Editing Intellectual giftedness (section)

== Gifted minority students in the United States ==

The majority of students enrolled in gifted programs are White; Black and Hispanic students constitute a smaller proportion than their enrollment in school.<ref name="Taylor, Lorraine S 2003">Taylor, Lorraine S., and Catharine R. Whittaker. Bridging Multiple Worlds: Case Studies of Diverse Educational Communities. Allyn and Bacon, 2003.</ref>  For example, statistics from 1993 indicate that in the U.S., Black students represented 16.2% of public school students, but only constituted 8.4% of students enrolled in gifted education programs.  Similarly, while Hispanic students represented 9% of public school students, these students only represented 4.7% of those identified as gifted.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ford |first1=Donna |last2=Grantham |first2=Tarek |title=Providing Access for Culturally Diverse Gifted Students: From Deficit to Dynamic Thinking |journal=Theory into Practice |volume=42 |number=3 |pages=217–225|date=June 2003 |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/tip/summary/v042/42.3ford.html |doi=10.1207/s15430421tip4203_8|s2cid=144525477 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, Asian students make up only 3.6% of the student body, yet constitute 14% in the gifted programs. Poor students are also underrepresented in gifted programs, even more than Black and Hispanic students are.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Callahan, C. M., Moon, T. R., & Oh, S. (2014). National surveys of gifted programs executive summary. Charlottesville, VA: National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented University of Virginia.}}</ref>

Lack of equity and access in programs for the gifted has been acknowledged since the early twentieth century. In the 1920s, research by [[Lillian Steele Proctor]] pointed to systemic racism as a contributor to the relative invisibility of gifted African American youth.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Terzian |first1=Sevan |title="Subtle, vicious effects": Lillian Steele Proctor's Pioneering Investigation of Gifted African American Children in Washington, DC |journal=History of Education Quarterly |date=August 2021 |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=351–371 |doi=10.1017/heq.2021.22|s2cid=236779619 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In their 2004 study, "Addressing the Achievement Gap Between Minority and Nonminority Children by Increasing Access to Gifted Programs" Olszewski-Kubilius et al. write that minority students are "less likely to be nominated by teachers as potential candidates for gifted programs and, if nominated, are less likely to be selected for the program, particularly when such traditional measures as I.Q. and achievement tests are used for identification."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Olszewski-Kubilius |first1=Paula |last2=Seon-Young |first2=Lee|title=Addressing The Achievement Gap Between Minority And Nonminority Children By Increasing Access To Gifted Programs |journal=[[Journal for the Education of the Gifted]] |volume=28 |number=2 |pages=127–158 |date=Jan 2004 |url=http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ698310.pdf |doi=10.1177/016235320402800202 |s2cid=145198023}}</ref>

This underrepresentation of such students in gifted programs is attributed to a multiplicity of factors including cultural bias of testing procedures, selective referrals and educator bias, and reliance on deficit-based paradigms.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Review of Assessment Issues in Gifted Education and Their Implications for Identifying Gifted Minority Students|author1=Mary M. Frasier |author2=Jaime H. Garcia |url=http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/reports/rm95204/rm95204.pdf|date=2014-09-15 }}</ref> To address the inequities in assessment procedures, researchers suggest the use of multiple tests and alternative methods of testing, such as performance-based assessment measures, oral-expressiveness measures as well as non-verbal ability assessments (such as Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Tests ([[NNAT]]) or [[Raven's Progressive Matrices|Raven's Matrix Analogies Tests]]).<ref>Lee, Seon-Young, Olszewski-Kubilius, Peternel. "Follow-Up with students after 6 years of participation in project EXCITE." The Gifted Child Quarterly. Cincinnati: 2009. 53.2. p 137</ref>

According to 2013-2014 data collected by the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education, White students have more opportunities and exposure to attending schools that offer gifted and talented education programs (GATE) than racial and ethnic minority students, specifically Black and Latino students. Data collected by the Office of Civil Rights department of the Department of Education also reveal that racial/ethnic minority students are underrepresented in gifted and talented education programs. Forty-nine percent of all students enrolled in schools that offer GATE programs are White, whereas 42% of all students enrolled in schools that offer GATE programs are Latino and Black, thus revealing that white people have more opportunities to be a part of a school that offers GATE programs. Within GATE programs, 29% of the students are Latino and Black, and 57% are White (U.S. Department of Education, 2016).<ref>U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights. (2016). Key Data Highlights on Equity and Opportunity Gaps in our Nation's Public Schools. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/2013-14-first-look.pdf</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A Review of Assessment Issues in Gifted Education and Their Implications for Identifying Gifted Minority Students|author1=Mary M. Frasier |author2=Jaime H. Garcia |url=http://nrcgt.uconn.edu/research-based_resources/frasgarc/|date=2015-03-19 }}</ref>

