Abstract
As suggested by Peters (2021), educators cannot fully remedy societal issues but can begin with low/moderate-hanging fruit to promote equity and excellence. Universal screening is a good first step, helping districts reduce teacher biases and dependence on parents as educational advocates. Yet without early intervention programs, universal screening often occurs too late. There is power in providing early intervention programs, like Project Reaching Academic Potential (RAP), a project designed to detect and develop potential in students starting in kindergarten. Following this model, we must go beyond programming to change mindsets and provide learning opportunities to educators and families. This holistic approach, especially understanding the interaction of systems like families and educators, takes an ecological system-based perspective on the development of giftedness (e.g., Crawford et al., 2020). We discuss programming, training, partnerships, and making use of meaningful data to make decisions (for more on these and other critical actions to realize equity and excellence in gifted education see https://www.dpi.nc.gov/media/10017/download?attachment).
The three authors collaborated to improve services provided in Title I schools in Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), a majority–minority urban school district in Louisville, Kentucky. The first author continues to work within JCPS and has held many roles (teacher, gifted and talented coordinator, and assistant principal). Like many urban districts, JCPS struggles with closing excellence gaps.
JCPS employed many of the “low-hanging fruit” solutions presented by Peters (2021), such as universal screening at the elementary level and reviewing local norms. These did little to address disparities in advanced and gifted programming. With the funding of a Javits grant, JCPS initiated Project RAP, which was modeled after the Young Scholars Program (Advanced Academic Programs Office, Instructional Services Department, 2013; Horn, 2015) and implemented in several Title I elementary schools. Identifying potential in K–2 required a transformation of school culture. All five schools voluntarily participated and agreed to receive ongoing professional development to help faculty understand that giftedness exists in all zip codes. This training provided identification strategies and shifted pedagogy to personalization and differentiation techniques in all classroom spaces. Families also were coached on how to best nurture their gifted child.
Following this initiative, JCPS opened two new middle schools to promote belonging for students of color. In 2018, W.E.B. DuBois opened with enrollment open to all males regardless of ethnicity but with a focus on leadership and an Afrocentric curriculum. The first author served as the former assistant principal for that school, ensuring that families understood their rights for gifted assessments and services by having family workshops and maintaining a close relationship with families. Females of color within JCPS had the lowest sense of belonging, as indicated by the District Comprehensive School Survey. In 2020, the district opened a female academy, Grace James Academy of Excellence. The opening of these schools illustrates collecting and using meaningful data. JCPS identified a need and then addressed it, promoting equity and excellence. This STEAM Academy focuses on providing rigor to all students through an Afrocentric and gender-specific lens.
Ongoing Professional Learning (PL) for Educators 1
Equity and excellence require climates that recognize talent in students from all backgrounds and seek to provide students opportunities to develop their talents through meeting academic needs. Critically, PL must be ongoing. To shift practices in schools and to eliminate potential biases, PL must occur for all administrators, teachers, and staff.
Project RAP is an example of a whole-school transformation through intensive PL. This program was intentionally started in Title I Schools with few to no students identified as gifted because high potential and achievement were not the focus of those schools. This intentional selection of schools in the district began to shift the deficit mindsets of educators and families by implementing strong talent development and gifted programming. If programs like this begin in early elementary school, there will be an increase in identification of students from diverse backgrounds (Horn, 2015; Little et al., 2018; Robinson et al, 2018).
To sustain this work, schools must commit to continuous PL, including addressing identification techniques that differ from the norm. Implementation of Project RAP reestablished and reprioritized the Kentucky-mandated Primary Talent Pool, informal identification during the primary years intended to nurture potential talent, with an additional emphasis on supporting classroom teachers with the techniques to foster students’ knowledge. Classroom teachers were afforded time to observe their own classroom, taking on the role of observer as another educator engaged their students in learning activities requiring high-level thinking. Teachers then debriefed, including discussing how children from different backgrounds exhibited talent.
Family Education
It is imperative that educators involve families in the process, creating an environment of mutual respect by inviting families into the building for observations, scheduled conferences, and family nights. During Project RAP, we held family nights that explained the early signs of potential giftedness, provided resources, and encouraged questions. At-home resources were provided so families could nurture their children’s academic gifts (e.g., Summer Bridge books, critical thinking exercises). Additionally, each school created a library of resources that families could check out to learn more about ways to support their child. This simple step, which can be easily replicated in other schools, created an interactive partnership between school and home. In the past, many JCPS families have declined gifted services for a qualified student based on not understanding the importance of this programming. During Project RAP, we had little to no pushback regarding acceptance of services for their child as families understood and felt a part of the process.
Conclusion
To make a true impact on dismantling the disproportionalities in gifted education, the following attainable strategies must be in place: early recognition and nurturing of talent, educating families, providing ongoing PL for all educators, and collecting and using meaningful data to decide how to move the needle on equity and excellence within a specific context (e.g., school or district). These solutions are within the reach of every district.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The project described in this commentary was supported under the Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Grant Program, PR/Award Number S206A15003, as administered by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education.
Open Science Disclosure Statements
This commentary is not data based and as such there are no data, protocols, code, or newly created materials to share.
