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'I Struggled but I Made It': Black Gifted Underachievers on Transitioning to College

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Title: 'I Struggled but I Made It': Black Gifted Underachievers on Transitioning to College
Language: English
Authors: Sewell, Christopher J. P. (ORCID 0000-0002-6260-1958), Goings, Ramon B.
Source: Journal of Advanced Academics. May 2020 31(2):111-128.
Availability: SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 18
Publication Date: 2020
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Elementary Secondary Education
High Schools
Descriptors: African American Students, Underachievement, Student Adjustment, Adults, Barriers, Academic Persistence, Public Schools, College Applicants, College Freshmen, Academically Gifted, Reflection, Elementary Secondary Education, Self Concept, Coping, Racial Identification, High School Students, Educational Environment, Educational Experience
Geographic Terms: New York (New York)
DOI: 10.1177/1932202X20901506
ISSN: 1932-202X
Abstract: Research on Black student presence in gifted and talented programs consistently illuminates issues with recruitment and underrepresentation. While enrolled, gifted Black students face a series of issues that affect their ability to persist and achieve, especially in nondiverse environments. This work examines the reflections of four Black adults who attended gifted schools in New York City and encountered significant hurdles during their K-12 schooling. These findings are excerpted from a larger qualitative study that investigated how Black adults, who were identified as gifted in New York City Public Schools, reflected on their experiences as gifted students and how they leveraged those experiences to persist to and through college. Using Schlossberg's model for adapting to transitions as the theoretical frame, findings suggest that participants received limited guidance as they transitioned to college but learned many lessons that led to become productive in college.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2020
Accession Number: EJ1250239
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0142720268;[261p]01may.20;2020Apr16.03:41;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0142720268-1">"I Struggled But I Made It": Black Gifted Underachievers on Transitioning to College </title> <p>Research on Black student presence in gifted and talented programs consistently illuminates issues with recruitment and underrepresentation. While enrolled, gifted Black students face a series of issues that affect their ability to persist and achieve, especially in nondiverse environments. This work examines the reflections of four Black adults who attended gifted schools in New York City and encountered significant hurdles during their K–12 schooling. These findings are excerpted from a larger qualitative study that investigated how Black adults, who were identified as gifted in New York City Public Schools, reflected on their experiences as gifted students and how they leveraged those experiences to persist to and through college. Using Schlossberg's model for adapting to transitions as the theoretical frame, findings suggest that participants received limited guidance as they transitioned to college but learned many lessons that led to become productive in college.</p> <p>Keywords: Black gifted students; underachievers; college access; transition theory</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-2">Introduction</hd> <p>In U.S. schools, Black children are often subjugated to an experience where their deficits are seen more than their gifts and talents ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref1">21</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref2">36</reflink>]). Thus, there is no surprise that when looking at the most recent data from the [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref3">42</reflink>] that for the 2013–2014 school year, Black students represented 9.9% of students in gifted programs while comprising approximately 16% of the public school population. As a result, the continued underrepresentation of Black students in gifted education has been studied in depth by a number of Black scholars who advocate through their research for Black children's increased and equitable representation in gifted programs to change (e.g., [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref4">5</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref5">1</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref6">10</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref7">13</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref8">23</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref9">26</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref10">27</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref11">43</reflink>]). In this research, the aforementioned scholars have explored several factors affecting Black children's representation in gifted education such as the teacher referral process, bias testing requirements for gifted program admission, and deficit perspectives of school personnel about Black children.</p> <p>Although we know much about how and why Black students are placed (or not) into gifted education programs, there is less information known about Black gifted underachievers—a unique population of Black gifted students. In this study, we borrow the gifted underachievement definition described by [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref12">14</reflink>] who argued that gifted underachievers are those students who simply may not be meeting their potential despite being a high- or low-achieving student. As the aforementioned authors explained, "At the heart of the notion, definition, and reality of underachievement is a discrepancy between ability (e.g., perceived and/or tested) and potential" (p. 402). Understanding the experiences of Black gifted underachievers is necessary as we argue that educators often assume that when a student is identified as gifted, they have all the skills and supports needed to succeed in the gifted education environment. However, as described in our findings, there are Black gifted students who are also underachievers and must navigate gifted programs that are not structured to support and affirm their various identities (e.g., racial, gender, ability). Therefore, this study, which stems from a larger qualitative project exploring the perspectives of 17 Black adults who were identified as gifted in New York City (NYC) Public Schools as children, examines their experiences transitioning through their gifted programs, how these programs in some ways cultivated their underachiever identity, and how they persisted to college.</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-3">Review of Literature</hd> <p>Access to higher education is extremely competitive for gifted and talented students who have strong academic records and have a plethora of postsecondary options ([<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref13">34</reflink>]). Due to the negative perceptions of Black student achievement and deficit thinking of some secondary school teachers, counselors, and leaders, gifted Black students have negative experiences when applying to college and are not always pushed to choose the collegiate track as an option ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref14">15</reflink>]). While this is the case, research points to there also being differences in the relationships and experiences of gifted students who are labeled as <emph>underachievers</emph>. [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref15">29</reflink>] work looked to explore the differences between gifted achievers and gifted underachievers. They determined that the major differences between the two groups fell in four specific factors: attitudes toward school, attitudes toward teachers, goal valuation, and motivation/self-regulation factors of the School Attitude Assessment Survey–Revised (SAAS-R; [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref16">29</reflink>]).