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Underachievement among gifted students of color: implications for educators
Theory Into Practice, Spring, 2005 by James L. Moore, III, Donna Y. Ford, H. Richard Milner
To address students' concerns about a culturally bland curriculum, Ford and Harris (1999) created a framework using Bloom's taxonomy (Bloom, 1985) and Banks' (1999) multicultural education model to assist educators of gifted students in developing learning experiences that are multicultural and challenging. The Ford-Harris model (also known as the Bloom-Banks model) is presented in Table 2. Four levels of the 24 levels are described (see Ford & Harris, 1999, for a more complete application of the model).
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At the knowledge--contributions level, students are provided information and facts about cultural heroes, holidays, events, and artifacts. For example, students might be taught about Caesar Chavez and then asked to regurgitate several facts about him on a test. They might be introduced to the Chinese New Year and be required to recite its dates and key celebrations. At the comprehension-transformation level, students are required to explain what they have been taught, but from the perspective of another group or individual. For instance, students might be asked to explain events leading up to the Trail of Tears, and then to talk about how Native Americans might have felt being displaced. At the analysis--social action level, students are asked to analyze an event from different points of view. Students, in this case, might be asked to compare and contrast events during U.S. slavery with events associated with Apartheid in South Africa. Following these comparisons, students could be asked to develop a plan for decreasing discrimination in certain settings. At the evaluation-social action level, students might be asked to conduct a study or survey about prejudice in sports. This information would be given to league owners, along with a plan of action for change (such as developing a culturally sensitive training and hiring program).
A primary rationale for multicultural education is the promise that it holds for engaging students and giving them opportunities to identify with, connect with, and relate to the curriculum. It is deliberate, continuous, planned, and systematic opportunities to avoid drive-by teaching--to make learning meaningful and relevant to students, and to give students of color perspectives to reflect the gifted education curriculum.
Counseling Development
Not only is it important for gifted education teachers and school counselors to learn about themselves and how their attitudes and perceptions affect students of color, it is equally important for students of color to learn about themselves in the context of their cultural heritage and other student groups. Those gifted students of color who are underachieving often need the assistance of not only teachers but school counselors. School counselors are arguably in the best position to help students of color with academic issues related to social and personal experiences (e.g., coping with negative peer pressures, working and living in mainstream society and schools, developing a positive and strong racial identity, etc.; Bailey et al., 2003; Cross & Vandiver, 2001; Moore et al., 2005). We advocate for all students of color to become, at minimum, bicultural to work and live--to thrive--in their own culture and mainstream society (Madison-Colmore & Moore, 2002; Moore, 2000).
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