Articles are listed in descending order by year (most recent first), and then by first author's last name.
Lackey, D., & Lowery, K. (2023). Where are the African American males? Enrollment criteria and the placement of African American males in advanced placement courses. Urban Education, 58(1), 2628–2657.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085920959133
This qualitative study was a critical race analysis of Advanced Placement criteria and under-enrollment of African American males in two midwestern urban high schools. Analysis of faculty interviews and documents generated four themes. AP criteria and enrollment were implemented through formal and informal practices, and key roles of individual faculty and collaboration with faculty and families supported AP structures. However, assumptions about African American males, and color and gender-blind dialogue contributed to disproportionate African American male enrollment in AP courses.
Luckey Goudelock, J., & Grantham, T. (2023). Applying Frasier Four A's to promote upstander teachers for academic acceleration of gifted Black students. Gifted Child Today, 46(4), 250–265.
https://doi.org/10.1177/10762175231186455
Acceleration is an effective approach for many high ability students, and it can be especially beneficial for Black students. Upstander teachers are those who recognize educational crises and the problem of overlooked and underdeveloped gifts and talents of Black students in regular and gifted education programs. They proactively identify Black students’ intellectual and academic strengths and plan not only enrichment services, but accelerated pathways for Black students to be appropriately challenged. Too many Black students with gifts and talents succumb to boredom, underachievement, and atrophy when bystander teachers have low academic expectations of them and fail to recommend them for academically rigorous advanced and accelerated learning experiences. The purpose of this article is to present acceleration as a means of creating equitable opportunities in gifted education for gifted Black students using Frasier’s Four A’s framework: attitude, access, assessment, and accommodation. Specifically, the following questions are addressed: What are upstander attitudes toward acceleration and related policies? How can upstander teachers know if a Black student is a good candidate for acceleration and increase their access to acceleration? How can upstander teachers provide equitable assessments of Black students for acceleration? What can upstander teachers do to support acceleration programming that accommodates the needs of gifted Black students? Six tables provide an overview of acceleration types, a guide to promote equitable acceleration, and considerations for accelerating gifted Black students.
Roegman, R., Allen, D., & Hatch, T. (2019). Dismantling roadblocks to equity? The impact of advanced placement initiatives on Black and Latinx students’ access and performance. Teachers College Record, 121(5), 1–32.
https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811912100505
Background: Increasing access to Advanced Placement (AP) coursework has been a long-term goal of the College Board and many districts across the country, yet achieving this goal has remained elusive, particularly for African American and Latinx youth and youth in poverty.
Purpose: In this study, we analyze the work of five districts that have identified inequities in AP participation and developed initiatives to address these inequities. We examine these districts’ strategies, as well as their impact on both access to AP coursework and success on AP exams. We consider how efforts to increase access to AP have affected different racial/ethnic student groups.
Participants: The five districts are led by superintendents who were members of the Instructional Leaders Network (ILN), a statewide network that focuses on supporting su- perintendents’ system-wide, equity-focused improvement. The districts vary in demographics, size, and socioeconomic status.
Data Collection and Analysis: This mixed methods study includes five years of AP enrollment and performance data for four districts, and two years of data for one district. We also identi- fied two of these districts as case studies of AP initiative development and implementation and conducted a series of interviews with administrators from the districts over the five years of the study. We analyzed quantitative data descriptively and used Bonilla-Silva’s (2018) concept of color-blind racism to analyze these data in relation to the interview data.
Findings: All districts adopted strategies focused on students as a whole, which for the most part led to an increase in access for all racial/ethnic groups, but no consistent pattern of reducing over- or under-representation. In terms of outcomes, in some districts, more students received scores of 3 or higher from all racial/ethnic groups, but disparities in average test scores remained. Additionally, across all districts, Black students continued to receive the lowest scores.
Conclusions: As school districts, individual high schools, and the College Board continue their focus on increasing equity in both access and performance, their approaches need to involve ongoing data collection and evaluation on how different programs and initiatives are positively or negatively affecting student populations that have been traditionally under- served as well as students in general. This research demonstrates that color-neutral policies need to be constantly interrogated by K–12 administrators and other stakeholders to ensure that the policies do not reinforce and sustain existing inequities. If districts seek to target groups of students who are underserved, they need to consider strategies and policies that explicitly and directly address those groups.
Owens, C. M., Ford, D. Y., Lisbon, A. J., & Owens, M. T. (2016). Shifting Paradigms to Better Serve Twice-Exceptional African-American Learners. Behavioral Disorders, 41(4), 196-208.
Existing research on students with twice-exceptional abilities concentrates on strategies to improve the educational experiences of individuals who demonstrate the comorbid presence of a talent for high academic achievement (often considered a strength) and a disability (often considered a weakness). However, this body of work typically excludes the sociocultural context in which these abilities manifest and how the current deficit perspective of ability infringes upon an appropriate education for African-American students with twice-exceptional abilities. Using Hill Collins' (2008) "Interlocking Systems of Oppression" as a framework, we expound on the discourse about twice-exceptional abilities specific to African-American students with a focus on African-American males. We present a case study about the impact deficit perspectives have on identifying and supporting twice-exceptional abilities in African-American students. Recommendations are made to improve the conditions in which twice-exceptional abilities among African-Americans are identified and supported in schools.