</p> <p>Similarly, when looking specifically at the differences between Black gifted achievers and underachievers, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref17">12</reflink>] highlighted several school-related factors that sit at the center of the underachievement of Black gifted student: (a) less positive teacher–student relations, (b) having too little time to understand the material, (c) a less supportive classroom climate, (d) being unmotivated and disinterested in school, and (e) lack of attention to multicultural education. At the same time, research points to the need to examine other factors that affect underachievers such as racial identity issues ([<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref18">24</reflink>]), peer pressure ([<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref19">33</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref20">37</reflink>]), relationships with school counselors ([<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref21">32</reflink>]). Relatedly, [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref22">31</reflink>] Attitude-Achievement Paradox explored the tensions at play for Black students in school. She argues that while Black students may see hard work as critical to their success, they simultaneously note that for Black people this might not be true due to racial discrimination and prejudices in society. This tension can cause some Black students to choose to withdraw as they may not see the efficacy of working hard while in school. With that being said, it is important to examine the experiences of students with academic potential that may encounter difficulties when applying to college and then charting how in their quest for higher education they are able to overcome some of the same issues in their transition to and through college.</p> <p>Higher education literature has seen an increasing amount of attention paid to students who are high-achieving and/or are academically successful ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref23">18</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref24">19</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref25">20</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref26">25</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref27">30</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref28">40</reflink>]). Much of this work speaks to similar issues of struggle when students work to navigate hostile campus environments ([<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref29">25</reflink>]). Although these studies have focused on high-achieving students, there has been little research in higher education literature that has explored the college experiences of formally identified gifted Black collegians ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref30">4</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref31">16</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref32">17</reflink>]). [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref33">17</reflink>] denotes that this gap in the literature around underachievers might be due to "mistaken assumption that the academic success of high achievers overshadows any of the problems they encounter along the way to that 'success' or that there is 'more' to learn from underachievers than from high achievers" (p. 571). More specifically, little work has been done to examine how gifted students who have struggled academically and experienced hostile secondary schooling environments transition successfully into their higher education settings. Thus, building on a larger project which explores the academic and life trajectory of Black adults who were identified as gifted in NYC Public Schools, this study explores how four Black gifted students who struggled academically worked to thrive in college and beyond.</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-4">Theoretical Framework</hd> <p>As the aim of this study is to investigate how our participants got into and successfully transitioned to college, this work utilizes [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref34">35</reflink>] model for adapting to transitions. By transition, Schlossberg means "an event or non-event [that] results in a change in assumptions about oneself and the world and thus requires a corresponding change in one's behavior and relationships" (p. 5). Schlossberg further emphasized the importance of an individual's ability to adapt to a transition. Schlossberg discussed three factors that influence how well (or not) individuals adapt to transition: (a) characteristics of the transition, (b) characteristics of the environments pre- and posttransition, and (c) characteristics of the individual experiencing the transition. For this study, this theoretical framework provides a lens to explore how our participants were able to utilize information prior to the transition to thrive when they get to college.</p> <p>[<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref35">35</reflink>] explained that first it is important to understand the details of the transition and an individual's perception of the transition. Some characteristics to consider are whether an individual gains or loses from the transition, whether the transition is timely, and whether the transition is temporary or permanent. In our study, it was important to understand when these gifted students encountered issues academically and, in their college process, how they were able to see the bigger picture to persist despite feeling as if they may have already lost in their current environment.</p> <p>Second, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref36">35</reflink>] noted that having context about an individual's environment pre-and post-transition is paramount ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref37">36</reflink>]). In discussing these environmental factors, Schlossberg suggested that you must understand the internal support systems an individual has like family and friends along, institutional supports, and the physical environments that encompass and affect the transition (e.g., school, neighborhood, workplace). This lens informed how our participants were able to see their college environments as different from their high school and use it as an opportunity to grow rather than continue to let their secondary experiences in K–12 affect their long-term goals.</p> <p>Third, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref38">35</reflink>] argued that it is important to understand the characteristics of the individual. These characteristics include identities such as "age, sex, gender, race, socioeconomic status, and previous experiences with similar transitions" ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref39">36</reflink>], p. 22). While not a component of Schlossberg's theory, we argue it is not only important to understand how those identities affect an individual's transition, but we must examine how those identities intersect. More specifically, looking at the intersections of race, academic ability, and socioeconomic status influences the transition experiences of Black gifted underachievers in this study.