programs more broadly.</p>
<p>Here are the key criticisms equity advocates had of New York City’s gifted and talented identification process:</p>
<h2>1. It tested young children for high-stakes decisions</h2>
<p>For years, advocates for students in NYC <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/nyregion/nyc-gifted-talented-test.html">have argued</a> that using high-stakes tests on 4-year-olds to determine their school placement for the entire K-12 experience is unfair. It <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0016986220937685">disadvantages students who didn’t attend academic-style pre-K</a> or early enrichment programs.</p>
<p>Researchers have also demonstrated how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986220941587">access to information</a> added to the advantage some parents had in New York City. These parents knew about the testing process, signed up for the testing at higher rates, and could pay for test prep programs to optimize their children’s chances of selection.</p>
<h2>2. It used ‘one and done’ identification</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/national-standards-gifted-and-talented-education/pre-k-grade-12">standards</a> from the National Association for Gifted Children, a leading organization promoting gifted education, emphasize that students should have opportunities throughout their K-12 education to demonstrate the need for advanced or accelerated instruction – usually provided through gifted education services. </p>
<p>Any test administered at age 4 will quickly cease to provide useful information, as <a href="https://www.gwern.net/docs/iq/1988-humphreys.pdf">students develop at different rates</a>. Some accelerate during the elementary or high school years, while others who initially looked precocious settle into average achievement.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZUMhHctbElM0gBI8s8Yr01ciScoBAsaL">2006 study</a> showed that of the students who scored in the top 5% on a test in one year, about half will score in the top 5% the next year. In other words, if they were tested again the following year, up to half of “gifted” students wouldn’t make the cut. </p>
<h2>3. It limited which students fully realize their potential</h2>
<p>Selecting students for a full-time gifted program means that students who excel in one or more academic areas, such as English and verbal expression, but not in others, such as math or science, will be overlooked. </p>
<p>Among highly able students, research suggests <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eIqgrKY5NDDEwBWzJ8cpJbr5DMy7d-BU/view">at least 15%</a> have at least one academic area that is markedly weaker than their others.</p>
<h2>Impact on lower-income families</h2>
<p>As news reports have drawn <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/01/13/nyc-doe-racist-segregation-brooklyn-specialized-high-school-exam-gifted/2763549001/">national attention</a> to New York City’s decisions, <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/03/09/nyc-students-sue-to-end-caste-system-within-gifted-programs/">activists</a> have called for dismantling these types of programs <a href="https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2020/01/24/42658513/seattle-school-board-takes-steps-to-dismantle-gifted-program">across the country</a>. <a href="https://kappanonline.org/problem-giftedness-roda/">They argue</a> that gifted programs are unnecessary, and that regular classroom teachers can serve all students at once.</p>
<p>But research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986217701834">many students</a> start the school year performing well above grade level and are left to become bored and <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1177/0014402914527244">not reach their full potential</a>.</p>
<p>And when public schools don’t offer services to high-achieving students, it’s natural that many parents in high-income families will seek out private services and additional opportunities for their children. Kids from low-income families, however, have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/elite-public-schools-ditch-exams/2021/03/05/786a3d7a-7d19-11eb-b3d1-9e5aa3d5220c_story.html">fewer options to supplement</a> their school experience. </p>
<p>By failing students with advanced academic needs who come from underrepresented groups, New York City’s Department of Education risks losing the entire gifted program. I believe new solutions must be systemic and targeted – like those taking place <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/an-illinois-district-proved-gifted-programs-can-be-racially-diverse/">outside Chicago</a> that have expanded the number of students served by these programs and give all students full consideration to identify their academic talents. An overhaul is possible, but it has to start with evidence-based practices, not quick fixes.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157381/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joni Lakin is affiliated with Riverside Insights as the author of the Cognitive Abilities Test (R), Form 8. She receives U.S. federal funding for her academic research.</span></em></p>Teacher referrals will replace standardized testing. That could disadvantage already-underrepresented students.Joni Lakin, Associate Professor of Educational Studies, University of AlabamaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1543302021-02-16T13:27:35Z2021-02-16T13:27:35Z9-year-old Black prodigy has already begun college – but schools often fail to recognize highly talented Black students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382330/original/file-20210203-13-1ntqyja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4687%2C3723&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black students are underrepresented in gifted education programs. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/portrait-of-boy-holding-chalk-while-standing-in-royalty-free-image/56957273?adppopup=true&uiloc=thumbnail_same_series_adp">ER Productions Limited via DigitalVision/Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: Amid <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/30/arts/why-are-black-students-lagging.html">numerous reports</a> about how Black students <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/nearly-half-of-undergraduates-are-students-of-color-but-black-students-lag-behind/?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in">lag behind others</a> in educational achievement, occasionally you may hear about a young Black “<a href="https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2071591338699/young-black-kings-this-12-year-old-prodigy-is-an-aerospace-engineering-major-in-college">prodigy</a>” who <a href="http://babyandblog.com/2014/07/8-black-kids-who-completed-high-school-and-entered-college-at-an-early-age/">got accepted into college at an early age</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>The latest example is David Balogun, a 9-year-old Pennsylvania boy who recently became <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11718919/Pennsylvania-boy-9-one-youngest-graduate-high-school.html">the second-youngest person to graduate from high school</a>, which he did after <a href="https://fox28savannah.com/news/nation-world/9-year-old-boy-graduates-from-high-school-david-ronya-balogun-cody-derr-college-education-remote-accomplish-learning-astrophysicist-cincinnati-ohio-02-05-2023">taking classes remotely</a>. David, whose parents <a href="https://newswirengr.com/2023/02/06/meet-david-balogun-nine-years-high-school-diploma-graduate/">own and run a psychiatric clinic</a>, has also already begun <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/05/nine-year-old-boy-graduates-high-school-david-balogun">taking courses at a community college</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>According to Donna Y. Ford, a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fiFE0qkAAAAJ&hl=en">an expert on gifted education</a> and an education professor at The Ohio State University, there could be far more Black prodigies. But it would take the right support from families, who may not be familiar with some of the characteristics of gifted students and the existence of gifted programs, and from educators, who often overlook the talents of Black students. Indeed, while Black students represent <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_cge.pdf">about 15%</a> of the student population in the U.S., they make up only <a href="https://ocrdata.ed.gov/estimations/2013-2014">9.9%</a> of all students in gifted and talented programs.</em></p>
