Overcoming Underrepresentation in Gifted ProgramsAmong Culturally, Linguistically, Ethnically Diverse, and Diverse Social and Economic Gifted Learners: A Parent and School Engagement Perspective, Part I
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series by guest Talking Circles columnist Ken Dickson on how parents and schools can work to overcome underrepresentation of specific populations in gifted programs. This month’s column focuses on the roles of attitude and access.
Underrepresentation among culturally, linguistically, ethnically diverse (CLED) learners and learners from diverse social and economic backgrounds in gifted programs and services continues. Improvements have occurred, but much work remains. For at least four decades, gifted education has engaged in formal discourse concerning these learners. Multiple perspectives have been offered. For this article, the perspectives will focus on four areas – attitude, access, assessment and accommodations. The areas represent outcomes of research from several stakeholders regarding diverse learners and gifted programs and particularly Dr. Mary Fraiser, an African-American scholar and past president of the National Association for Gifted Children.
Attitude
Attitude involves a mental position, feeling or emotion towards CLED and learners from diverse social and economic backgrounds.
What should be included in engagement between school and its CLED parents, and parents from diverse social and economic backgrounds regarding mental positions, feelings and emotions?
Parents and schools should engage in parent awareness and personnel professional development. The outcomes of such engagement should enhance mental positions, feelings and emotions toward CLED and groups from diverse social and economic backgrounds. Specific topics should focus on:
- Deficit thinking and teaching: educators interpreting learners’ differences as deficits, dysfunctions or disadvantaged traits, masking positive traits.
- Diverse learner-family-teacher relationships.
- Culturally relevant/congruent instructional practices.
- Equitable educational access, opportunities and support.
- Student exceptionalities that impact giftedness.
- Courageous, open, transparent conversations about differences.
- Parent/caregiver dynamics.
Access
Access involves ways in which CLED learners and learners from diverse social and economic backgrounds are considered for gifted program placement.
What should be included in engagement between CLED parents, and parents from diverse social and economic backgrounds regarding placement considerations?
Parents and schools should engage in identification awareness and implementation activities that focus on clear systematic and ongoing information that involve:
- National, state and local identification/access concepts, regulations, policies, practices, process and procedures designed to foster equity in GT programming and services.
- Environments and instructional activities that encourage the expression of diverse characteristics and behaviors associated with giftedness.
- Diverse characteristics and behaviors associated with giftedness.
- The use of multiple assessments that measure diverse abilities, talents and strengths.
- Assessments that provide qualitative and quantitative information from a variety of sources, including off-level testing that is nonbiased and equitable.
- Student exceptionalities.
- Using multiple assessments, including non-biased and equitable identification/access practices and locally developed norms or assessment tools.
- Information that explains the nature and purpose of your gifted program services in their native language.
- Strength-based teaching and learning.
A framework to guide such engagement is the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) 2010 Pre-K–Grade 12 Gifted Programming Standards. The standards integrate principles and concepts from initial program standards and teacher preparation standards, with increased diversity and collaboration as a focus.
Read Part II of Mr. Dickson’s article.