</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-5">Method</hd> <p>Given the aim of our study and paucity of literature that centers the voices of Black gifted underachievers, using qualitative methods was most appropriate. More specifically, this study aims to explore the participants' experiences as <emph>underachievers</emph> and the impact these programs had on their life trajectory. This study was guided by the following two research questions:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> <bold> Research Question 1: </bold> How do Black gifted underachievers experience the college application process?</item> <p></p> <item> <bold> Research Question 2: </bold> What resources do these students use to enable a successful transition to their first year of college?</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0142720268-6">Data Sources and Analysis</hd> <p>The participants in this study come from a larger data sample of 17 Black adults who were identified as gifted while attending NYC public schools ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref40">36</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref41">22</reflink>]). Participants were selected for this study if they (a) self-identified as African American/Black and (b) were formally identified as gifted during their K–12 tenure in an NYC public school. Participants who specifically spoke about being <emph>underachievers</emph> were then analyzed separately for this study. Underachievers, in this case, were students who spoke to struggles in their schooling, being held back, or having to leave their gifted schools due to poor grades. Semi-structured interviews and demographic questionnaire data from four participants (one female, three males) served as the primary source of data in this study. A semi-structured interview approach was utilized because it provided flexibility for the interviews to take a conversational approach while making it possible "that all interviewees are asked the same basic questions. By standardizing the interviews to some degree, the researcher preserves a degree of comparability across interviews" ([<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref42">38</reflink>], p. 50).</p> <p>After completing a demographic questionnaire, each participant engaged in a phone interview that lasted between 45 and 90 min in length. Each interview was recorded using the telephone conferencing recording system, Free Conference Call. Sample research questions included "What was your experience like in applying to college?" "Were there any negative consequences for being an academically successful Black student on your college campus?" and "What sacrifices did you make to succeed in college?" Table 1 provides demographic information about the specific participants in this study.</p> <p>Graph</p> <p>Table 1. Participant Demographic Information.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup><col align="left" /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /></colgroup><thead><tr><th align="center">Participant</th><th align="center">Gender (during school years)</th><th align="center">Elementary school racial breakdown</th><th align="center">Middle school racial breakdown</th><th align="center">High school racial breakdown</th><th align="center">High school type</th><th align="center">Undergraduate institution</th><th align="center">Highest level of education</th><th align="center">Current occupation</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Emerson</td><td>Female</td><td>Predominantly White</td><td>Racially Diverse</td><td>Predominantly White</td><td>Gifted and Talented School</td><td>University of Hartford</td><td>Master's</td><td>School Psychologist</td></tr><tr><td>Oliver</td><td>Male</td><td>Predominantly Black</td><td>Predominantly Black</td><td>Predominantly Asian</td><td>Specialized Public HS</td><td>Howard University</td><td>Master's</td><td>Freelance Artist</td></tr><tr><td>Huey</td><td>Male</td><td>Predominantly White</td><td>Predominantly White</td><td>Racially Diverse</td><td>Gifted and Talented School/Traditional Public School</td><td>CUNY City College</td><td>Master's</td><td>School Leader</td></tr><tr><td>Dave</td><td>Male</td><td>Predominantly Black</td><td>Predominantly Black</td><td>Predominantly White</td><td>Private Day School</td><td>Morehouse/CUNY City College</td><td>Bachelor's</td><td>Writer</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>1 <emph>Note.</emph> HS = high school; CUNY = City University of New York.</p> <p>Each interview was transcribed using a transcription service. After transcribing interviews, accuracy was ensured with member checking by providing each participant a copy of the transcript. This allowed the participants to elaborate or contextualize any of their statements. We then used a modified version of [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref43">2</reflink>] analysis approach and recommendations. During Stage 1, we read all of the participant transcripts to select the participants who discussed being an underachiever during their K–12 tenure. Once the four participants were identified, we then read through their transcripts to gain a sense of the participants' experiences as underachievers. During Stage 2, we used Dedoose to analyze the interview transcripts and develop initial codes. At the conclusion of this stage, we then had a conversation about insights gained from our initial analysis. We then used our transition theoretical framework and explored how the participants transitioned into college during Stage 3. At the conclusion of Stage 3, we had the following codes: academic difficulties, academic rigor, college decision negative, college decision positive, college placement, stereotype management, transitions. We used these codes and clustered them into themes, which are presented in the "Findings" section.</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-7">Researcher Positionality</hd> <p>Both authors of this article are Black men and were identified as gifted. While neither was labeled <emph>underachievers</emph>, both authors experienced similar points of struggle and triumph during the transition to college. The first author attended a large NYC Public School that required an admissions exam. During his college process, he was discouraged from applying Early Decision to college by the head of his school's college office. With the help of others, he was able to circumvent his school's process, complete his application on time, and earn an early decision acceptance. Even with this assistance, as a first-generation college student from a single-parent household, planning for the financial and independent realities for college was something that he was prepared. The second author who attended an independent private day school in Connecticut felt that we he was undermatched during his college selection process by his college counselor despite having a strong academic profile. In addition, despite family support, his family lacked critical social capital necessary to support aspects of the college process like financial aid and course selection. It is important to know the shared experiences that we had with our participants and how this influenced our data analysis. Because we shared similar identities and experiences with our participants, we took precautions to ensure that we separated the experiences of our experiences versus the live realities of our participants. With that said, we believe that our closeness to the topic garnered us somewhat of an insider perspective, and through our interactions with our participants, we were able to foster an understanding of their college choice experience.