Horn, C. V. (2015). Young Scholars: A Talent Development Model for Finding and Nurturing Potential in Underserved Populations. Gifted Child Today, 38(1), 19-31. doi:10.1177/1076217514556532
The Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Young Scholars model offers new language and ideas for thinking about giftedness that embrace expanded beliefs about the nature of intelligence and highlight the importance of nurturing intelligent behavior in children from diverse cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds as early as possible. These expanded beliefs move beyond an exclusionary vocabulary that is based on a child's proficiency in skills that are taught in school or a single score on a standard ability test and instead focus on a child's ability to think, reason, and problem-solve through evidence and assessments that cross cultural, ethnic, and linguistic boundaries. The Young Scholars model is embedded in a continuum of gifted services offered to a broad range of learners, and it has the capacity to be an important vehicle for change. Young Scholars are students who historically have been underrepresented in gifted programs. This includes students from poverty, students whose primary language is not English, and twice exceptional learners. Staff at Young Scholars schools work together to find and nurture gifted potential as early as kindergarten to ensure that no student is overlooked. The model has two goals: (a) to identify students who may not be considered for gifted programs using traditional methods of identification, and who, without that opportunity, are less likely to pursue advanced levels of learning on their own; and (b) to nurture gifted potential at an early age so that Young Scholars will be prepared to engage in challenging subject matter and rigorous courses in elementary school, middle school, high school, and beyond.
Lee, S. Y., Olszewski-Kubilius, P., Peternel, G. (2010). The efficacy of academic acceleration for gifted minority students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 54(3), 189-208.
This study supported the use of acceleration for gifted minority students in math. The gifted minority students in this study viewed taking accelerated math courses as exciting and beneficial for preparation for high school and college and particularly liked the challenges they encountered while taking advanced classes. They enjoyed working ahead and having a "leg up" in school, and were infused with a special feeling of being gifted and talented in taking accelerated math. Ethnicity was not a major factor for teachers' support for acceleration. The teachers believed that acceleration provides necessary challenges for students, makes them committed to schoolwork, and enhances their academic achievement. No negative peer pressure resulting from academic acceleration was found, though the teachers were more certain than the students about the existence of negative peer culture for gifted minority students.
Vantassel-Baska, J., Feng, A. X., Swanson, J. D., Quek, C., & Chandler, K. (2009). Academic and Affective Profiles of Low-Income, Minority, and Twice-Exceptional Gifted Learners: The Role of Gifted Program Membership in Enhancing Self. Journal of Advanced Academics, 20(4), 702-739. doi:10.1177/1932202x0902000406
This study examined the academic and affective profiles of gifted students who were classified under five prototypes, including low-income White students, low-income African American students, low-income other minority students, high nonverbal and low verbal students, and twice-exceptional students. A total of 37 vignettes were developed and analyzed based on interviews with selected students, their teachers, and parents. Within and cross-prototype themes were derived. The results suggested a long-term gifted program impact on special needs students identified through both traditional and alternative assessment. Both cognitive and affective impacts were found, suggesting the power of gifted program membership on enhancing self-confidence and building higher level skills of communication and thinking. (Contains 4 tables.)
Treviño, A., & Mayes, C. (2006). Creating a bridge from high school to college for Hispanic students. Multicultural Education, 14(2), 74-77.
Early College High Schools (ECHS) are defined
as "small schools where students can earn both a high school diploma and
two years of college credit toward a bachelor's degree" (Early Colleges,
2005). ECHSs are designed as places of learning to help young people progress
toward the education and experience they need to succeed in life and in
family-supporting careers. The Utah County Academy of Sciences (UCAS) is
innovative in its approach in assisting Hispanic students. As Hispanic students
enter an Early College High Schools (ECHS) program such as the Utah County
Academy of Sciences (UCAS), it is clear that no single theory of academic
achievement entirely explains why some students succeed in school and others
fail, nor can just one type of program answer everyone's needs. As Hispanic
students enter an ECHS program such as UCAS, it is clear that it is vital to
understand school achievement as a combination of personal, cultural, familial,
interactive, political, and societal issues, and this means understanding the
socio political context in which education takes place. UCAS represents just
one kind of attempt in a specific setting to begin to respond to the
multifaceted needs of students of color. The purpose of presenting an overview
of this experimental program in this article is to provide an example that will
aid other educators and policymakers as they conceptualize and implement their
own unique approaches to the challenge and promise of multicultural education.
Matthews, P. H., and Matthews, M. S. (2004). Heritage language instruction and giftedness in language minority students: Pathways toward success. The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 15, 50-55.
Heritage language instruction and giftedness in language minority students: Pathways toward success. The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 15, 50-55. [Keywords: Characteristics of Gifted Youth]
Language minority students, while often underrepresented in traditional gifted programs, can benefit from "heritage language" courses focused on developing academic proficiency and exploring challenging content in their home language. We describe how heritage language courses can provide an appropriate venue for the identification of gifted potential among language minority students, how such courses can enhance student motivation for learning, and what cognitive benefits may be associated with additive bilingualism developed through such courses.
