Home » Blog » Gifted and Talented: Finding and Calculating Representation Rates Show Scott J. Peters Nationally, students from African American, Latinx, and Native American families are underrepresented in gifted education by 43%, 30%, and 13% respectively (as of 2016). Students with disabilities and who are still learning English are also underrepresented by roughly 75%. Sadly, these rates of inequity are not new and have been documented since at least the 1970s. One potential barrier to successfully addressing this challenge is lack of awareness. The first step to solving a problem is understanding the current state of affairs. Gifted program coordinators or teachers are too often a one person show where they handle everything from program administration to direct instruction with their students. This leaves less time for proactive planning and reflective practice. In an area where there are few easy solutions, one thing is now a lot easier. Racial, ethnic, language, and disability demographic data are now available for every school and district in the United States. This means that right now, you can go to the Office of Civil Rights data collection website and search for any school or district. From there you can see the exact demographics of their gifted population compared to the overall population. These data can then be used for professional development with staff or proactive planning and program implementation to try and mitigate this inequality. A handout and a narrated video walk you through how to use this important resource. Use these resources at a team meeting, with a parent advisory council, or as you reflect on what your school is already doing, and what it could do differently to challenge these longstanding rates of disproportionality. Scott J. Peters is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The views expressed herein represent the opinion of the author and not necessarily the National Association for Gifted Children. What group of students is extremely underrepresented in gifted programs?Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students are significantly underrepresented in gifted programs. English language learners and students with disabilities also participate in gifted programs at a rate well below the percentage of gifted students in those cohorts.
What accounts for disproportionately low representation in gifted and talented programs?One cause for the gaps is a lack of student referrals from educators. Black students are 66 percent less likely to be referred to gifted programs in math and reading than their white classmates, according to a 2016 study by researchers from Vanderbilt University.
Which ethnic group is more likely to recommended for gifted programs?Nearly 60 percent of students in gifted education are white, according to the most recent federal data, compared to 50 percent of public school enrollment overall. Black students, in contrast, made up 9 percent of students in gifted education, although they were 15 percent of the overall student population.
Which is the most common profile of gifted learners?Type I – The Successful
Perhaps as many as 90% of identified gifted students in school programs are Type I's. Children who demonstrate the behavior, feelings, and needs classified as Type I's have learned the system. They have listened closely to their parents and teachers.
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Which of the following demographics of students is over-represented in gifted and talented programs?
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