Cameron Calland-Jones
Identification and Assessment of the Gifted Learner
Lit Review
Discovering Treasures: One Districts Effort to Identify Under-Represented
Gifted Students
http://www.davidsongifted.org/Search-Database/entry/A10463
Smith, L. & Puttcamp, C., 2005. Article accessed March 6, 2017
This article is about a school district in St. Luis, Missouri who has created an
identification process that is more inclusive for minority students. The program is
called TREASURES (To Recruit, Educate, and Serve Under-Represented
Exceptional Students) and was designed to identify and serve gifted students
whose talents might otherwise be overlooked. Students who are EL learners, come
from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, have identified disabilities, or come
from a culturally diverse population can be gifted too and other options for
identification were needed. With the guidance of the local educators, students
families, school district, and the local community, the TREASURES program is
enjoying much success.
I learned from this article that there are states who have broadened the criteria
in which students can be identified for gifted programs. It is well-known that
minority students are under-represented in gifted programs and it is not often
that we hear of steps that can be taken to help identify more minority gifted
students. The group that created this program spent time to make sure the
guidelines and forms used by the program would be recognized by the state.
Parents were a large part of the conversation. The program idea was based on case
studies where a wide range of information and data could be analyzed. I thought it
was interesting that home visits and parent interviews are a part of the program.
From a cultural standpoint, there would be value in meeting and observing families,
roles and relations in the home environment.
There were a few points that came up in this article that impact my perspective
and possibly my classroom practice when working with high achieving students. I
teach at a school where the clear majority of minority students are Asian. I have
had a couple minority students over the years who were high achievers and
motivated early on, but as they grew older, behavior is what stood out. I would like
to say they were possibly gifted and I wonder if support, encouragement, and most
important-acknowledgement could have made a difference. These students did not
fit the mold of an average TAG student. It would have been interesting to see if a
broadened identification system would have helped the students be identified
earlier and maybe putting them onto a different path.
How would broadening the identification system impact gifted and talented
programs and would the curriculum change?
A Study of Achievement and Underachievement Among Gifted, Potentially Gifted,
and Average African American Students.
http://nrcgt.uconn.edu/research-based-resources/ford3/
Donna Y. Ford, 1995. Article accessed March 6, 2017
This second article presented the information from interviews of 152 middle and
high school African-American students in the mid-Atlantic. These students came
from school districts where students of color were underrepresented. Of those
interviewed, there were gifted, potentially gifted, and average students. The
following nine variables were investigated: racial/ethnic identity, test anxiety,
attitudes towards school subjects, support for the achievement ideology,
perceptions of the learning environment, influence of psychological, social, and
cultural/familial factors. The article concluded with the findings that all three
academic groups were negatively impacted by their attitudes towards reading,
math, and science, perceptions of parental achievement orientation, and their own
achievement ideology.
From this article, I learned that the research suggests school districts should
focus on talent development and nurturing the abilities of African American
children. The data shows that socioemotional and psychological variables, including
the impact of racial identity and text anxiety should be examined during the
identification process. It is also believed that curricular modifications that are
multicultural in nature should be in place to increase motivation and engagement of
African American students. Also mentioned is the recruitment and retention of
minority teachers who can serve as mentors, role models and advocates for
minority students by providing and added support system. The article also mentions
that counseling efforts may help to close the gap between underachieving African-
American students beliefs about achievement and performance. To be honest, that
last point about counseling threw me off. The curriculum additions and
recruitment/retention of minority teachers makes sense, but suggesting that
African-American students need counseling to improve their self-esteem is a bit
off the mark.
Currently, I do not teach any African-American children who are identified as
gifted. I am also the only African-American or racial minority classroom teacher at
my school. The main point I take away from this article is that a childs self-worth
is supported by their families and reinforced or the school environment can act as
a barrier. As educators, we should recognize that students come into our
classrooms with variety in their background. The teacher may or may not be
familiar with cultural differences of students, but we expect the students to
acculturate and assimilate into the mainstream. Minority high achieving students
have a variety of factors they are faced with and educators play a part in helping
students to know they can exceed. It is also essential to help foster a strong
home-student-school relationship to promote academic achievement.
What can school districts do to ensure that African-American students and other
minorities are given the opportunities to be more included in the talented and
gifted identification process?
Identifying and Assessing Gifted and Talented Bilingual Hispanic Students
http://www.davidsongifted.org/Search-Database/entry/A10362
Castellano, J., 1998. Article accessed March 6, 2017
This article is about who is assessing gifted education programs and how race is a
divisive factor in the classroom. Gender and bilingualism in the Hispanic gifted
population is also discussed. The article looks at how assessment and evaluation
could be improved to identify gifted Hispanic students and help create the
appropriate placement in the educational setting.
After reading this article, I have learned that there is an on-going effort to
develop new methods to help identify bilingual and limited-English-proficient (LEP)
Hispanic gifted learners. The article discussed how the White, middle or upper-
middle class experts whose experiences and academic backgrounds have led to
criteria that favors students from the same background. Programs are established
in large urban school districts like Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, and New York.