<p><em>In the following Q&A with The Conversation’s education editor, Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Professor Ford – who has been a consultant for Black families thinking about sending their gifted children to college early – argues that public schools are holding back Black talent rather than cultivating it. The Q&A has been edited for clarity and brevity.</em></p>
<p><strong>Jamaal Abdul-Alim:</strong> Why do public schools so often fail to identify gifted Black students?</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A photo of an African American woman." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381416/original/file-20210129-20450-1cdywv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381416/original/file-20210129-20450-1cdywv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381416/original/file-20210129-20450-1cdywv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381416/original/file-20210129-20450-1cdywv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381416/original/file-20210129-20450-1cdywv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381416/original/file-20210129-20450-1cdywv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381416/original/file-20210129-20450-1cdywv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Donna Y. Ford is a distinguished professor in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ehe.osu.edu/directory/?id=ford.255">The Ohio State University</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p><strong>Donna Ford:</strong> The No. 1 reason for the underrepresentation of Black students in gifted education is the lack of referrals from teachers, even when Black students are highly gifted. I definitely think stereotypes and biases hinder educators from seeing Black students’ gifts and talents. In most schools in the U.S., if you are not referred by an educator, you will not move through the identification pipeline for gifted education programs and services, as well as Advanced Placement. It starts and stops with teachers.</p>
<p>This is why Black families have reached out to me. They’re saying, “This <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/still-mostly-white-and-female-new-federal-data-on-the-teaching-profession/2020/04">predominantly white-female discipline</a>” – meaning teachers – “is doing my child an injustice.”</p>
<p>They’re also saying, “I’m frustrated, I don’t know what to do other than pull my child out and home-school.” You <a href="https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/research/summaries/homeschool-demographics/">don’t see a lot of Black home-schooling</a>. If the parents are able to do it, they have the means.</p>
<p><strong>Abdul-Alim:</strong> Are these children really prodigies or do they have parents who are just really actively involved and concerned about their children’s education, and recognize the public schools are doing them a disservice?</p>
<p><strong>Ford:</strong> There’s a lot of <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED525588">controversy in the field</a> about how children become gifted, much less a prodigy. To me, it’s not just nature or nurture. It’s both. So nature is, they have the capacity, the potential. And then nurture is, they have the experience, the exposure, the opportunity and the access. That includes the families who have the means and wherewithal to advocate for their children or to nurture whatever potential is there.</p>
<p>But personally and professionally, I believe that the most important factor – for students being very gifted and prodigies – is the environment. That means their families, and their cultural, social and economic capital.</p>
<p><strong>Abdul-Alim:</strong> But doesn’t that kind of point away from the idea of these children being “prodigies”? Because if the thing they have in common is well-educated parents who have high incomes, it seems like almost any child in that situation could achieve similar educational results.</p>
<p><strong>Ford:</strong> A prodigy just means a child who is performing at the level of an adult; that’s the basic definition of a prodigy. So that has nothing to do with their income and families, education. It is about how they are performing. They’re playing the piano like an adult who has taken lessons. They picked up on these skills and skill sets very easily. Or they are inventing mathematical formulas that you would only see adults doing. They’re in middle school and can do the work of college-level students. You can have this potential, but if you don’t have these opportunities at home, at school, even in the community, then the gifts and talents that you have may not come to fruition at the highest level.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">9-year-old graduates from high school and is now attending college.</span></figcaption>
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<p><strong>Abdul-Alim:</strong> When families come to you about whether or not to enroll their young child in college, what do you generally advise them to do or to consider?</p>
<p><strong>Ford:</strong> There are a lot of variables to consider. One is the child’s emotional and social maturity. I think their size is important. Are they small for their age? That can contribute to some social and emotional issues, in particular bullying or isolation. Do they have siblings who are older who might be intimidated or negatively affected by their younger sibling’s being accelerated?</p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p><strong>Abdul-Alim:</strong> What is your advice to families who can’t afford to home-school, but who have children who could very well be higher-performing if given the opportunity? How does society provide opportunities for children who fall in that category?</p>
<p><strong>Ford:</strong> I want the families to become familiar with what the barriers are. So when Black families contact me about their child not being identified as gifted or not being challenged like their white classmates, then I point them to the <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html">Civil Rights Data Collection website</a>, which is run by the U.S. Department of Education. I have them look specifically at what the data says for representation in gifted programs and Advanced Placement classes. I ask them to look at suspension and expulsion by race and corporal punishment, if that exists in their schools, which it does in some states. And very last, take a hard and critical look at all the data. </p>
<p>You can go straight to data for your child’s <a href="https://ocrdata.ed.gov/search/school">district or school building</a>. And so, parents can come armed with these demographic data showing underrepresentation in gifted and Advanced Placement, but overrepresentation in certain categories of special education as well as discipline, such as suspension and expulsion. And when parents come informed, then sometimes – not always – the educators are put on notice and do what they’re supposed to do anyway, which is share information with families about how to gain the resources and opportunities that their children need.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a story that ran on Feb. 16, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donna Ford is a private consultant for school districts and professional organizations. She has in the past received grants from the U.S. Department of Education to study special education and gifted and talented programs. A full listing of prior grants can be found at <a href="https://www.drdonnayford.com/vitae--bio">https://www.drdonnayford.com/vitae--bio</a>.</span></em></p>Anti-Black bias and lack of teacher referrals are keeping Black students out of gifted school programs, a scholar suggests.Donna Ford, Professor of Special Education, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1305062020-10-14T12:28:20Z2020-10-14T12:28:20ZSchools often fail to identify gifted and talented students – especially if they are Black, Latino or Native American<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362033/original/file-20201006-24-1skvfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C222%2C5120%2C3188&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not all students have equal access to gifted and talented services.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mother-and-daughter-examining-molecular-model-royalty-free-image/597315623">JGI/Jamie Grill via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>About a decade ago, I was working with a large, urban school district on creating a <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/blogs/research/post/inequity-persists-in-gifted-programs">gifted and talented program</a> that would include all kids, regardless of their race or income.</p>
<p>In this district, Black children and children from poor families were rarely identified for gifted education services. These services include enrichment, special classes and focused projects intended to help students excel in areas in which they show signs of <a href="https://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/frequently-asked-questions-about-gifted-education">exceptional potential and talents</a>. </p>
