Parallel Session Proceedings »
2.7.6 Developing Equity and Access for American Indian/Alaska Native Youth with Gifts and Talents
We analyzed the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) from The Office of Civil Rights’ (OCR) to identify the nature of equity and access to gifted education for American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) youth. For our analysis, we obtained the secure CRDC data sets from 2000, 2011-12, 2013-14, and 2015-16 which contain data from all U.S. public schools. Our inquiry showed this to be a complex issue with variation related to the state a school is located in, the locale of the school (city, suburb, town, rural), the school’s Title 1 status, and whether or not the school offers gifted education identification and/or services. With this foundational work in place, we now look to next steps in developing equity and access for AIAN youth with gifts and talents. Some states (e.g., Oklahoma, Alabama) have shown success in equity and access to gifted education for AIAN youth, and these strengths will be discussed. The use of local norms rather than national norms for identification will also be addressed. We will discuss the need to identify and educate all stakeholders, at home, in the community, in the schools, and at the district and state levels.