Recruiting and Retaining Gifted Students from Diverse Ethnic, Cultural, and Language Groups

1. Chapter 15Recruiting and Retaining Gifted Students from Diverse Ethnic, Cultural, and Language Groups Susan Bratek Courtney Shevchuk

2. How can we recruit and retain more racial and ethnic minority students in gifted education? • How can we have gifted education programs that are both excellent and equitable?

3. Gifted and Talented “The term ‘gifted and talented’….means students, children, or youth who give evidence of high achievement capacity in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who need services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities.” (Title IX, Part A, Section 9101(22) (p.544)

4. Recruitment • Screening • Identification • Placement

5. Deficit Thinking • When educators interpret differences as deficits, dysfunctions, and disadvantages. • Differences are interpreted negatively (abnormal, substandard, inferior, etc.)

6. Screening Issues and Barriers • To be considered for gifted education: • tested with cutoff scores • teacher referral • checklists

7. 1993, U.S. Department of Education issued a definition of giftedness, relying on talent development: “Children and youth with outstanding talent perform or show the potential for performing at remarkable high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment. These children and youth exhibit high performance capacity in intellectual, creative, and/or artistic areas, possess an unusual leadership capacity, or excel in specific academic fields. They require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the schools. Outstanding talents are present in children and youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor.” (USDE, 1993, p.3)

8. Identification/Assessment Issues and Barriers • “What is valued as giftedness in one culture may not be valued in another.” • In different cultures, there are differences in giftedness: • Cognitive • Academic • Spatial • Musical • Interpersonal • Navigational skills • Hunting skills

9. Intelligence/Achievement Tests • Test verbal skills, abstract thinking, math skills • Ignore other forms of intelligence that may be valued by other groups • Scores in these tests are the dominant role in identification and placement

10. Extensive Use of Cutoff Scores • Most frequently, IQ = 130 or above • Average IQ = 100 • Average for African Americans = 83-87 • Average for Whites = 97-100 • Average for those who live in poverty = 85

11. The Bell Curve

12. Interpreting Results • Negative stereotypes • Heavily subjective • Interpretations influenced by the quantity and quality of training to work with diverse cultural, ethnic, and language groups.

13. Interpreting Results “The ultimate responsibility for appropriate test use and interpretation lies predominantly with the test user. In assuming this responsibility, the user must become knowledgeable about a test’s appropriate uses and the populations for which it is appropriate.” (p. 112)

14. How can we make responsible and defensible decisions about culturally diverse students when assessments and interpretation of test results ignore or trivialize the impact of culture?

15. Data Collection Data collected on students should be: • Multidimensional: collected from multiple sources • Multimodal: collected in variety of ways • Verbally and Nonverbally • Subjective and Objective

16. Placement Issues and Barriers • “Many racial, ethnic, and language minority groups are likely to be gifted underachievers or potentially gifted students.” (Ford, 1996) • If intelligence and achievement data were collected during screening, educators would know whether the student is: • Gifted and achieving • Gifted and underachieving

17. Should these students be placed? • Educators have often chosen to not place these students • “When placement is combined with support, gifted underachieving students are more likely to be successful in gifted education programs.” (410)

18. What policies, practices, procedures, philosophies, and supports should be in place for diverse students to experience success and remain in gifted education?

19. “Abilities – gifts and talents – should be recognized and nurtured early (USDE, 1993) especially among students already at risk of being unrecognized as gifted.” (411) Recruitment RecommendationsTalent Development Philosophy Changes in Standardized Tests and Assessment Practices If you are concerned about the testing used to screen for gifted students: 1. never select, use, interpret tests that lack validity for students from racial, ethnic, language minorities 2. mesh process of assessment with cultural characteristics of the group being studied 3. tests should never be given so much power that other data is disregarded, just assist

20. Culturally Reduced Tests -performance based -abstract figural -nonverbal content Culturally Loaded Tests -printed instructions -require reading -verbal content -requires written response vs. “Nonverbal tests decrease the confounding effects of language skills on test performance and consequently increase the chance of students from diverse groups being identified as gifted.” (pg. 412)

21. Culturally Sensitive Tests • There is a need to include non-verbal tests in screening and identification. • The best to date test for African American students: Naglieri Non-Verbal Abilities Test Raven’s Matrix Analogies Tests

22. Multicultural Assessment Preparation What you need to know as the teacher or administer of the test: -cultural assessment variables -preparation in gifted education, urban and multicultural education, and multicultural education Cultural Assessment Variables: The students heritage, religion, history of immigration, child-rearing practices, language skills, gender roles, views about assimilation about authority figures and family structure

23. Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)Sample Questions Vocabulary

24. Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)Sample Questions Math Concepts and Estimation

25. Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) Sample Questions Verbal Classification

26. Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) Sample Questions Verbal Analogies

27. Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test (NNAT) Sample Questions

28. Retention Recommendations • Many African Americans are choosing not to be in gifted programs. • High Achievement = “Acting White” • Multicultural Curriculum

30. Retention Recommendations • Multicultural Counseling • Teachers need to be aware and take action • Supportive systems • Ongoing Professional Development