<p>I visited one school, near a prestigious university in an upscale neighborhood, where 48% of all students received services for gifted and talented students. There, about 50% were white, 22% Black and 12% Asian. Few were being raised in low-income families. At another school I visited a short 10-minute drive away, no students were identified. This school was located in a poor neighborhood. Ninety-eight percent of the students were Black, and all of them qualified for <a href="https://theconversation.com/americas-poorest-children-wont-get-nutritious-meals-with-school-cafeterias-closed-due-to-the-coronavirus-133341">free or reduced-price meals</a>.</p>
<p>Having reviewed national data in detail as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=l8gCgZ8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholars of gifted and talented education</a>, my colleagues and I have found that inequities like this exist across the country and in most school districts. </p>
<h2>State report cards</h2>
<p>First, we examined census data from the Office of Civil Rights for the years 2000, 2012, 2014 and 2016 regarding <a href="https://ocrdata.ed.gov/">gifted students from every U.S. public school</a> to see how many students attend schools that identify youth with gifts and talents. We found that 42% of public schools did not identify a single student.</p>
<p>Then, we looked for patterns regarding race and ethnicity and income levels among the schools that do screen students and designate some of them as gifted and talented.</p>
<p>When we <a href="https://www.education.purdue.edu/geri/new-publications/gifted-education-in-the-united-states/">published our findings</a> in 2019, we issued report cards for every state and for the U.S. overall. We gave 17 states failing grades because fewer than 60% of their public schools identified anyone as gifted and talented. Six more got a D. </p>
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<h2>Racial and ethnic disparities</h2>
<p>Interestingly, we found that Black, Asian, white and Latino children were equally likely to attend schools that identified gifted students, although Native American students were less likely. As a result, we determined that access alone does not explain why Black and Latino students are underrepresented in gifted education.</p>
<p>I consider these racial inequities to be staggering.</p>
<p>About <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_cge.pdf">15% of all students are Black</a>, but only 8.5% of students identified as gifted and talented are Black. Roughly 27% of students are Latino, yet only 18% of the students determined to be gifted and talented are Latino. This pattern also holds for Native American and Native Hawaiian students.</p>
<p>Nearly 59% of gifted and talented students are white even though only 48% of all students are white. Asian students are even more disproportionately represented: They comprise 5% of all students, but nearly 10% of students identified with gifts and talents.</p>
<p>Along with racial and ethnic patterns, we found that poverty played a role. </p>
<p>High-poverty schools are slightly more likely to identify students as gifted than others. Despite that, they identified only about 58% as many gifted students as low-poverty schools – those largely attended by more affluent children.</p>
<p>Nationally, only 8% of the students attending high-poverty schools were identified, versus 13.5% of students of students enrolled at low-poverty schools.</p>
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<h2>‘Missing’ students</h2>
<p>There were <a href="https://www.education.purdue.edu/geri/new-publications/gifted-education-in-the-united-states/">3.3 million U.S. students</a> identified as having gifts and talents in the 2015-2016 school year. Based on our findings, we estimate that even more – another 3.6 million – ought to be designated this way. </p>
<p>These students are missing from the official data because their school does not identify any students as gifted and talented, they attend a high-poverty school or because they are Black, Latino or belong to another underidentified group.</p>
<p>For example, only 276,840 Black students were identified as gifted and talented in 2016. We estimate that as many as 771,728 would be identified this way if systems were working properly.</p>
<h2>Fixing the problem</h2>
<p>Many students benefit when they receive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2009.10.012">gifted and talented services</a> at school. They become more motivated to learn and more likely to earn good grades, while developing positive social and emotional skills.</p>
<p>In previous research, my colleagues and I found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1932202X17715304">students from underserved groups</a> who receive gifted and talented services at school benefit <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w20453">even more than their affluent classmates</a>. </p>
<p>One way schools can make the process more equitable is by letting students qualify for these programs in multiple ways. This helps because a single test, on which privileged students may outscore others, does not serve as the only or the most important avenue to being identified as a gifted and talented student.</p>
<p>I believe that all schools should examine their current systems for identifying students with gifts and talents with an eye toward equity. If needed, they should step up their efforts to ensure that students from underserved communities get a fair shot, and also develop programs to nurture these students – as the school district I advised a decade ago eventually managed to do.</p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130506/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcia Gentry receives funding from the Jack Kent Cooke and Purdue Research Foundations. The finding of her research are her own and do not represent the views of either foundation. </span></em></p>Racial, ethnic and class inequities regarding gifted and talented services are found in most school districts.Marcia Gentry, Professor of Educational Studies; Director, Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute, Purdue UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1226062019-09-09T11:32:53Z2019-09-09T11:32:53ZHow to increase access to gifted programs for low-income and black and Latino children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290761/original/file-20190903-175696-1naqapl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some kids need a more challenging curriculum. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/boy-working-chalkboard-back-view-568547077?src=-2-17">Asia Images Group/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of the public school gifted and talented programs that serve high-ability students don’t reflect the diversity of their communities. <a href="https://www.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/reports/school-quality/nyc-school-survey">New York City</a>, with roughly 1.1 million students, is an extreme example.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-how-to-improve-not-end-g-and-t-20190827-endjjuhnhjbw5ngo3hsqkhg75q-story.html">roughly 4 in 6 of its kindergartners are black or Latino</a>, those children account for only about about 1 in 6 of all public school students identified as gifted and talented.<br>
Concerns about this underrepresentation recently led a <a href="https://www.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/vision-and-mission/diversity-in-our-schools/school-diversity-advisory-group">School Diversity Advisory Group</a> appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to recommend that the city’s school system end all gifted and talented programs in its <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/1c478c_f14e1d13df45444c883bbf6590129bd7.pdf">elementary and middle schools</a>. </p>
<p>We are scholars of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Omxp5ZYAAAAJ&hl=en">gifted education</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7AA4QGEAAAAJ&hl=en">education policy</a>. Between us, we have lived in eight states and worked with 11 different school districts. </p>
<p>Based on what we’ve learned and seen along the way, we believe that de Blasio shouldn’t follow the panel’s recommendations. In our view, they are inconsistent with the <a href="http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/nation_empowered/">large body of evidence</a> supporting the need for <a href="https://www.hepg.org/hep-home/books/excellence-gaps-in-education">increasing access</a> to gifted and talented services and instruction for students from low-income and underrepresented backgrounds who are ready for more advanced coursework.</p>
