Equity Matters

December Issue, 2009

	Gifted and AP: Providing Equal Access

Who ever walked behind anyone to freedom? If we can’t go hand in hand, I don’t want to go.

- Hazel Scott

The following is an excerpt from a piece written by Equity Alliance staff entitled “Where Are All the Students of Color in Gifted Education?” which appeared in the May/June 2009 issue of Principal magazine.

United States, much like special education, is grounded in beliefs that some students demonstrate a need for specialized education that, historically and currently, has not been provided in U.S. public schools. Special and gifted education scholars and practitioners alike recognize that opportunities to learn need to be improved so that all students have equitable educational access and participation. Yet, as principals strive to achieve this goal, they often experience tensions around: the purpose, scope, and location of the education they provide; the preparation of teachers for an increasingly diverse student population; and determining the extent to which the needs for specialized instruction create educational fields separate from general education. Although specific federal mandates (i.e., the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act) provide some guidance for

addressing the needs of students with disabilities, there are no similar mandates for gifted education services.

Ford, Grantham, and Whiting (2008) note that black, Hispanic, and Native American students have always been under-represented in gifted education, and that this under-representation has increased over time for black students in particular (Ford, 1998). Principals can confront this issue by:

Addressing lower expectations of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students through professional learning and teacher preparation that is grounded in multicultural and culturally responsive pedagogy and practice. The National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt) has many tools principals can use.
Adopting culturally responsive definitions of giftedness, explicitly acknowledging that giftedness occurs across gender and cultural, linguistic, and income groups.

Broadening definitions of giftedness to include those students who underachieve as well as those who achieve at or above comparison groups. Giftedness should not be reserved only for those students who are achieving high grades or test scores.
Building systemic evaluation of under-representation of CLD students into evaluation of all gifted education programs and services.
Principals should continuously assess, on a year-to-year basis, the racial, ethnic, gender, and linguistic demographics of students accessing gifted instructional programming, as compared with the demographics of all students.

Equity in Action

Florida School District demonstrates equity in gifted education identification

The Hillsborough County Gifted Program in Tampa, Florida has taken a big step towards providing equal access to gifted education for all students. The steps to evaluate a child for gifted education are the same throughout Florida as established by the State Board of Education. However, Hillsborough County Public Schools has an additional state-approved district-wide plan to increase participation in gifted programs from underrepresented populations. Targeted populations include students who are limited English proficient or from a low socio-economic status family.

Tools You Can Use

Books

Teaching Culturally Diverse Gifted Students by Donna Ford and H. Richard Millner This guide is designed to provide practical advice for building gifted programs that serve culturally and linguistically diverse students. The book includes effective teaching strategies, best practices, sample curriculum, and multiple resources to help build a diverse gifted program in your school.

In the Eyes of the Beholder: Critical Issues for Diversity in Gifted Education Edited by Diane Boothe and Julian Stanley.This book is designed to improve diversity in gifted education through alternate identification processes, service modifications to address diversity, and specific curriculum for supporting children who are gifted. Essays included in the book are on a variety of diversity issues within gifted education including race/ethnicity, gender, poverty, and language.

Working with Gifted English Language Learners by Michael Matthews. English Language Learners are underidentified for gifted programs for a variety of reasons, including language barriers, cultural differences, and test scores on English-based tests. This book introduces educators to the challenges in providing gifted services for ELLs and identification of gifted ELLs through alternate assessments.

Online Tools

National Association for Gifted Children holds weekly webinars on multiple topics. Click here for the schedule.

JoEtta Gonzales, Director of the Equity Alliance gave a presentation in October at the National EAC Capacity Building Conference on including CLD students in gifted education.

The Arizona Department of Education has a checklist of gifted characteristics in underrepresented populations.

Texas Education Agency Equity in Gifted/Talented Education The goal of the Equity in Gifted/Talented Education project is to encourage equitable representation of students in G/T programs throughout Texas. The site provides tools and resources for districts in the state; however they are also helpful for educators and policymakers for providing ideas to tackle the issue of equity in gifted and talented programs.

Word of mouth (and mouse) helps us reach more people.

If you enjoyed the content in this newsletter, please forward it to your colleagues!

Upcoming Events

The Students We Share: New Research from Mexico and the United States, January 15-16, 2010, La Casa de California, Mexico City, Mexico

Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented Conference, February 3-5, 2010

Different From What? Film Festival January 29-31, 2010 Tempe, AZ

2010 Leadership for Excellence and Equity Forum February 16-17, 2010 Phoenix, AZ

Professional Learning for Equity Certification Training February 18-19, 2010 following the Leadership for Equity and Excellence Forum, Phoenix, AZ

Center for ASL/English Bilingual Education and Research (CAEBER) Conference, March 10-12, 2010 Gallaudet University Washington, DC

Council for Exceptional Children Convention & Expo April 21-24, Nashville, TN (Early bird deadline is January 15!)

2010 Summer Education Grants from Fund for Teachers. Submit proposals for your own do-it-yourself learning odysseys next summer. Individual teachers can receive as much as $5,000, and teams are eligible for up to $10,000. Application Deadline: January 29, 2010

A Question of Equity

Which of the following do you think should be used to determine gifted eligibility in order to provide more equitable access to gifted programs?

Online
Publications

The May/June 2009 issue of Principal magazine was devoted the topic of The Gifted and Talented Child.

The Varied Faces of Gifted/Talented Students, published by the Texas Education Agency, gives examples of how gifted and talented students may look in different areas across students from poverty, with Limited English Proficiency or a student who is receiving Special Educational services.

Equity Alliance at
ASU Online

Visit our website: http://www.equityallianceatasu.org/.

Special Feature Item(s): Discrimication Matters!

Check out our NIUSI-LeadScape guest writers’ blog: www.niusileadscape.org/bl/.

Your Voice Matters! Please give us your feedback by taking a few minutes to fill out this brief survey or email us at: niusileadscape@asu.edu.

For questions or comments on this newsletter, please email the editor of this newsletter – Miranda Kucera (miranda.kucera@asu.edu).

To subscribe to this newsletter, please send an email to nccrest@asu.edu with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line or visit http://www.urbanschools.org/subscribe.html.

To unsubscribe to this newsletter, please send an email to nccrest@asu.edu with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.

To view the past issues of this newsletter, please visit http://www.nccrest.org/press.html