</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-8">Trustworthiness</hd> <p>To maximize the trustworthiness of our data and analysis, we employed several of [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref44">41</reflink>] recommendations for qualitative research. It was important that we ensure the sincerity of our study which Tracy defined as "research [that] is marked by honesty and transparency about the researcher's biases, goals, and foibles as well as how these played a role in the methods, joys, and mistakes of research" (p. 841). Given our previously discussed relationship to this topic as two Black men identified as gifted who navigated the transition to college, we believed our past experiences are critical to our engagement in this work and how we subsequently conducted our analysis. Finally, we engaged in peer debriefing which [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref45">9</reflink>] suggest researchers do to have individuals who have a deep understanding of the phenomena under investigation. As a result, we shared our findings with an expert in the field of gifted education. This process was particularly fruitful as our peer debriefer gave us a varying perspective of our data interpretations and pushed us to consider other possibilities for our data analysis.</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-9">Findings</hd> <p>We present three thematic findings in this section. The first key theme, "My [Black] School is Changing," posits that their <emph>underachieving</emph> in high school was linked to feelings of being misunderstood by their peers and the larger school environment and not being in spaces that affirmed their racial identities. The second key theme, "Experiences Applying to College," centered on their experiences applying to college and how the participants in this study encountered hiccups while applying to college from lack of guidance in college choice and selection to issues with financial aid. The final finding "Transitions and Lessons in College" explores their transitions to college. Despite some of the setbacks in their application process, lessons learned about themselves and larger systems of equity/inequity helped our participants construct successful transitions and reconcile the disconnects between their racial identity and their academic environments as they transitioned to college and beyond.</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-10">My [Black] School Is Changing!</hd> <p>For all of the participants, the transition to upper middle school and high school proved to be challenging. Each of the participants in this study went to elementary schools that were either racially diverse or predominantly Black. In elementary school, participants like Oliver were accepted and affirmed as Black gifted students. Oliver spoke fondly about how these affirmations were empowering:</p> <p>I was coming from a very holistic learning environment, elementary and middle school, and also one thing that should be expressed is that my elementary and middle schools were very, very, very pro-black and very Afrocentric...</p> <p>Oliver's experiences reflect the ways in which the participants felt a certain kinship in the earlier school experiences. For the participants, being affirmed as Black and gifted created a sense of self that tied their academics to their budding racial identities.</p> <p>The transition to high school was then particularly challenging because not only was their Blackness at the center of their experiences, their new school environments did not provide the proper social and academic scaffolding. Oliver contextualized what this meant for him in transitioning to a large specialized high school:</p> <p>... I'm leaving this very affirming black environment to an environment that completely did not recognize Black people as intelligent in any way. There was nothing that I encountered in my high school experience, outside of that which I already knew, that really affirmed that African American people or black people period are intelligent and highly valuable to society. So that was really traumatizing and uncomfortable and there wasn't really anyone to speak to about that discomfort...</p> <p>This lack of acknowledgment of the racial identity forced the participants to rethink their sense of belonging academically, something that they had already grown quite comfortable with.</p> <p>This experience manifested itself in the classroom and not simply in the larger school atmosphere. The subject of multiple microaggressions began to affect the participants' relationship to and with school. For Emerson, an experience in her history class was the moment that she began to feel like an outsider and become disengaged in school:</p> <p>I didn't feel as bright as I used to... In High School, I'll never forget one of my first experiences there is we were talking about the French Revolution, which of course I had never even heard of... but I pronounced the word bourgeoisie, [ber-ga-wee-see]because I pronounced words phonetically. I come from an island, a country where we pronounce words phonetically. It's a word that I had never seen before...</p> <p>The reaction of her peers and teacher did not help her to feel welcome in this new environment and slowly pushed to her to see school as a space where she could no longer thrive. Emerson clearly articulated that she began to "withdraw" and find herself in smaller spaces where she might find kinship; most of those students were also of color and began skipping school. For three of the four participants, this became a regular occurrence, skipping school to find outlets where they would be affirmed.</p> <p>Huey, who attended the same school as Emerson, saw a precipitous decline in his academic abilities for a wide variety of reasons, inclusive of his mother and father leaving him to be more independent as a result of their divorce and work schedules. He recounted his path to having to repeat the ninth grade despite being in a gifted and talented school:</p> <p>High school, like ninth grade is when the school officially didn't give a damn what happened to me... I became more increasingly disengaged by some of the work that was happening. Once I started slipping and it became easier for me to like not go to school... I had to repeat the ninth grade at [school redacted].</p> <p>For many of the respondents, ninth grade would be the time that their relationship with school changed. Unlike elementary school, participants felt that this drop was coupled with the lack of supports that were given to them while they made this transition to high school. This lack of support meant that no one was keeping up with their day-to-day world or trying to catch them before they hit the ground. It was very easy to slip through the cracks and out the door to avoid school.