<p>Ultimately, removing gifted programs would end up hurting students of color who are ready to be challenged and deserve that opportunity.</p>
<h2>The core problem</h2>
<p>To be sure, the mayor is right to be concerned. Most <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-nation-at-risk-how-gifted-low-income-kids-are-left-behind-56119">gifted low-income kids</a> are much less likely than affluent children with similar academic abilities and potential to get access to the kinds of programs that will help them flourish.</p>
<p>It’s also become clear that many talented low-income and underrepresented students of color are not challenged enough. For example, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0016986219869042">recent study</a> one of us worked on showed what happened when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0734282911433946">482,418 gifted 7th-graders</a> took the <a href="https://www.act.org/">ACT college entry exam</a> and then took it again in high school. The researchers found that gains for students from low-income and disadvantaged backgrounds between 2005 and 2017 were smaller than for other groups.</p>
<p>We see those results as clear evidence that kids who are both gifted and facing economic hardship need more opportunities to develop their talents. At the same time, it also indicates a need to ensure that all schools <a href="https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20161201/washington-heights/college-readiness-graduation-rates-nyc-top-high-schools">have the ability to challenge</a> the brightest students, including low-income children of color.</p>
<p>We fear that if New York City were to dismantle its gifted programs, low-income gifted students – who can and do come from all backgrounds – would suffer the most. Unlike the children of wealthy parents who can afford the tuition at private schools or to move to affluent suburbs with high-performing school systems, there are virtually no alternatives for them. This includes talented students of color, who could be better served by increased access to gifted programs broadly.</p>
<p>That’s why reforming – rather than eliminating – New York’s program makes more sense. How to respond to the diversity panel’s recommendations is up to de Blasio, who has said he is <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/newsletters/politico-new-york-education/2019/09/05/de-blasio-vows-no-g-t-changes-this-year-301907">not in a hurry</a> to take action. Fortunately, there are some models across the country that he could follow.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290762/original/file-20190903-175714-64tksm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290762/original/file-20190903-175714-64tksm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290762/original/file-20190903-175714-64tksm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290762/original/file-20190903-175714-64tksm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290762/original/file-20190903-175714-64tksm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290762/original/file-20190903-175714-64tksm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290762/original/file-20190903-175714-64tksm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290762/original/file-20190903-175714-64tksm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has made desegregating his city’s public school programs for high-performing students a big priority.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Bill-de-Blasio/7511e10872984de980677ee96ddb8c2e/1/0">Barry Williams/AP, Pool</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Universal screening</h2>
<p>New York chooses students for its gifted programs by administering a single test when the kids are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/nyregion/nyc-gifted-talented-test.html">as young as 4 years old</a>. </p>
<p>Another common way for schools to select which kids will take part in programs that serve gifted and talented students is through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2332858415622175">referrals from their teachers and parents</a>. This is the approach taken in <a href="https://wvde.state.wv.us/osp/gifted-how-to-refer.htm">West Virginia</a>, <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/ode/learning-options/TAG/Pages/TAG-FAQ.aspx">Oregon</a> and countless school systems. But research indicates that this conventional approach more often leads to parents and teachers selecting students based on their personal, often idiosyncratic, ideas about what giftedness looks like. </p>
<p>It turns out that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/upshot/why-talented-black-and-hispanic-students-can-go-undiscovered.html">testing all students</a> most effectively identifies students from all backgrounds who are ready for a more challenging curriculum. For example, universal screening has greatly improved the identification of gifted and talented racial and ethnic minorities in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1605043113">Broward County, Florida</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, research shows that standardized testing for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016127=">spatial reasoning abilities</a>, such as mentally rotating three-dimensional objects, can help identify a large pool of currently neglected gifted low-income and underrepresented students. That’s because these abilities are less correlated with socioeconomic status than math and verbal skills are. </p>
<p>Another problem in New York City is that testing children who are as young as 4 years old <a href="http://geri.education.purdue.edu/PDF%20Files/yang_WCGTC_paper_mg7.pdf">is often unreliable</a> and may even exacerbate demographic imbalances.</p>
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<h2>Draw from all schools early on</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2332858419848446">Recent research</a> shows that school systems that identify gifted and talented students based on test scores and also comparing students to each other within the school building works. For example, the top fraction of scorers within each school would be identified as gifted and talented. This strategy <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-ending-g-and-t-imaginary-equity-20190828-vaiwbfgh5vgabkhfiqa5lrn7wm-story.html">has increased Latino and African American representation</a> in gifted programs in 10 states across the country by 170% and 300% respectively.</p>
<p>Taking this step can help disadvantaged kids who are highly talented enroll in programs that can boost their talent. When this happens early on, it can make it more likely for those underrepresented gifted students to later attend <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/elite-or-elitist-lessons-for-colleges-from-selective-high-schools/">prestigious high schools</a>.</p>
<p>That’s not happening in New York. Indeed, de Blasio created the advisory panel as a response to New York City’s most coveted high schools enrolling just a handful of African American and Latino students. Only seven of the 895 students accepted at high-performing <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/03/stuyvesant-high-schools-chronic-lack-black-students/585349/">Stuyvesant High School</a> for the 2019 to 2020 school year, for example, were black.</p>
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<p>However troubling it may seem, the disproportional representation of students of color in New York City’s gifted and talented programs and prestigious high schools is also evident on all other <a href="https://cepa.stanford.edu/educational-opportunity-monitoring-project/achievement-gaps/race/">achievement outcomes in New York City schools</a>.</p>
<p>We should note that for selective high school admissions de Blasio has tried – <a href="https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/District_Dossier/2019/06/whats_next_for_new_york_specialized_schools.html">unsuccessfully</a> – to abolish the city’s high-stakes admissions test. He supports a new system that admits instead the top <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2019/01/31/what-new-york-citys-specialized-high-schools-would-have-looked-like-under-an-admissions-overhaul-according-to-a-new-report/">7% of students from each public middle school</a> based on student rankings as a function of grades, state test scores and performance among peers.</p>
<p>This approach might work to some extent, but we don’t think throwing out admissions tests is a good solution at <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/no-one-likes-the-sat-its-still-the-fairest-thing-about-admissions/2019/03/22/5fa67a16-4c00-11e9-b79a-961983b7e0cd_story.html?arc404=true">any stage</a> of the education process because relative to other ways of selecting students, testing has the most evidence behind it.</p>
