New Study Finds Gifted Programs Favor Wealth Over Ability

Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
New Study Finds Gifted Programs Favor Wealth Over Ability
By MERIBAH KNIGHT • OCT 10, 2019
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  • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION



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A new study confirms that lower-income elementary students are far less likely than their wealthier counterparts to be placed in gifted programs. That’s even when those students go to the same school and display the same levels of academic achievement.

Vanderbilt University's Jason Grissom co-authored the study. He says, while people often talk about a lack of access to gifted programs for low-income students, his research found something different.

“The biggest separation wasn’t across schools, but within schools,” Grissom says. “We found kids going to the exact same schools had very different probabilities of being assigned on the basis of socioeconomic status.”

The study, conducted jointly by Vanderbilt and the University of Florida, was just published in the Harvard Educational Review. And it’s the first of its kind to use both national data and achievement data (math and reading scores) to weigh the question of access to such programs.

Grissom, an associate professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, says districts like Metro Schools should take stock of recruitment efforts to gifted programs. In 2017, for example, Nashville tested every second grader in the district for its gifted program, only to stop the next year due to cost.

“I think our results suggest that the district would benefit from taking a hard look at its assignment processes and how kids are identified [for gifted programs],” Grissom says.

According to the city’s most recent diversity report, the number of black and Hispanic students in the district’s gifted program falls short of its equity requirements.
 

HappilyLiberal

Well-Known Member
I think this is definitely the case as well.

This. My little cousin is gifted. We've known this since she was 4. Her mom was too lazy to get the evaluation completed. She's now in seventh grade and they are talking about skipping her. I wish her mom would have gotten her into the gifted school instead because she would have gotten a better education.

Then, someone offered to pay for the child to go to one of the best Catholic girls schools in the city. Her mom doesn't want her in an all-girls school!

I mourn for what could have been for this child!
 

dancinstallion

Well-Known Member
This. My little cousin is gifted. We've known this since she was 4. Her mom was too lazy to get the evaluation completed. She's now in seventh grade and they are talking about skipping her. I wish her mom would have gotten her into the gifted school instead because she would have gotten a better education.

Then, someone offered to pay for the child to go to one of the best Catholic girls schools in the city. Her mom doesn't want her in an all-girls school!

I mourn for what could have been for this child!

That is many blessings that the mom keeps passing on. It is a blessing for a school to want to skip a child. All girl schools are some of the best top performing schools!
I, too, weep for your little cousin because of all the opportunities her mom is depriving her from. :(

I have to pull teeth and jump through hoops to get Dd skipped a grade level. The school/assistant principal asked me why would I want her to skip when she can stay is this grade and make all A's? I said because I want her to be challenged. :mad:
 

Evolving78

Well-Known Member
It’s not.
Not in a diverse school. Gotta build our own. People that are smart enough, or skilled enough could start something themselves. Can’t wait for others to do it. Like somebody likes to crochet and they are good at it, so they set up a meetup at Starbucks to teach others. Very simple. White folks ain’t coming to save us.
 
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Evolving78

Well-Known Member
This. My little cousin is gifted. We've known this since she was 4. Her mom was too lazy to get the evaluation completed. She's now in seventh grade and they are talking about skipping her. I wish her mom would have gotten her into the gifted school instead because she would have gotten a better education.

Then, someone offered to pay for the child to go to one of the best Catholic girls schools in the city. Her mom doesn't want her in an all-girls school!

I mourn for what could have been for this child!
Some people don’t like to compete, move forward (not liking to make changes that make them or things uncomfortable), therefore they stay )for a lack of a better word) mediocre.
 

Southernbella.

Well-Known Member
Both of mine were recommended for screening by their white teachers. I know anecdotes aren't data but equity it is possible when there is a concerted and conscious effort in the school. Our gifted program is representative of the student population which should always be the goal but we know how unconscious bias works. (Our district is middle class, for reference)
 
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Kurlee

Well-Known Member
Not in a diverse school. Gotta build our own. People that are smart enough, or skilled enough could start something themselves. Can’t wait for others to do it. Like somebody likes to crochet and they are good at it, so they set up a meetup at Starbucks to teach others. Very simple. White folks ain’t coming to save us.
This. The data shows that Black kids are severely underrepresented in gifted. I'm sure there are anomalous circumstances where kids are getting what they need through advocacy or chance, but for every one that gets, there's dozens that don't. Those kinds of odds are not going to cut it.
 
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Southernbella.

Well-Known Member
Not in a diverse school. Gotta build our own. People that are smart enough, or skilled enough could start something themselves. Can’t wait for others to do it. Like somebody likes to crochet and they are good at it, so they set up a meetup at Starbucks to teach others. Very simple. White folks ain’t coming to save us.

What do you mean when you say "build our own"? Are you referring to black schools?
 

Southernbella.

Well-Known Member
Build our own gifted programs.
I think this article presents an idea to start a gifted program for students that may not be granted access to programs within the school district.

That's not a bad idea. Would the goal be for them to be in schools or separate/out in the community?
 

RoundEyedGirl504

Well-Known Member
One thing I have found out since looking into schools here, for some of the better public schools, you can have your kid tested at pre-k level, and if they're determined to be gifted they can be admitted to the pre-k programs and of course then they can stay on to complete lower school at the good school. But, you as a parent would need to pay for an assessment, and a gifted pre-k 4 child isn't likely gifted in any true sense, so really you are paying to get ahead of the curve. I don't know if many parents even know this option is out there, and whether they can afford to exercise it. There is a lot of gaming the system when it comes to these things, and as someone who wasn't designated as gifted until middle school, I think a lot of it comes down to knowing what to ask for. If you're not well versed on what's available as a parent it's easy to miss the opportunity to even attempt to advocate.
 

dancinstallion

Well-Known Member
I have an eery feeling. Once a black kid is in the gifted classes, I have noticed a weeding out system of the black kids/minorities in these gifted programs.
 
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Kurlee

Well-Known Member
The histories and biases embedded in these standardized tests are deeply problematic, too. :nono:
 
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