</p> <p>In addition to the subtleties of microaggressions, some participants felt that there were more overt markings of them as Black students in their gifted schools. Dave also talked about some of the hostility and ambivalence that came in the transition to his predominantly White, private school:</p> <p>It was very hostile to Black bodies and ideas, I got kicked out of class when I challenged ideas. I had a teacher who had the nerve to say that math was originated by Ancient Greece and I talked about African and Asian history. She kicked me out... it took a lot of mental temerity to deal with the institution bias about our contributions and Americanness.</p> <p>This bias, according to participants, was ingrained in the institutional fabrics of their high schools. Despite being some of the best public and private schools in NYC, the structures in the school were not built to truly engage with all of the diversity that entered their doors. Instead, a reliance on their "tradition" did not allow for the participants to feel welcome and supported during their high school transition. As seen through these experiences, the underachievers lacked social and cultural understanding that left them feeling even more marginalized as gifted Black students. This lack of understanding led to disengagement and a constant battle to be seen and/or heard by the predominantly White faculties of their respective school environments.</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-11">Experiences Applying to College</hd> <p>The process of applying to the right college was something that provided either great angst or support to participants. Due to their either spotty academic records or lack of college guidance, the participants in this sample had to overcome several obstacles. Three of the four participants had difficult and/or different experiences in their applications to college. One reason that participants saw trouble in the college process centered around their lack of connections or social capital. With these power dynamics in play, participants felt that they did not have control over their narratives when applying to college. Dave spoke to some of the issues that he encountered in his application process:</p> <p>My school had a prominent school alumnus who went to Yale. He was a bigot and said lots of racist things. He was so well respected... He could write an amazing recommendation so... our potential was in his hands. He wrote a recommendation for me that was for me but the process was competitive, anxiety-producing, and wealth affirming. [I applied to] Whatever [schools] would let me in. I had such a poor and uneven academic record.</p> <p>In this instance, Dave had few choices but to put his faith in someone that he did not necessarily think believed in him or helped to quell some of his fears about applying to college. Going to a school that wanted students to go to the "best" top-ranked schools in the country did not help to make Dave, and other participants, see a way forward. While we can see that despite his underachievement he was able to use this person to help in his process, there were challenges along the way.</p> <p>Guidance counselors also served as a major hurdle in the college process. While the participants attended schools of various sizes, having a strong and supportive relationship outside of their school setting would prove to be an important component in getting into college despite not having strong academic records. Oliver experienced a very difficult relationship with the guidance counselor at his specialized high school. Deficit thinking framed the relationship he had with his counselor while applying to college:</p> <p>Every time I was going to a guidance counselor or something it was always coming from a place of deficiency... a guidance counselor... told my mother that I wasn't intelligent enough to complete the curriculum and I should just drop out and get a GED... I applied to this crazy list of schools that I knew I had no academic chance of getting in. And one of my teachers told us, like, "Anybody from [school redacted] is going to get into Howard because they just respect the school that much."... And so, I got into Howard.</p> <p>In his case, with little to no help from the person charged with guiding his college process, he was able to overcome some of the resistance from his guidance counselor. His ability to be aware of options beyond those traditional spoken of in his school as well as use his passion for theater to propel him to the forefront helped to solidify his college choice.</p> <p>Huey's route to college centered in his nontraditional finishing of high school. Having dropped out of his gifted high school, he attended an alternative high school that had an internship component. He stayed beyond his time at the internship and his African American coworkers noticed his potential. He reflected on how he ended up at City College:</p> <p>They asked, "Hey, man, what are you going to do? Are you going to work here, or are you going to college?" That's when I let them push me in the direction of college. They had one of the guys who worked at the organization, a friend of his was an advisor at City College, and he told me to meet him, and talk to him, and I did, and then I filled out the paperwork. I filled out the FAFSA, and the common app, and I applied... and by the way all of these people were African American.</p> <p>Similar to Oliver, outside influences helped in securing his pathway to college. Traditional means of completing these tasks were not available to him so he had to use his coworkers to play the role of guidance counselor.</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-12">Transitions and Lessons in College</hd> <p>Despite having some academic struggles in college, each of the four participants transitioned to college after the secondary experience. This transition varied greatly based on their own preparation and the student's own understanding of what college meant to them. For Huey, this transition to college was intellectually liberating:</p> <p>I was just relieved that I had really been feeling badly about myself academically, started to question myself intellectually, and I get to college and I was doing really well... I loved it, and it felt validating, and I felt empowered by it, and it really changed my whole self-esteem. Finally being able to have academic success at something that was rigorous.</p> <p>Huey and the other participants in the study were able to be and see their true potential. Much like their experiences in elementary school, college became the space where they were able to reassemble the broken connections between their racial and academic identities. Huey continued:</p> <p>It was a very positive experience, and I think that's where my understanding like that's where my understanding of Blackness was further instilled and ingrained in me. I think as I reflect on it I know how I sound or seem to other Black folks when I talk about what I feel about race, but it's an interesting thing that kind of happened to me, where I was fortunate enough in my personal life to only see the best of Blackness.</p> <p>Dave, who also attended City College, noted the impact of this independence when he went to City College: "City was founded as a free college and a socialist principles... Very communal and cooperative. My intellect was very much welcomed there and radical in black thought." The ability to finally feel welcome helped to push for this transition.</p> <p>Oliver helped to situate this in a racial context when reflecting on his attendance at Howard, a Historically Black College or University (HBCU):</p> <p>Whereas, in high school, partly because of the racial numbers, race wasn't dealt with. It always raised a question of like, "Is this a racial thing?" "Are you being racist right now?" That wasn't on the table at Howard. It was always like, "Let's look at it through a different lens." And that was so liberating because I hadn't had that since like elementary, middle school.