Parallel Session Proceedings »
3.1.4 Guiding the Gatekeepers: Using Professional Learning to Promote Equity and Access in K-12 Gifted Education
It is no secret that students of color are frequently underrepresented in gifted programs. One possible cause is the lack of teacher referral, partially due to lack of knowledge or understanding regarding the cultural characteristics of giftedness, and how cultures manifest giftedness in different ways. This presentation will share current and seminal research from Donna Ford, Alexinia Baldwin, Jaime Castellano, Mary Frasier, and Joyce VanTassel-Baska, among others, that highlights the dire needs for targeted professional development workshops for classroom teachers focused on the characteristics of typically underrepresented populations: culturally, linguistically and economically diverse gifted students. The session will include a focus on understanding and breaking through privilege in order to fully understand that the characteristics of various cultures and backgrounds. Participants will leave not only with a better understanding of characteristics of giftedness across cultures, but also with a plan for transferring this information via professional learning in their schools or districts, following a four-zone plan. Participants start with developing an understanding of the culture of their students, which includes recognizing their own culture and general sense of cultural awareness. Participants will learn about the culture of students specific to giftedness, and how different cultures may manifest giftedness in different ways, and may not show the traits that are on typical checklists. The third zone involves professional learning regarding frontloading and instructional supports to facilitate recruitment and retention of CLED students, and the final zone encourages parent and community involvement and support for the program (Lewis & Novak, 2019). Participants will walk through this four-zone plan with a model of a CLED gifted group, while discussion centers on how to extrapolate this plan for their districts and teachers.