Identifying gifted students from underrepresented populations

Policies and Procedures That Interfere with Finding Gifted Ethnic Minority and Low-Income Students

Prior discussions have alluded to some policies and procedures that inhibit the identification of underserved students, including policies that dictate narrow definitions of giftedness and the use of particular identification tools or procedures. Other funding, staffing, placement, and program option policies may further constrain full talent searches.

Solution 8: Eliminate Policies or Practices That Limit the Number Served in The Gifted Program

One of the most inhibiting factors in expanding services to minority and low-income students is the belief that there is a magic number of gifted and talented students who can be served by the gifted program. First, it is critical to begin to consider a continuum of gifted services and to modify the curriculum according to student needs (Treffinger, Wittig, Young, & Nassab, 2003). Second, the number of gifted students is not a given and is not fixed in any community. The competition for slots naturally sets up an artificial conflict between those who are traditionally identified and those who might emerge through alternative procedures. When a continuum of services model is implemented, all gifted students can be served.

Solution 9: Rewrite Procedures for Nomination, Screening, and Identifying to Reflect an Inclusive, Expanded Definition of Giftedness

Policies for the process of identifying and placing gifted students should be formulated on the premise of multiple avenues and paths into and through the identification process. For example, a nomination or screening process that relies on teachers only for inclusion of children in the next stage of the identification process is flawed because teachers are not always able to see alternative manifestations of giftedness because they never provide the opportunity in instruction for behaviors associated with giftedness to be displayed. Or, they may hold such narrow personal conceptions of giftedness that they cannot acknowledge those alternative manifestations as falling in the category of gifted behaviors. Likewise, to only rely on test scores is to chance missing those children who insightful teachers can and do recognize but for whom traditional assessments may yield biased, unsatisfactory, and invalid results.

Policies that leave parents or guardians out of the identification and placement process, except in gathering permission to test or place, may miss opportunities to involve parents in ways that will give them a buy-in and an understanding of the process and the program that may later yield greater interest in participation. Minority parents who see the process as yielding data that will lead to careful consideration of all their child's needs (e.g., academic, social, and emotional) may be more willing to encourage a child to participate. Or, they may be able to provide more active and effective support to a child who struggles to adapt to new challenges or one who worries about being singled out from peers.