</p> <p>In comparison, before Dave attended City College, he attended Morehouse, an all-male HBCU in Atlanta. While it should have been an affirming space, he found the transition to be one that was not too different from his transition to high school. Despite adjusting to being in an all-Black environment, he noted some of the issues that surrounded this transition:</p> <p>At Morehouse, it was the stereotypical thing, when you talk white or you are enacting whiteness, you see as a convention or standard. If you did that too well, then you lost yourself. I would say in the best cases, people knew themselves more when they knew how to code switch. Black people did not know how to place me at Morehouse. There was a lot of stuff they couldn't place about me and it put some people off.</p> <p>While different in their perspectives, Dave and Huey highlight how being Black in those particular settings shifted conversations around what was important and that they no longer had to be particularly confined to specific norms of operating or communicating. Being a black gifted person was a norm not an exception.</p> <p>At the same time, Emerson highlighted the ways in which experiences in her high school setting, specifically around the freedoms that she experienced at her school and the academic rigor really allowed for her ability to transition successfully into her college environment:</p> <p>I was pleasantly surprised to find out that [school redacted], because of the way that the school was set up, because of academic rigor, because of the open campus policy that they had [given] the children a lot of more autonomy and responsibilities... I was actually very prepared for college and the college experience and also because it was so advanced when it came to what was expected academically of a student, college was actually very very easy for me... I graduated Summa Cum Laude, and I felt like I also was able to be involved in the social activities that I wanted to be.</p> <p>Not only were the participants able to see themselves as whole again, similar to their experiences in early education, the participants were able to thrive academically and see college and beyond as a truly formative experience. They were able to pull from their former schooling experiences to see that they had the necessary skills and knowledge and apply them in more affirming settings.</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-13">Discussion and Implications</hd> <p>Throughout our conversations with study participants, their reflections highlight how transitions in and out of spaces that affirmed their identities as Black gifted students affected their achievement. [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref46">35</reflink>] articulates that one important part of one's transition sits in examining the environments that participants transition between. In the case of the participants in this study, being in a space that was Black-affirming for elementary school was important to their early experiences in gifted and talented education. In moving to spaces that did not intentionally center their racial identity alongside their academic identity, participants struggled to maintain a strong sense of self. While the idea of <emph>double consciousness</emph> ([<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref47">11</reflink>]) was at play, the participants had a hard time being able to shift quickly and easily between their Black and gifted identities.</p> <p>Much of this experience is in line with the literature around imposter syndrome ([<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref48">8</reflink>]), stereotype management ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref49">30</reflink>]), and stereotype threat ([<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref50">39</reflink>]). Although not explicitly stated by the participants, it would be interesting to place their own teachers' racial identity in both their elementary school and middle/high school experiences alongside their experiences as recent research has shown positive impacts for Black students when having access to Black educators ([<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref51">6</reflink>]).</p> <p>The intersections of their race and gifted identities sat squarely in the tensions that students experienced in their applications to college. As they transitioned into middle and high school, participants not only saw this shift in what was affirmed, but also saw how this shift affected the power dynamics at play in their educational experiences. No longer were they in schools in their local communities that had a voice; rather, the overarching voice of control and narrative of success was centered around Whiteness. While they had more power over their time (more flexible school schedules), they did not see over their educational choices their ability to be themselves in the school setting. For the students in this setting, early educational experiences gave them <emph>Black cultural capital</emph> ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref52">7</reflink>]), and in this transition to high school, they needed to gain more access to and learn about more dominant forms of cultural and social capital. Without these experiences, it was hard for the participants to see that their voice mattered, as they were often admonished for asserting their Black identity.</p> <p>One intersection that interestingly plays out in this discussion is that of age. With the participants in this study switching schools between sixth and ninth grades, much of their school choice was controlled by their parents. While they can reflect now on the impact of certain experiences, they did not have autonomy of their school placement or have the language to articulate the impact of prior learning experiences and what that meant for their middle/high school choice. As a result, participants and families did not specifically look toward finding schools that matched the experiences of elementary schools. Given this finding, it is important for schools to spend time educating parents on how they may need to not only support their students in making these choices but also think about the important contextual information needed to make a choice that is best for their gifted Black student.</p> <p>In addition to this reflection on context and personhood, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref53">35</reflink>] pushes us to think about how school environments are set up to handle the influx of diverse educational experiences as people. With gifted educational experiences being mostly White, in the case of these students and in the larger context of gifted education, participant experiences highlight a lack of preparation on their middle/high school institutions to not only have mechanisms in place to support students and their families in this transition but to also critically examine the structures that exist that could impede one's ability to smoothly transition into a new environment. It then becomes important for schools to think about how to incorporate the funds of knowledge that families and students bring to schools while also implementing culturally relevant and responsive teaching strategies that help students see themselves vital and central to the learning environment and empowers them to view the world through a lens that speaks to their lived experiences ([<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref54">28</reflink>]).</p> <p>As they applied to college, participants continued to feel alone. Instead of strong relationships with the college counselor or process, students had to pull from outside spaces and people to aid in their college process ([<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref55">22</reflink>]). Participants had to think about different avenues to reach their goal of attending college and reimagine themselves as happy in intellectual spaces. Consequently, there needs to be continued training with college counselors in working with students who are gifted and come from low- or middle-income backgrounds ([<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref56">22</reflink>]). Critical to this, in the cases of the students at hand, is to have counselors who understand the various types of colleges and universities that would help gifted Black <emph>underachievers</emph> maximize their potential when they head off to college. Through this, we can see a need for gifted education policy and K–12 institutions (both public and private) collaboration with institutions of higher education to truly infuse college application processes that include both students and their families to ensure that they are maximizing their potential and not undermatching in the college process as it could greatly affect their life trajectory ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref57">3</reflink>]).</p> <p>Clearly articulated in the transition into college is that participants were able to use the hardships that they encountered in their schooling to make more informed decisions around the schools they attended and how they went about constructing their college experiences. In college, the participants in the study were able to not only able to see their Blackness and giftedness working together but also begin to put to use notions of more dominant cultural norms and social capital to maximize their experiences. They were now able to think about how they should manage their time, juggle all of their interests, and maximize their ability to overcome adversity into smoother transitions. The agency that they now had over their experiences, unlike in high school, fueled students to find affirming spaces and engage in spaces that sought to see them successful. By making choices that center their Blackness and their giftedness, it will allow for gifted Black students to begin to prepare for the transition in ways that they could not do when they moved to middle/high school.</p> <p>In addition to this recentering of their academic and intellectual identities, participants were able to turn some of their hardships or realize the lessons that they learned in high school. From the rigor of their school to how independence was modeled in high school, participants realized that they had acquired many of the skills necessary to survive and thrive in collegiate environments. With hindsight, participants were able to use, analyze, and internalize the messages and experiences that they once shrugged off, mostly due to a mismatch between their identities and their schooling environments. Some of their struggles also forced them to ask for help from outside sources ([<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref58">22</reflink>]) so they were now used to seeking out or using the necessary resources needed to navigate the transition to college.</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-14">Conclusion</hd> <p>It is important that we consider how the experiences in K–12 not only affect the ability for Black <emph>underachieving</emph> gifted students who struggled in applying to college to persist but also look into the ways in which that struggle helped them to learn the necessary coping skills that move in the face of those who oppressed them and the data that deemed them underachieving. Despite having been in settings that should have enabled easier access to social and cultural capital, these students experienced achievement and opportunity gaps often not associated with students who are in gifted and talented programming. Seeing that the majority of the participants in this subset study have achieved post-bachelor's degrees, hearing their voices and experiences help us think about how we support gifted students who are often left to fend for themselves in the college process while also being of support in their transitions to college.</p> <hd id="AN0142720268-15">About the Authors</hd> <p> <bold>Christopher J. P. Sewell</bold>, EdD, is an associate dean of the college at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His scholarship focuses on studying the experiences of gifted students of color; how schooling and policies around gifted and talented education affect students of color long-term experiences; the ways in which LGBTQ+ gifted students negotiate their academic, racial, and sexual identities; and the experiences of Black students at Predominantly White Institutions.</p> <p> <bold>Ramon B. Goings</bold>, EdD, is an assistant professor of educational leadership at Loyola University Maryland. His research interests are centered on exploring the academic and social experiences of gifted/high-achieving Black males PK-PhD, nontraditional student success, diversifying the teacher and school leader workforce, and investigating the contributions of historically Black colleges and universities.</p> <ref id="AN0142720268-16"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref5" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Baldwin A. (1987). I'm Black but look at me, I am also gifted. 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State and national estimations of students in gifted education programs. <ulink href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/">http://ocrdata.ed.gov/</ulink></bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Whiting G.W. (2009). Gifted Black males: Understanding and decreasing barriers to achievement and identity. Roeper Review, 31(4), 224–233.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <ref id="AN0142720268-17"> <title> Footnotes </title> <blist> <bibtext> Declaration of Conflicting Interests The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Funding The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> ORCID iD Christopher J. P. Sewell</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext>Graph https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6260-1958</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Christopher J. P. Sewell and Ramon B. Goings</p> <p>Reported by Author; Author</p> <p></p> <p>Christopher J. P. Sewell, EdD, is an associate dean of the college at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His scholarship focuses on studying the experiences of gifted students of color; how schooling and policies around gifted and talented education affect students of color long-term experiences; the ways in which LGBTQ+ gifted students negotiate their academic, racial, and sexual identities; and the experiences of Black students at Predominantly White Institutions.</p> <p>Ramon B. Goings, EdD, is an assistant professor of educational leadership at Loyola University Maryland. His research interests are centered on exploring the academic and social experiences of gifted/high-achieving Black males PK-PhD, nontraditional student success, diversifying the teacher and school leader workforce, and investigating the contributions of historically Black colleges and universities.