Recruiting and retaining underrepresented gifted students

Abstract

Students from low-income and ethnic minority backgrounds are frequently underrepresented in gifted and talented education (GATE) programs. In this chapter, we contest the typical definition of underrepresentation in GATE, that is, if a group's percentage of students in a GATE program is substantially lower that that group's percentage in the school population, underrepresentation is present. We argue that underrepresentation cannot be understood without taking into account the pervasive achievement and excellence gaps that exist. Moreover, given that most definitions of gifted and talented involve performance at a high level, we suggest that students performing at the advanced levels on national achievement tests are a plausible group against which underrepresentation can be benchmarked. We conclude the chapter with several recommendations drawn from the empirical literature within and beyond the field of gifted education for both recruiting students from underrepresented groups into GATE programs and retaining them once they are enrolled. We also acknowledge that addressing the issue of underrepresentation is not a short-term endeavor and requires an enduring commitment at all levels of the school system.