Gifted And Talented Education : Socioeconomic Inequalities

Under federal law, all children in the United States are entitled to free public education. Although public education is free, it is not necessarily adequate. For several decades, it has been questioned whether the United States' public school system is meeting the academic needs of African American boys. Teachers rarely connect with the black male culture, which results in high referral rates to special education. This oversight is problematic because, for the most part, the resources available in remedial education programs are insufficient. In this way, educators have failed to meet the needs of African American males. Teachers must start to teach themselves as well as their students about the African American culture so as to increase their understanding of those who are different. Until then, black males will continue to be excluded through their assignment to the category of special education.

Historically, African-American, Latino and Native American students were educated in wholly segregated schools whose funding rates were several times lower than schools made up of all white students. These minority students were also being excluded from many higher institutions (Darling-Hammond). This happened until legal segregation came to an end in the 1960s and many efforts were made to equalize school funding. These efforts have made a substantial difference for student achievement and significantly narrowed minority and white

“Public education does not exist for the benefit of students or for the benefit of their parents. It exists for the benefit of social order,” (John Green). In America, students must endure 12 years of mandatory schooling, and ideally, it should benefit the individual student, but does it actually prepare students for the “real world”? And even after the effort to force students to learn by legally requiring them to go school, “57% of students will not graduate from over 2,000 schools across the nation,” (Waiting for Superman). The American education system focuses on standards, therefore, does not prepare students for the real world.

American students, especially African- and Latin-Americans are performing poorly on international assessments such as the PISA. On the 2012 PISA math and science scores remained below average (496) for African-Americans scoring 421 in math and 439-science and Latin-Americans 455 in math and 462 in science (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012). The educational disparities is exacerbated by the low high-school graduation rates and college attendance by minorities. Part of the problem can be attributed to the disproportionately high number of minority students in remedial classes and lack of diversity in gifted education programs. Several factors contribute to a disproportionate number of minority students being placed in special education. Poverty perpetuate problems ranging from premature births to impoverished neighborhoods. Insufficient funding, inadequate resources, and poor curriculum impedes a constructive learning environment (Artiles, Harry, Reschly, & Chinn, 2002). Also the lack of cultural cohesion between teachers and students may result in students of color placed in special education programs (Bailey, 2012). In addition, some assessments used for placement may be culturally bias (Artiles, Harry, Reschly, & Chinn, 2002) and students possibly lack suitable instruction before being placed in remedial education. Students in impoverished neighborhoods receive considerably less state and local funding, the lack of resources increase the probability of being

“Social-Conflict analysis links formal education to social inequality to show how schooling transforms privilege into personal worthiness and disadvantage into personal deficiency.” (Macionis, 2009) Karl Marx’s social-conflict analysis would make a more direct correlation in the root of capitalism, with a focus on the social inequality of schooling based on creating a disadvantage between the rich and the poor. The unfortunate part of Marx’s theory is that it still holds true today.

The most pressing public policy issue affecting my community is educational disparity and inequality. Education is the key for racial equality, yet the federal government continues to neglect the educational discrepancies that plague various African American communities. Opportunities that are not offered to African American students are a microcosm to the present struggles minorities endure. The continued growth of the Black middle class since the 1960’s has serve to expand the social and educational advancement of black students. However, recent reports show that an increased number of minority high school graduates in urban settings suffer from inadequate school and educational conditions. Since the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibited

Public education in the United States has long promised quality education for all children, regardless of ethnicity, race, or income. However, critics of public education argue that many children do not have equal opportunities to learn and are not likely to attend a quality school. In fact, critics suggest that the education system perpetuates poverty and disadvantage, providing rich and poor schools

The title of the text is 'School Reform and Gifted Education - Opportunities and Issues'.

The article that I read was titled: Assessment Practices and the Underrepresentation of Minority Students in Gifted and Talented Education. This article explained the possible reason for the reoccurring issue of the underrepresentation of minority students in the gifted programs. To explain this reoccurring issue, the article examined the different assessment tools such as rating scales, achievement and mental ability tests. In addition, a study was conducted to evaluate this issue. The article then shares the findings that underrepresentation is not an issue with assessments, but comes from the enduring achievement gap in education. Because of the study, the article shares a variety of ways that educators can use to assist in the identification

As professionals in the field of gifted education, it is our responsibility to educate the whole child in a balanced and appropriate manner so that our students are able not only to identify their unique gifts and talents but also to utilize them to reach their full potential without losing themselves in the

Recent surveys and articles state that "Over 30% of kids in the United States never finish high school. For minority kids, it 's over 50%."1. The public education system in the United States seems to be failing to meet the needs of the children and thus affecting their future outcomes. The average quality of education in Elementary, Middle and High school that a child deserves, is far from superior. Given the growing competition in the world it is imperative to provide a solid educational foundation especially in the field of Math, Science and Reading.

There are a multitude of issues surrounding educational practice in primary and secondary schools around the United States (e.g. School underfunding, growing class sizes, teacher shortages, bullying, etc). In the case of students with ethnic minority backgrounds, those being African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American, and certain Asian American, these issues can often be exacerbated. A number of studies show that for these groups of students, there is a statistically significant portion of students who are not performing at the same levels of other groups of students. The roots of this problem stem from centuries of education oppression by institutional sources. In the case of African American students, there was a period in time, despite many issues surrounding the quality of resources provided to them, they were able to attainment level of achievement not seen as often as today. There have also been many initiatives to address the residual effects that were present in students of color but students of color still consistently lag behind their peers in academic achievement and attainment. This creates an achievement gap between different subgroups of students. This means that students of select ethnic and racial backgrounds score lower across the board on standardized test while also scoring well below the national average. The achievement gap also translate to lower grades, higher high school dropout rates, and more behavioral problems within the classroom. While

My interest gifted education started, when I reflected on my teaching experience and philosophy. Before start pursuing my master degree in the US, I was a kindergarten teacher. During my practice in a public school kindergarten classroom, I had a very bright student who immediately picked up cues that I gave about the activity of the day. She was quickly and correctly finishing the basic math activities. In addition, she was very creative during the art activities. She also demonstrated leadership skills among her classmates. While I was evaluating her, I attributed her success to her family environment. Compared to her classmates, she had very attentive parents. Moreover, she was the last child of the family and her older two siblings were academically successful role models for her. Most importantly, she also attended preschool before she started kindergarten; therefore, her performance was higher compared to classmates who did not have these same experiences. Once I become familiar with advance courses in gifted education, I now realize and feel my mistake, which was either not to consult schools guidance counselor or learn more how to engage her with different type of activities. Therefore, as a part of my professional development, I wanted to focus on the teacher role in the early childhood gifted education. However, I had very little knowledge about

The education system in the United States has fluctuated dramatically throughout generations and has metamorphosed into a system accommodating diversity. All throughout history, we have grown together as a country to allow to feel as if we are wanted and needed in an environment safe for self-reliance. These historical improvements within society coincide with the expansion of acceptance in public schooling, creating a diverse educational outlook on individual student accommodations.

Gagne, 1995 via Mansfield, 2016 ) believes that giftedness is static, or innate , “either you have it or you don’t,” and the other believes that giftedness is dynamic (i.e. Renzulli, 2012 and Vopat, 2011) and can be developed provided the appropriate nourishment and/or access to opportunity. According to Ward (2005), if one agrees that giftedness is innate, then he or she likely favors specialized instruction to meet gifted children’s unique needs similar to how SPED students require differentiated instruction. Alternatively, if one agrees that giftedness is dynamic, then he or she might favor retaining gifted students in the general education setting to capitalize on their “gifts” for the greater good.