</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref1"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref2"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib42" firstref="ref3"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref6"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref7"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref8"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref9"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib43" firstref="ref11"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref13"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref14"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref15"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref17"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref18"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref19"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref20"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib32" firstref="ref21"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref22"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref23"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref24"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref25"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref26"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref27"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib40" firstref="ref28"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref31"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref32"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref34"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref41"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref42"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref44"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref47"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl33" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref50"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl34" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref54"></nolink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22African+American+Students%22">African American Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Underachievement%22">Underachievement</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Adjustment%22">Student Adjustment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Adults%22">Adults</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Barriers%22">Barriers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Academic+Persistence%22">Academic Persistence</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Public+Schools%22">Public Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22College+Applicants%22">College Applicants</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22College+Freshmen%22">College Freshmen</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Academically+Gifted%22">Academically Gifted</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Reflection%22">Reflection</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Elementary+Secondary+Education%22">Elementary Secondary Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Self+Concept%22">Self Concept</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Coping%22">Coping</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Racial+Identification%22">Racial Identification</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22High+School+Students%22">High School Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Environment%22">Educational Environment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Experience%22">Educational Experience</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22New+York+%28New+York%29%22">New York (New York)</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1177/1932202X20901506
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 1932-202X
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Research on Black student presence in gifted and talented programs consistently illuminates issues with recruitment and underrepresentation. While enrolled, gifted Black students face a series of issues that affect their ability to persist and achieve, especially in nondiverse environments. This work examines the reflections of four Black adults who attended gifted schools in New York City and encountered significant hurdles during their K-12 schooling. These findings are excerpted from a larger qualitative study that investigated how Black adults, who were identified as gifted in New York City Public Schools, reflected on their experiences as gifted students and how they leveraged those experiences to persist to and through college. Using Schlossberg's model for adapting to transitions as the theoretical frame, findings suggest that participants received limited guidance as they transitioned to college but learned many lessons that led to become productive in college.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
  Group: Ab
  Data: As Provided
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2020
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1250239
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1250239
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1177/1932202X20901506
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 18
        StartPage: 111
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: African American Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Underachievement
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Student Adjustment
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Adults
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Barriers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Academic Persistence
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Public Schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: College Applicants
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: College Freshmen
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Academically Gifted
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Reflection
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Elementary Secondary Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Self Concept
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Coping
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Racial Identification
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: High School Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Educational Environment
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Educational Experience
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: New York (New York)
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: 'I Struggled but I Made It': Black Gifted Underachievers on Transitioning to College
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Sewell, Christopher J. P.
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Goings, Ramon B.
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 05
              Type: published
              Y: 2020
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 1932-202X
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 31
            – Type: issue
              Value: 2
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Journal of Advanced Academics
              Type: main
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