<p>All students should be tested and compared to one another within their own school buildings. Students could be screened for giftedness early – but not too early – <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-debate-over-new-yorks-gifted-students-program-an-expert-held-sway-11567448445">perhaps in third grade</a>, on math, verbal and spatial reasoning measures. This would improve the talent development of disadvantaged students in the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/act-sat-for-all-a-cheap-effective-way-to-narrow-income-gaps-in-college/">long run</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps most importantly, these solutions can work all across the country, not just in New York City.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122606/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New York City could be on the verge of dismantling gifted programs at its elementary and middle schools. Taking that step could make things even worse for some of the children it aims to help.Jonathan Wai, Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Psychology and Endowed Chair, University of ArkansasFrank C. Worrell, Professor of Education, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/870512017-11-09T21:05:56Z2017-11-09T21:05:56ZHave you ever wondered if you were exceptionally gifted?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199239/original/file-20171214-27583-bip45i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Shinjuku, Japan.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/2TlAsvhqiL0">Eutah Mizushima/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you were in school, did you ever wonder why your grades fell short yet your puzzled teachers insisted that you were intelligent? As an adult, have you struggled to gain recognition for your work, despite making what you feel are creative and valuable contributions? Do you often feel like your mind works more quickly than others do? Could it be that you’re exceptionally gifted, yet don’t know it?</p>
<p>It’s a comforting thought in today’s society, given its strong emphasis on intelligence. But before rushing off to complete the latest phoney online IQ test, it’s important to take a closer look at the terminology. Although the terms <a href="http://www.scilogs.fr/ramus-meninges/la-pseudoscience-des-surdoues/"><em>gifted</em></a>, <em>precocious</em> and <em>high potential</em> are often used interchangeably, they’re not synonymous.</p>
<h2>Talent as a “gift”</h2>
<p>Logically, the most common one – <em>gifted</em> – implies the possession of a gift. It conjures up images of fairy godmothers endowing a child with beauty, grace, and intelligence in the cradle, Sleeping Beauty-style. A gift is seen as a bonus, a special ability granted by genetics, chance or the heavens.</p>
<p>The notion of <em>precocity</em> is linked to time. Psychologist Todd Lubart, a professor at Paris Descartes University, explained this in greater detail in a <a href="https://books.google.fr/books?hl=fr&lr=&id=Ul6Lx3Q82FMC&oi=fnd&pg=PA12&dq=notion+de+pr%C3%A9cocit%C3%A9+intellectuelle&ots=K9P0f1GaS_&sig=6tefTlrl-WbpjqwLLSoOqPpb8-0">2006 book</a>. The term implies a linear conception of intellectual development, from birth to adulthood – a theory developed by the Swiss psychologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget">Jean Piaget</a> in the mid-1960s.</p>
<p>To be considered “precocious” is to be seen as being ahead of the majority of students of the same age. The educational system will occasionally offer such students the opportunity to skip ahead a year. </p>
<p>Yet more recent work in psychology is challenging this linear vision of development. Numerous studies have demonstrated that intellectual development accelerates at certain times while regressing at others. Even adults are capable of making blatant errors in logical reasoning, while babies turn out to be far more logical than previously thought, as French psychologist Olivier Houdé <a href="https://books.google.fr/books?id=-PGrZmByrC0C&pg=PA410&lpg=PA410&dq=houd%C3%A9+et+les+plis+du+temps&source=bl&ots=2rsLDMRE8N&sig=NsAzDQkA6pFzLxcO_3FDeFpISP4&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMu6jn3brWAhXOZFAKHXmSCoAQ6AEIOzAG">demonstrated in 1995</a>.</p>
<h2>Aptitude may be obvious, or not</h2>
<p><em>High potential</em> is a more subtle and, no doubt, more useful term. It refers to the difference between a person’s aptitudes and their performance. What an individual demonstrates – their performance – is not always representative of their actual abilities, in other words, their aptitudes.</p>
<p>A person with high potential has specific potential, meaning an aptitude in a particular area. As American psychologist <a href="https://gifted.uconn.edu/schoolwide-enrichment-model/what_is_giftedness/">Joseph Renzulli has explained</a>, potential may either be fulfilled or not, depending on the individual’s environment. Therefore, an individual with high potential may not show any particular <em>talent</em> – a word that refers to observable performance.</p>
<p>To better understand this paradox, we can draw a parallel with physical potential. A child with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermobility_(joints)">hypermobility</a>, for example, has great elasticity in certain muscles, tendons and ligaments and, therefore, a high potential for flexibility. If the child is born into a circus family, he or she may become a contortionist. Otherwise, this potential flexibility may never express itself as talent, but remain hidden. Had Mozart been born into a family where music was never played, would he have become a great composer?</p>
<h2>Potential in sport and music</h2>
<p>Consequently, there are more people with high potential than people with talent, because not all those with high potential will benefit from the conditions required for their potential to manifest.</p>
<p>It should be stressed that high potential exists outside of the intellectual domain. This becomes clearer when seen through the lens of the theory of multiple intelligences, developed by American psychologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences">Howard Gardner in 2004</a>. While the theory is not yet sufficiently vetted scientifically for use in research, it draws attention to areas that are often undervalued in schools, such as sports, music, drawing, the capacity for introspection, and even charisma. Gardner argues there are eight separate forms of intelligence, some of which we refer to as intelligence, such as verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical abilities, while others are less typical, such as musical-rhythmic and bodily-kinaesthetic.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">American developmental psychologist Howard Gardner speaks about his work.</span></figcaption>
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<p>It is too often assumed that high potential is simply a matter of IQ. Psychologists assess IQ using psychometric tests, notably WISC-IV (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) and, recently, <a href="https://ecpa.fr/psychologie-clinique/test.asp?id=2046">WISC V</a> for children, and WAIS IV for adults. However, two researchers in psychology have demonstrated that a high IQ is a necessary condition to qualify as having high potential, but not sufficient per se.</p>
<h2>The necessity of enthusiasm and perseverance</h2>
<p>Let’s start with Renzulli. In his <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-bulletin-de-psychologie-2006-5-page-463.htm">2002 model</a>, he argued that high potential requires several factors to be united, including elevated intellectual abilities (which can be measured with an IQ test) and creativity (the ability to produce original responses), but also a high level of commitment, meaning strong personal motivation, entailing interest, enthusiasm, curiosity, perseverance, endurance, self-confidence, and a need for achievement.</p>
<p>In this theory, high potential can still be viewed as a “gift”. However, it should first be identified, then sustained by the individuals themselves and those around them, who will make the necessary efforts so the potential is eventually manifested as talent.</p>
