Young, gifted and Black students thrive despite the odds

"We have special education on the high end," says Charles Moore, whose 13-year-old daughter, Chamara, is a seventh-grader in the gifted academic program at Morgan Park High School in Chicago. The program accepts talented students for early admission into a high school setting. Chamara currently has a 4.5 grade point average and is No.1 in her math class. Her academic schedule includes advanced classes in math, English and Latin. After school, she's involved in a number of activities, ranging from guitar lessons to drama.

"She's been on a mission," says Moore. "These kids have to know you are behind them. In a public school setting, there is a high degree of groups that are against these kids who make good grades. These kids, like my daughter, often are not in the popular group."

The level of peer pressure to underachieve among many African-American students makes it tough on the bright students who want to excel by focusing on making good grades. A Harvard University study found that some high-achieving students tend to be less popular and more isolated among their ethnic peers. In some cases, minorities who excel are labeled as "acting White."

Moore of Chicago says the family fears that Chamara may hide her talents to make new friends. Fortunately, she has the support of other girlfriends in her gifted classes who prefer to discuss European history rather than hang out with more popular students.

"It's kind of hard [dealing with peer pressure], but I seem able to stand up against it" says Chamara, who is looking ahead to Oxford and Yale University and would like to own a technology company some day.

In Fletcher, N.C., fifth-grader Brandon Washington is a budding young scientist in his school's gifted education program. He consistently scores in the 98th percentile in reading, math and language arts and ranks among the top achievers in the state. "There's no limit to how far Brandon will go," says Shirley McGee, principal of Fletcher Elementary. "He's getting top-notch support from the school, and his parents are very involved."

But in some school districts, low expectations and a priority on teaching the basics to the majority of students may contribute to a shortage of gifted programs and low recruitment of exceptional Black students, some education experts say.

The result can be troubling for a young mind like that of Calah Williams of North Miami. When she was age 3, Calah scored an IQ of 146, which ranks her among the top 2 percent in the nation, according to the Mensa organization.

The quest to educate Calah led to public schools, but the school district didn't offer programs to meet the bright youngster's needs, says grandmother Catherine Jackson, who turned to home-schooling. The family plans to enroll Calah, now 10, into a small, Catholic school next fall.

Nationally, Black students are underrepresented in gifted education programs, and educators continue to seek ways to identify more gifted Black students and geniuses. The dilemma is not only how to recruit them, but also how to retain them.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning