Summary
Referrals by classroom teachers are a traditional first step in identifying students for gifted program participation. The perceptions they hold about giftedness and about who is gifted may have a profound impact on referral decisions. If we are to become more effective in recognizing potential giftedness in the low SES and ELL student populations, we must understand the impact that educators’ perceptions about gifted may have on student referral. The most important implication is the need to focus staff development activities on helping teachers understand and recognize how the gifted abilities of the low SES and ELL students are manifested in their classrooms.
Even after identification of giftedness in low SES and ELL populations, it must be recognized that without adequate differentiated curriculum and reduction of competition and comparisons with the more traditionally identified gifted students, these underrepresented gifted students will continue to be underserved.
Required Reading
- A Review of Assessment Issues in Gifted Education and Their Implications for Identifying Gifted Minority Students
- Procedural Safeguards for the Gifted
- Promising Practices for Identifying Gifted Students from Special Populations
- Broward’s Plan B
- 6A-6/03019 Special Instructional Program for Students who are Gifted
- ERIC Articles