The newer programs geared at identifying and educating the bilingual Hispanic high
achievers were developed by a grassroots movement initiated by parents and other
advocates. The Culture Fair Intelligence Test, Scale 1 was mentioned as a
recommended assessment. A stress was placed on the use of multiple criteria
including ethnographic assessment procedures, dynamic assessments, and input
from the cultural group wit5h which the student identifies with in the local school
community. The article also mentions the gender issues that exists among Hispanic
girls and boys. While opportunities for gifted Hispanic females have increased and
barriers to their achievement have decreased, they remain far below Hispanic
males in gifted programs. These high-achieving young women varied on measures of
achievement motivation, but all exhibited low levels of sex-role traditionalism and
low-to-average levels of fear of success. The article wrapped up with the notion
that Hispanic parents need to be strong advocates for their daughters, along with
educators acquiring better skills in identifying gifted and talented females who
could also have limited English skills.
Currently, we are all witness to our nations schools become more culturally and
identify and educate the gifted and talented become more inclusive and efforts
towards EL learners increase. The research suggests that it is imperative that
high-achieving EL/LEP learners enter the gifted program while they are studying
to become proficient in English. Otherwise, Hispanic student achievement will
continue to lag. Gifted programs help prepare all students of all cultures and
languages with the opportunity to become productive citizens and critical thinkers.
My perspective is that special efforts by educators must continue with identifying
and placing high-achieving Hispanic students in a way that will recognize and honor
their unique talents.
What practices or considerations should be a part of helping to identify English-
Language Learners and Limited Proficient English speakers in the talented and
gifted programs and how would the use of the practice be utilized as a resource?
Something to Prove: Academically Talented Minority Students
http://davidsongifted.org/Search-Database/entryA10013
Kerr, B. & Colangelo, N., 1994. Article accessed March 6, 2017
This article is about a follow-up study on minority students who attained a
composite score of 95th percentile on the American College Testing (ACT) exam.
With regards to minority high-achieving students, emphasis has been placed on
using non-traditional assessments to identify talented minority students.
However, there are minority students who perform well on traditional
assessments and it is essential to learn more about why these students stand out.
These students should not be overlooked just because of their small numbers. This
group of students represent the historically underrepresented minorities who
reached the highest percentiles on standardized tests.
I learned that the basis of this study was centered on the information that is
gathered from students who take the ACT. The minority students were asked to
follow up and respond to several questions regarding their attitudes about
themselves, achievement, and the achievement of minority and majority students.
One noted reason minorities are underrepresented in talented and gifted programs
is because of standardized tests being a major part of the criteria used in
identification. The article states that non-traditional assessments are thought of
as being more appropriate and/or less biased of backgrounds outside of
mainstream. There are reports that say standardized tests lead to disparities in
identification among students. The fact that we have ignored the minority
students who obtain high scores on these standardized tests leads one to ponder
some questions. It is important not to overlook this group and further investigate
to inform educators and researches about the range of talented minorities.
The article mentions the ACT includes a Student Profile Section (SPS) which
contains background information on the test-takers academic plans. Among all
groups, males outnumbered the females, except African-Americans had a higher
number of females reach the 95th percentile. The research found that academic
plans of high scoring minority students did not differ greatly from the majority.
What did differ was attitudes towards achievement and accomplishment of
minority students. The minority students stated that their academic success was
credited to their families support, while Caucasian students credited themselves
as individuals. The students in this study were all attending some of the countrys
most prestigious institutions and ranked effort as the number one reason for their
success. Positive attitude and academic preparation were next on the list. When
the students were asked, What makes you different from Non-Minorities who
scored in the 95th percentile?, the overwhelming response was nothing or my
skin color. The minority students mentioned that to be successful in academia
they had to have knowledge and experience with the dominant American cultures
traditions and subtleties which help to clear confusion over which of the two
answers is the best. To do well, I had to think like a non-minority. Other students
commented that they had to convince themselves and others that they could
succeed despite being a minority. Having something to prove seemed to give many
of the students the strength to succeed in environments where they were
discouraged and disappointed.
I can relate to this article in many ways. As a minority, I have experienced the
thought of feeling like I had to prove myself more than non-minority students. For
the 1st two years in my teaching career, I taught in an African-American Title I
school and that was the first time in my life I had ever been in the majority in a
school setting. This experience is something I reflect on when considering the
background of the minority students I teach. I can clearly see evidence that some
of my high-achieving minority students have a more collective thought about
learning. That idea is also seen in the interaction and communication with the
families. In teaching, high-achieving students, it is important to engage students in
conversation and give them opportunities to express themselves. Its important to
consider that high-achieving minority students may not have overcome all
obstacles, but honestly might be dealing with them daily.
If traditional standardized testing can produce high-performing scores from
minority student groups, how would those students be comparable for
identification purposes, with minority students who are identified using non-
traditional assessments?