<p>Canadian psychologist Françoys Gagné published <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1359813042000314682">his own model in 2004</a>. He theorized several types of catalysts required for high potential to manifest itself. The first relates to exceptional mental or physical capacities as well as personality traits, such as open-mindedness, conscientiousness, and high motivation. The second relates to the person’s environment – for example, a favourable sociocultural background, or positive feedback from family, friends or teachers. The third is made up of life events, positive or otherwise, such as a birth, a new home, or the death of a loved one. He also highlighted a fourth type of catalyst – luck, correlated with meeting the right person at the right time.</p>
<p>All of these possible catalysts work together to bring out a person’s natural capacities (gift). This model places great importance on an enriching environment, conducive to the manifestation of a person’s potential (child or adult), in the home, at work, and in leisure activities.</p>
<p>So what should we do if we want to understand our own potential, or that of our children? The first step is to consult a psychologist who can provide a complete analysis. In addition to an IQ test, he or she will examine the areas where high potential can be expressed, with the use of recognized diagnostic tools by trained professionals. These will establish, with little margin for error, whether or not you have “high potential”. </p>
<p>Note that this label is of little value in and of itself. The most important thing is to establish a picture of your strengths and weaknesses, to help you better know yourself and reach your own potential.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Alice Heathwood for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en/">Fast for Word</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87051/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valérie Pennequin has received funding from the MAIIF Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elodie Tricard ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The words “gifted”, “precocious” and “high potential” represent different ways of seeing and valuing exceptional abilities.Valérie Pennequin, Professeur en psychologie du développement et psychologie cognitive, Université de ToursElodie Tricard, Doctorante en psychologie, Université de ToursLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/561192016-03-21T10:13:10Z2016-03-21T10:13:10ZA nation at risk – how gifted, low-income kids are left behind<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115488/original/image-20160317-30211-k77b1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What makes gifted kids from advantaged families get ahead?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mckln/3548378531/in/photolist-6pyHix-6pyLJ4-6pCr1U-6pCRrm-6pyMKH-6pCThj-51sByA-8q8tEV-6pCyky-6pCqd5-6pyyqT-6pycL6-aGdmhe-6pyJ1g-6pyuZ4-4VDfxQ-6pCtVs-6pyKJx-6pCCGC-6pyF2x-73GFzj-6pyoyc-JxswB-oXJBB1-3Szag-dK6AAm-pferGx-6pyA2Z-oXKfPK-6pyM5c-6pynjc-bdGTeF-pfcqE3-oXJB8A-9ogNcc-6pCEMh-6pCvmh-569wMG-6pyc5B-nLF7R4-6pyLyM-7ybcpD-bJUbU-4DTQhZ-aC6Kxi-9vyPVS-8EtT2s-3L2cez-7iSywn-jgpfJ5">David Woo</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education published <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html">A Nation At Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform</a>, which documented widespread academic underachievement at every level, concluding:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For the first time in the history of our country, the educational skills of one generation will not surpass, will not equal, will not even approach, those of their parents.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 1996, education researchers <a href="http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/bio/camilla-benbow">Camilla Benbow</a> and <a href="http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/uncategorized/in-appreciation-julian-stanley.html">Julian Stanley</a> <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=1997-02834-004">published a paper</a> reviewing decades of evidence showing the achievement of students with high intellectual potential had markedly declined, building upon A Nation at Risk by arguing:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our nation’s brightest youngsters, those most likely to be headed for selective colleges, have suffered dramatic setbacks over the past two decades. This has grave implications for our country’s ability to compete economically with other industrialized nations.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One of their key points was that the federal education K-12 budget allocated a mere 0.0002 percent for “gifted and talented education,” programs targeted at helping the most academically advanced students develop their talents.</p>
<p>Fast forward another two decades. In a paper just published in the journal <em><a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/2372732215621310">Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences</a>,</em> we document that this rate has not changed at all. In the 2015 federal education budget of US$49.8 billion, gifted and talented education accounted for 0.0002 percent. In other words, for every $500,000 spent, only a single dollar was allocated for gifted education.</p>
<p>This consistent lack of investment in gifted kids for decades has created a deep divide between the educational, occupational and leadership attainment of low-income and high-income students.</p>
<p>As researchers of gifted education, we believe this has significant implications not only for the well-being of these disadvantaged students, but also for societal innovation and even America’s GDP. </p>
<h2>The critical K-12 years</h2>
<p>A 2007 <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED503359">Jack Kent Cooke Foundation research study</a> shows talented low-income students as a whole are not achieving their full potential. </p>
<p>Despite initially being academically talented, these students fall out of the high-achieving group during their K-12 school years. They rarely rise into the ranks of the highest achievers. Very few ever graduate from college or go on to graduate school.</p>
<p>This study, which defined high-achieving as the top 25 percent of students in U.S. schools, estimated that 3.4 million gifted students from lower-income families are underachieving due to a lack of opportunity. </p>
<p>Another <a href="http://doi.org/10.3386/w18586">study</a> – from economists <a href="https://economics.stanford.edu/people/caroline-m-hoxby">Caroline Hoxby</a> and <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/christopher-avery">Christopher Avery</a> – defined high-achieving as the top 4 percent of U.S. high school students. Here it was estimated that 35,000 low-income gifted students are underperforming.</p>
<p>These numbers reveal the importance of the K-12 education years. For that is when talented students from all backgrounds can be identified and given support.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115491/original/image-20160317-30211-10l79v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115491/original/image-20160317-30211-10l79v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115491/original/image-20160317-30211-10l79v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115491/original/image-20160317-30211-10l79v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115491/original/image-20160317-30211-10l79v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115491/original/image-20160317-30211-10l79v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115491/original/image-20160317-30211-10l79v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The current process of selection could be leaving out some low-income and minority kids.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/3908805560/in/photolist-6XpDHj-8RyHCx-r2ZcQ2-fkDbTE-fkoZRr-qTCfDk-fkDd8w-e1i3XB-fkoYLZ-e1i8Nc-fkDbij-e1ibFg-7ZBvVu-4qiaix-fkoZFp-e1oM39-6q66DB-fkp1FM-e1i2He-e1oJ8j-e1oK2s-e1oPHu-7YJRgi-fkoZJK-rmjEeW-65LZP7-e1oGcG-nvc396-e1oJo1-e1i2Ar-e1oNtq-2j1J7-82rMHm-e1i2m6-3qN7cJ-av3Lyc-e1icAT-fkp3JB-e1oQkf-e1iaKn-e1oNVj-fkp2DM-e1oJF3-e1i8nz-fkp38v-ndZrhh-fkDbaQ-e1oH87-e1i3gv-e1oQX7">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s hard to develop talent properly if you don’t identify it early. A key part of the problem is that gifted low-income students are <a href="http://doi.org/10.3386/w21519">not being identified systematically</a>. Typically, parents or teachers nominate individual kids as gifted. These kids are then tested and placed in educational programming that matches their ability.</p>
<p>Consequently, the identification of gifted children is sometimes <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-fewer-black-students-get-identified-as-gifted-53791">left to the discretion</a> of parents and teachers, which could leave out some low-income and minority children.</p>
