Parent advocacy for culturally diverse gifted students

To hold gifted programs accountable for promoting excellence and equity in terms of program policies and services should be a key goal of parent advocacy for culturally diverse gifted students. Further, to reverse underrepresentation among culturally diverse students in gifted education, the role of parents as advocates is critical. A Gifted Program Advocacy Model is presented to provide a foundation for understanding the advocacy process, as well as an Advocate's Guide for Assessment of Equity in Gifted Programs. To assist parents in the beginning stages of an advocacy process, barriers for culturally diverse gifted students are discussed, and recommendations are presented to parents to help them understand and use core attributes of giftedness in the advocacy process. As parents understand advocacy efforts around issues of gifted program equity, they are better prepared to develop a plan and take action that serves the needs of their culturally diverse students.

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If you are in a situation where you believe the schools are unresponsive to the needs of your child, and if indeed you have firm evidence of your child's exceptional characteristics beyond your own subjective prejudice, you can help the schools to make the necessary changes ... School leaders and teachers need your [parents] help and companionship in serving the needs of your child. (Sidney P. Marland, Jr., 1981, Former U.S. Commissioner of Education, U.S. Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare)

IN 1981, MARLAND'S charge to parents of gifted students followed the first national public policy in Education of the Gifted and Talented. Volume I: Report to the Congress of the United States (Marland, 1972). Today, his sentiments for parent advocacy resound even more for culturally diverse gifted students, so many of whom appear to lack extensive parent involvement in school settings. Yet the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law requires schools to solicit parents to play an integral advocacy role in their children's schooling, at home and at school (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). When a school is identified as "needing improvement, corrective action or restructuring," NCLB requires local school agencies to provide parents with the school's report card and up-to-date information about the school. When parents of culturally diverse gifted students are informed and actively involved in the educational policy and practices related to gifted students, they are in a better position to advocate on their children's behalf and to proactively address issues of equity and excellence (Baldwin, 1987, Castellano, 2003; Donovan & Cross, 2002; Ford, 1998; Ford & Grantham, 2003b; Frasier, 1991, 1997). This article provides guidance for such parents and gifted program personnel or educators who wish to help parents of culturally diverse gifted students to become more effective advocates and reverse patterns of underrepresentation (Table 1) by redressing inadequacies in gifted program policy and practice.

Characteristics of Advocacy in Gifted Education

An issue of Gifted Child Quarterly representing a national study conducted by the National Association of Gifted Children Task Force on Advocacy provides a view of advocacy efforts at the local and state levels. A cross-case analysis conducted by Robinson and Moon (2003) of six case studies examined successful advocacy events on behalf of gifted and talented children, as well as factors that facilitated positive outcomes for advocacy efforts at the state and local levels. One characteristic from the case studies that was crucial to the success of the advocacy event was leadership. The strength of leadership emerged from professional educators and advocacy organizations working with parents, as well as local parent groups. Robinson and Moon (2003) referred to leaders in these cases as "champions" who generated positive outcomes for gifted programs. Common traits of these champion parent advocates included: (a) motivation, strong persistence and commitment related to creating change; (b) self-education in pursuit of knowledge, knowledge of best practices in gifted education, tacit knowledge of the advocacy context, and practical knowledge of advocacy strategies; and (c) skills in leadership, problem-solving skills, communication, and public relations. Four other characteristics that emerged in these case studies centered on advocacy strategies, including planning, collaboration, communication and program development. To more fully understand how some of these characteristics are situated in the advocacy process aimed to address equity among culturally diverse gifted students, Grantham's Gifted Program Advocacy Model is described.

An Advocacy Model for Culturally Diverse Gifted Students

Grantham's (2003) research on effective advocacy to increase Black student enrollment in gifted programs provides a Gifted Program Advocacy Model (G-PAM) that concerned gifted program personnel or educators can use to work with parents of culturally diverse students to guide their advocacy efforts. The problems of underrepresentation among culturally diverse students in gifted programs require parents to coadvocate for equity and excellence. Informed by Mitchell (1981) and Dettmer (1991), the G-PAM represents a four-phase advocacy process: (a) needs assessment, (b) development of an advocacy plan, (c) action contact and follow-up, and (d) evaluation (see Figure 1).