LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD: ACHIEVING PROPORTIONAL GIFTED REPRESENTATION THROUGH OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN AND NONVERBAL ASSESSMENTS

Abstract

Administrators in school systems strive to ensure that the identification of giftedness in elementary students results in proportional demographic representation. Overly stringent or biased gifted identification results in deserving students receiving fewer opportunities-to-learn and exacerbates the excellence gap. My aim in this action research for transformation project was to utilize three complementary perspectives on the continuum of giftedness to generate a more representative pool of students who will be further screened and potentially offered the opportunity to participate in the gifted education programming in East Carolina County Schools. One perspective was provided by a nonverbal identification instrument, another perspective by the nonverbal form of a well-established test of academic ability, and the third perspective by a science-oriented, classroom-based instructional program. Teachers of Grade 3 and Grade 4 and their students at a rural, low socio-economic, and diverse elementary school participated in this three-month, school-based intervention to achieve proportional representation of Black and Hispanic students among those accepted into the gifted education program. As a result of my study, several modifications to current practice have been suggested and key questions for future research emerged. The combined role of one nonverbal assessment along with teacher observations proved partially effective. By further adding the identification of the top 10% in demographic groups, my study showed promise to achieving the goal of a truly level playing field.