<p>Another part of the problem is that while financially <a href="http://www.jkcf.org/assets/1/7/JKCF_ETUO_Executive_Final.pdf">advantaged students can access opportunities</a> outside of school to develop their talent, financially disadvantaged students rely on public education programs to develop their talent.</p>
<p>If such public K-12 funding is near zero, it should be no surprise that these students fail to receive the <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ910427">consistent educational stimulation</a> needed to achieve at the levels they are capable of.</p>
<p>This is despite the fact that <a href="http://www.prufrock.com/Effective-Program-Models-for-Gifted-Students-From-Underserved-Populations-P1888.aspx">research from the field of gifted education</a> has documented <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED537321">the impact of educational programs</a> targeted at low-income students. </p>
<h2>Impact on college admissions</h2>
<p>The cumulative disadvantage that low-income kids face through K-12 then carries over in higher education, which is why we see deep divides at this stage of the educational pipeline.</p>
<p>High-achieving low-income kids are less likely to apply to elite schools.</p>
<p>Education researchers <a href="http://www.soe.umich.edu/people/profile/bastedo_michael/">Michael Bastedo</a> and <a href="https://www.coe.arizona.edu/faculty_profile/1510">Ozan Jaquette</a>, who <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0162373711406718">analyzed decades of data</a>, found that only 0.4 percent of students in the lowest socioeconomic group attended “most competitive” schools in 1972 and only 0.5 percent in 2004. Contrast this with students from the top socioeconomic group – 5.2 percent of them attended “most competitive” schools in 1972 and 6.2 percent in 2004.</p>
<p>This shows that low-income students are largely underrepresented and have not increased their representation at the most selective institutions.</p>
<p>Additional research shows low-income high-achieving students <a href="http://doi.org/10.3386/w18586">are less likely to apply to top schools</a>. This is largely due to these students not having the <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0162373711406718">academic preparation required</a> for selective institutions. Given the intense competition involved in elite college admissions, it takes years of preparation and resources to be competitive for these colleges.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115492/original/image-20160317-30222-1iruv6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115492/original/image-20160317-30222-1iruv6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115492/original/image-20160317-30222-1iruv6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115492/original/image-20160317-30222-1iruv6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115492/original/image-20160317-30222-1iruv6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115492/original/image-20160317-30222-1iruv6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115492/original/image-20160317-30222-1iruv6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Who gets to go to top colleges?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vitahall/9889555286/in/photolist-g4UyeU-aBVbby-baj7yD-d6Q4Vf-cCDjVU-7gYAKY-fQfjuA-NJsd1-9Mx3Vr-eDM1bd-9LKe8j-ec3frz-9chSab-kuysnP-8vEXtU-4yQBqZ-8vEXmG-9uu261-doLdQm-oespyx-58qTcG-9SaJdT-4vQfbc-aiJhdZ-9EbJoy-8xxtH3-bxLPPW-jMjrmf-dgYoVj-5QMuKv-5CMgJT-4oHRte-wjbf1f-5rEcPN-3nK2F9-fGYjZe-fC94R9-46uZse-i4UG9e-8vEXbY-5zYqyR-8vBVYn-6ygMv9-9Eg3qn-n1TaXZ-8H6hx4-qgqDZ4-nwK4H2-8vEXpw-ddnCKQ">Aaron Hall</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The truth is that students who end up in elite schools, by and large, are not ordinary when it comes to academic talent. In fact, they are largely in the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2013.03.005">top few percentiles of the population</a>. And no matter what varied individual admission policies are used by each school, research by one of us shows that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9">top scorers end up in elite schools</a>. </p>
<p>In other words, elite college education is largely gifted education. </p>
<p>But for decades it has served as gifted or advanced education for those highly talented students who come from financially advantaged backgrounds, whose parents have devoted years of resources toward the goal of elite college admission.</p>
<h2>Impact on leadership, innovation and GDP</h2>
<p>Elite schools largely feed positions of national and global leadership. As <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2015.10.001">research by one of us shows</a>, over half of the people who currently hold positions of leadership and power in our society have attended elite schools.</p>
<p>So, this lack of support for gifted low-income kids has consequences for their representation in positions of leadership in society as well as lost innovations.</p>
<p>As we argue in <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/2372732215621310">our recent paper</a>, for at least the last half-century, we have underserved low-income gifted kids, losing countless minds and corresponding innovations. </p>
<p>Research from the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth, led by <a href="https://my.vanderbilt.edu/smpy/publications/david-lubinski/">David Lubinski </a>and <a href="http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/bio/camilla-benbow">Camilla Benbow</a>, shows that fully developed gifted students earn doctorates and university tenure, publish fiction and nonfiction books and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17958707">register patents</a> at rates two to eight times higher than the general population. Other research too shows that gifted students <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611407207">have a long-term impact on GDP</a>.</p>
<p>This is further corroborated by the work done by Nobel Prize-winning economist <a href="https://economics.uchicago.edu/facstaff/heckman.shtml">James Heckman</a> showing that <a href="http://doi.org/10.3386/w7288">investing in students early</a> can have a long-term economic and societal payoff and that investment in higher-ability students has a higher payoff.</p>
<p>Based on a <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/2372732215621310">synthesis of the evidence</a>, we believe a policy focus on identifying and challenging disadvantaged students early on would contribute to leveling the playing field, fulfilling their talent and increasing their well-being. <a href="http://doi.org/10.3386/w21519">Testing all students</a>, rather than relying on the traditional parent/teacher nomination system, will actually serve as a tool for greater fairness in placing low-income and minority students in the gifted programming they need. A <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612457784">small early investment</a> in these talented students would pay off in intellectual and technological innovations, as well as GDP, benefitting us all.</p>
<p>As Thomas Jefferson wrote in <a href="http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/jefferson/menu.html">Notes on the State of Virginia</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>By that part of our plan which prescribes the selection of the youths of genius from among the classes of the poor, we hope to avail the state of those talents which nature has sown as liberally among the poor as the rich, but which perish without use, if not sought for and cultivated.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56119/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Wai works at Duke University, which is a selective institution.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank C Worrell has received funding from the Institute for Education Sciences as part of the National Center for Research on Gifted Education. He works at the University of California, Berkeley, which is a selective institution. </span></em></p>America’s low-income but high-achieving kids fail to find the necessary resources, and consequently fall behind. This has huge implications for innovation as well as the GDP.Jonathan Wai, Research Scientist, Duke UniversityFrank C. Worrell, Professor of Education, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/537912016-02-02T11:07:32Z2016-02-02T11:07:32ZWhy do fewer black students get identified as gifted?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109842/original/image-20160201-32240-u4pl5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why aren't enough black students identified for gifted programs?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hocolibrary/8672913964/in/photolist-edoXao-edoVj1-ediikt-edighc-edijCP-edifkF-edifQM-edoW5S-edoVkL-edienx-ediee2-edid4K-edoU4Y-edoVNC-edoTaE-ediiWx-edijJB-edoXZb-edidsk-edoWa1-edicQ8-ediiwg-edoY8A-edoWBs-edoU2A-edierM-edoRT9-edicTM-edijnz-edoXum-edoTHs-edoV4b-edoTmJ-edid6Z-ediewZ-edoRNW-edoX3o-edoTz3-edieXp-ediekH-edoRgd-edigcx-ediebn-edoSpY-edoWqf-edoUyJ-edihQe-edoVD5-edoRH1-83VeBw">Howard County Library System</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nationally, black and Hispanic students are <a href="https://my.vanderbilt.edu/jasongrissom/files/2012/05/teacher_principal_diversity_gifted.pdf">underrepresented in gifted programs</a>, which provide specialized instruction or other services to meet the needs of especially bright or talented students.</p>