Weinstein (2002) suggests that some teachers recommend racial minority students{{px2}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}with the exception of Asian students{{px2}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}to special education and [[Remedial education|remedial classes]] more often than gifted and talented classes due to teacher expectancy biases placed on racial minority students. Teachers' expectations of their students' academic performance influence how students perceive themselves. If a teacher expects more success academically from specific students, those students are prone to displaying behavior and work ethic that will set them apart from others in a positive light, whereas if a teacher only expects the bare minimum from his or her students, those students will merely do what is expected of them (Weinstein, 2002).<ref>Weinstein, R. S. (2002). Reaching higher: The power of expectations in schooling. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.</ref>

Racial minority students who are perceived as being disadvantaged from their peers in regards to socioeconomic status tend to have less supportive relations with their teachers (Fitzpatrick, 2015).<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Fitzpatrick | first1 = C. | last2 = Côté-Lussier | first2 = C. | last3 = Pagani | first3 = L. S. | last4 = Blair | first4 = C. | year = 2015 | title = I Don't Think You Like Me Very Much Child Minority Status and Disadvantage Predict Relationship Quality With Teachers | journal = Youth & Society | volume =  47| pages =  727–743| doi = 10.1177/0044118X13508962 | s2cid = 144010803 }}</ref> Due to this lack of support, teachers do not expect these disadvantaged students to go above and beyond, therefore they are often overlooked when it is time for gifted and talented education program nominations. Research suggests that teacher expectancy bias can also be diminished by matching the racial demographics of students to that of teachers. Gershenson and colleagues (2016) found that non-Black teachers held low expectations of their black students, specifically in relation to black male students and math, whereas Black teachers held high expectations of black male students in regards to math. This finding suggests that racial diversity among educators is a positive step toward diminishing teacher expectancy bias.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Gershenson | first1 = S. | last2 = Holt | first2 = S. B. | last3 = Papageorge | first3 = N. W. | year = 2016 | title = Who believes in me? The effect of student–teacher demographic match on teacher expectations | journal = Economics of Education Review | volume = 52 | pages = 209–224 | doi = 10.1016/j.econedurev.2016.03.002 | doi-access = free | hdl = 10419/114079 | hdl-access = free }}</ref>

Weinstein and colleagues (1991)<ref name="Weinstein, R.S. 1991">{{cite journal | last1 = Weinstein | first1 = R.S. | last2 = Soulé | first2 = C. R. | last3 = Collins | first3 = F. | last4 = Cone | first4 = J. | last5 = Mehlhorn | first5 = M. | last6 = Simontacchi | first6 = K. | year = 1991 | title = Expectations and high school change: Teacher researcher collaboration to prevent school failure | journal = American Journal of Community Psychology | volume = 19 | issue = 3| pages = 333–363 | doi = 10.1007/bf00938027 | pmid = 1892131 | s2cid = 23934639 }}</ref> aimed to change the low expectations attached to racial minority students of an urban high school that placed many Black and Latino students in [[Remedial education|remedial programs]] rather than college preparatory or honor classes. The study aimed to prepare these racial minority students for college-level academic work while attending high school.  With positive teacher attitudes toward students and greater teacher [[self-efficacy]], the students who were once on track to being recommended for remedial classes were performing at advanced academic levels after 2 years of intervention. They were also more heavily involved in leadership roles at their high school. This study supports the claim that teacher expectancy contributes to how a student sees him or herself in regards to achievements (Weinstein et al., 1991).<ref name="Weinstein, R.S. 1991"/>

Gifted students of color experience success when multicultural content is incorporated in the curriculum and furthermore when the curriculum itself is designed to be culturally and linguistically compatible.<ref name="Taylor, Lorraine S 2003" /> A culturally diverse curriculum and instruction encourages gifted minority students to experience a sense of belonging and validation as scholars.<ref name="Lee, Seon-Young 2009">{{cite journal |last1= Seon-Young |first1=Lee|last2=Olszewski-Kubilius |first2=Paula|title=Follow-Up with students after 6 years of participation in project EXCITE. |journal=The Gifted Child Quarterly |volume=53 |number=2 |pages=137–156|date=April 2009 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249827552|doi=10.1177/0016986208330562|s2cid=145115827}}</ref> Furthermore, the educator's role in this process is significant as Lee et al. argue that "[t]eacher awareness and understanding of students' racial and cultural differences and their ability to incorporate multicultural perspectives into curricular content and instructional techniques may counter gifted minority students' discomfort in being one of the few minority students in gifted programs."<ref name="Lee, Seon-Young 2009" />