Breaking into the Playground of Privilege: An Analysis of GT Program Identification Procedures

This research seeks to identify solutions to minority exclusion within Gifted and Talented (GT) education programs. Minority students are consistently underrepresented within these programs, highlighting and reinforcing deeper social disparities. This exclusion is perpetuated in part by inequitable identification procedures implemented by school districts. This research conducts a study of relevant literature and compiles interviews of experts in the field of gifted education to identify the causes of and solutions to a lack of minority representation within GT programs. The study finds that parent/teacher nominations, biased standardized tests, and socioeconomic factors can typically be barriers to identification. Universal screening, local norming, and frontloading are identified as strategies to be implemented to improve minority inclusion.