<p>Data from the U.S. Department of Education show that black and Hispanic students make up 40 percent of public school students but make up only <a href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/StateNationalEstimations/Estimations_2011_12">26 percent of students</a> enrolled in gifted programs. </p>
<p>So what are the reasons for this underrepresentation?</p>
<p>One possibility is that these disproportionately low rates simply reflect differences in academic achievement across demographic groups. Indeed, a large body of research demonstrates that black and Hispanic students <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/003465304323031049">lag behind</a> their white and Asian peers even at kindergarten entry.</p>
<p>However, a recent <a href="http://ero.sagepub.com/content/2/1/2332858415622175">study</a> I coauthored with <a href="https://my.vanderbilt.edu/chrisredding/">Christopher Redding</a>, a doctoral student at Vanderbilt University, shows that differences in achievement are only part of the story. </p>
<h2>The black-white gap in gifted identification</h2>
<p>We based our research on an analysis of gifted placements in the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/ecls/">Early Childhood Longitudinal Study</a>, which tracked a nationally representative sample of kindergartners throughout elementary school. A nice feature of these data is that they contain standardized achievement measures in math and reading for every student. </p>
<p>When we took student achievement levels into account, we found different patterns for Hispanic and black students. Essentially all of the gifted assignment gap between Hispanic and white students can be explained by test score differences. In stark contrast, math and reading scores explained only a little of <a href="http://ero.sagepub.com/content/2/1/2332858415622175">the black-white gap</a> in gifted assignment. In fact, a black student with the same scores as a white student is still only half as likely to be assigned to a gifted program.</p>
<p>In other words, two students – one black and one white – with the same math and reading achievement could have very different likelihoods of being identified as gifted. </p>
<p>This is a startling finding. </p>
<p>And, as additional analysis in our study shows, it cannot be explained by other differences in student background, such as parental education and household income.</p>
<p>Our investigation of school and classroom factors, however, does point toward two contributors to the black-white gap.</p>
<p>The first is that black students are less likely than white students to attend schools that offer gifted programs. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109844/original/image-20160201-32237-s5p83h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109844/original/image-20160201-32237-s5p83h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109844/original/image-20160201-32237-s5p83h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109844/original/image-20160201-32237-s5p83h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109844/original/image-20160201-32237-s5p83h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109844/original/image-20160201-32237-s5p83h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109844/original/image-20160201-32237-s5p83h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A teacher’s race can influence who gets selected for gifted programs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/departmentofed/9605585697/in/photolist-fCP8Yv-7QFkaS-fD6FGQ-9XjBSP-4sCHMR-6N6iwj-74jQRR-bmYYT5-fCVoqV-7y4D5d-e7Nm5-9hrRxn-akMvBf-fCVm5H-bzTN62-fD6Fvy-fCXgng-rbsKXR-7Qw18m-7Lgd87-bzTKMr-fDcVnW-gS6x9-kbHFt-fD6Grf-fCVioK-fCP8ua-fDcWah-bzTKGp-8UDAVN-kbHFu-6cPpRH-fCVnBr-fDcUzW-fCVkS6-fDcUTE-fCViac-fDcUZy-9cHyFS-fDcUsd-tCs3L-fDcULC-fD6GhA-dmYcfU-fD6Fkw-cU6sKU-3NQVr-fD6Fau-fCP8kR-oM4qKN">US Department of Education</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second is that black students assigned to a white classroom teacher are much less likely to be assigned to gifted programs than those assigned to a black teacher.</p>
<p>The differences are big. </p>
<p>Black students in black teachers’ classrooms have almost the same probability of being assigned to gifted services as otherwise similar white students. However, black students in white teachers’ classrooms are identified for gifted services only about a third as often. </p>
<p>We find no similar evidence that having a same-race teacher matters for the gifted assignment of white, Hispanic or Asian students.</p>
<h2>Black teachers vs. white teachers</h2>
<p>Why would the teacher’s race matter for whether a black student is identified as gifted? </p>
<p>There are <a href="http://edr.sagepub.com/content/44/3/185.short">multiple possible explanations</a>. </p>
<p>Perhaps black students respond differently to teachers who look like them in ways that make their giftedness more apparent. Perhaps parents feel more comfortable advocating for their child to be evaluated for giftedness when they share a common background with the child’s teacher.</p>
<p>More likely, however, is that black teachers and white teachers perform differently when it comes to identifying giftedness in black students. What a black teacher more attuned to a black child’s background, culture and language may recognize as evidence of exceptional aptitude or talent may go undetected by a white teacher. </p>
<p><a href="http://research.upjohn.org/up_workingpapers/231/">Research</a> also shows that white teachers tend to express lower expectations for the academic success of black students than do black teachers. Worth noting is that at last count, <a href="http://edr.sagepub.com/content/44/3/185.short">83 percent of the teacher workforce is white</a>. </p>
<h2>How should students be screened?</h2>
<p>To receive gifted services, students must go through an evaluation to be formally designated as gifted. </p>
<p>School districts’ gifted evaluation processes vary, but most <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xaJRhhzulgwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&ots=SqZmn6FWGR&sig=5jJPkhokhDqOMYFmOPkkmorZNKY#v=onepage&q&f=false">begin with a referral</a> for gifted evaluation from a classroom teacher. Students who are not referred by a teacher are unlikely to be evaluated. Teachers failing to recognize (or expect) giftedness in some students can be an important barrier to equal access.</p>
<p>One solution to the problem is to reduce the role of teacher discretion in gifted identification. Testing or evaluating all students for giftedness could ensure that high-aptitude students from traditionally disadvantaged groups get access to the services they need. </p>
<p>Indeed, school districts that have implemented so-called “universal screening” policies have seen <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w21519">dramatic increases</a> in the numbers of black, Hispanic and low-income students (another group our analysis shows are underrepresented) identified as gifted.</p>
<p>Studies show that gifted youth <a href="https://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/gifted-education-practices/why-are-gifted-programs-needed">benefit from gifted programs</a> on such outcomes as achievement and motivation. And gifted youth from marginalized groups <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w20453">benefit even more</a> than other students. </p>
<p>Gifted black students deserve the same opportunities as gifted white students to reach their academic potential. Whether the strategy is universal screening or better training of teachers to recognize giftedness among all students or another approach, our research suggests that school districts need to get serious about making sure that gifted services are accessible to all students who need them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53791/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason A. Grissom does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two students – one black and one white – with the same math and reading achievement could have very different likelihoods of being identified as gifted.Jason A. Grissom, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Education, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.