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Are U.S. Schools Closing the 'Gifted Gap'? Analyzing Elementary and Middle Schools' Gifted Participation and Representation Trends (2012-2016)

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Title: Are U.S. Schools Closing the 'Gifted Gap'? Analyzing Elementary and Middle Schools' Gifted Participation and Representation Trends (2012-2016)
Language: English
Authors: Yaluma, Christopher B. (ORCID 0000-0003-3091-0745), Tyner, Adam
Source: Journal of Advanced Academics. Feb 2021 32(1):28-53.
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: 26
Publication Date: 2021
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Junior High Schools
Middle Schools
Secondary Education
Descriptors: Academically Gifted, Gifted Education, Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, Access to Education, Rural Schools, Urban Schools, Suburban Schools, Racial Differences, Ethnicity, Socioeconomic Status, Equal Education, Acceleration (Education), Talent Identification, African American Students, Hispanic American Students, Poverty, Enrollment Rate
DOI: 10.1177/1932202X20937633
ISSN: 1932-202X
Abstract: This article tests hypotheses by examining variations in the percentage of elementary and middle schools offering gifted and talented programs as well as gifted student participation and representation between 2012 and 2016. Using the Office of Civil Rights and the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) Common Core data, we find that between 2012 and 2016, the percentage of schools with gifted programs declined slightly. Crucially, gifted participation is increasing faster in low-poverty schools than in high-poverty schools. Furthermore, suburban schools became more likely to have gifted programs than urban, rural, or town schools. However, gifted participation by urbanicity decreased across all four locales. Using only 2016 data, we show that students who are Black and Hispanic continue to be statistically underrepresented. We conclude with a brief discussion and policy implications.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2021
Accession Number: EJ1281289
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0147950841;[261p]01feb.21;2021Jan08.03:27;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0147950841-1">Are U.S. Schools Closing the "Gifted Gap"? Analyzing Elementary and Middle Schools' Gifted Participation and Representation Trends (2012–2016) </title> <p>This article tests hypotheses by examining variations in the percentage of elementary and middle schools offering gifted and talented programs as well as gifted student participation and representation between 2012 and 2016. Using the Office of Civil Rights and the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) Common Core data, we find that between 2012 and 2016, the percentage of schools with gifted programs declined slightly. Crucially, gifted participation is increasing faster in low-poverty schools than in high-poverty schools. Furthermore, suburban schools became more likely to have gifted programs than urban, rural, or town schools. However, gifted participation by urbanicity decreased across all four locales. Using only 2016 data, we show that students who are Black and Hispanic continue to be statistically underrepresented. We conclude with a brief discussion and policy implications.</p> <p>Keywords: gifted; gifted and talented; participation; representation; race; low-income; high-poverty; local norms; universal screening; policy; education policy; trends; gifted gap</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-2">Introduction</hd> <p>This article examines variations in the percentage of elementary and middle schools offering gifted and talented (GT) programs as well as gifted student participation and representation between 2012 and 2016. Gifted programing may be in decline because of political backlash as well as the cyclical nature of interest in gifted programs. According to [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref1">24</reflink>], "no other special group of children has been so alternately embraced and repelled with so much rigor by educators and laypersons alike" (p. 37). This has led to "either or" propositions, such as the recent recommendation by a panel of investigators to eliminate all gifted programs in New York City public schools ([<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref2">42</reflink>]). [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref3">24</reflink>] also notes that the discourse on excellence and equity often mirrors the pendulum swing of society's priorities. When there is a perceived need to compete in science internationally, excellence is sought and GT programs become a national priority. As public attention moves toward equity, however, political support for gifted education may weaken as opponents of the programs often frame them as vehicles of inequity.</p> <p>The objective of this study is twofold—first, we analyze variability in access to GT programs among all public elementary and middle schools in the United States. Then we examine variability in representation and participation of students from low-income and minority backgrounds in GT programs during the study period. Drawing from the recent history of accelerated programming in the United States, we develop three hypotheses about how GT programs may have changed in recent years and test them by analyzing national data and conducting descriptive analyses. Specifically, we test hypotheses related to changes in the prevalence of gifted programming, overall GT participation, and GT participation by students from underrepresented groups.</p> <p>The layout of the article is as follows. First, we begin with a brief historical background that lays out the history of differentiation programs and the controversies around "tracking." Next, we review the literature on the participation of students from underrepresented groups in gifted programs. With this background in mind, we then present our research questions and hypotheses before explaining our data sources and research methods. Then we lay out our findings in the following sections, concluding by discussing study limitations, offering discussion of policy implications, and suggesting future research directions.</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-3">A Brief Historical Background</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0147950841-4">Differentiation and Tracking</hd> <p>Debates in the United States about whether and how to differentiate programming for students go back to at least 1892, when The Committee of Ten, spearheaded by the then Harvard President Charles Eliot, put forward a list of recommendations in response to a mismatch between high school curriculums and college admission requirements ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref4">2</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref5">9</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref6">29</reflink>]). The Committee, which recommended that all students study a general, undifferentiated curriculum, based its proposals on what it considered to be the goals of education and its conviction that all students in a democracy should have a broad education. Twenty-six years later, the National Education Association (NEA) released its Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education, which, among other things, favored a differentiated curriculum in schools. In contrast to the recommendations of the Committee of Ten, the Cardinal Principles argued for curricula to meet the needs of different types of students, as its supporters believed that "cultivating student's intellectual powers" was essential only to a few students who would go to college ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref7">29</reflink>], p. 32). Since this era, it has been common for American schools to offer differentiated programs ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref8">15</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref9">43</reflink>]).</p> <p>In more recent years, the so-called "tracking wars" have seen debates among parents and educators on the value of differentiated programming and its impacts on achievement gaps. In her seminal 1985 book <emph>Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality</emph>, Jeannie Oakes identified inequality as a leading problem in education and "tracking," which she defined as "the process whereby students are divided into categories so that they can be assigned in groups to various kinds of classes," as a key driver of inequality ([<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref10">33</reflink>], p. 3). In fact, tracking often refers more specifically to the use of differentiated programming with relatively rigid grouping and long timespans, such as when students are separated into academic and vocational pathways that persist over years. For example, [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref11">30</reflink>] refers to tracking as "the practice of dividing students into programs that rigidly prescribed their course of study and that admitted little opportunity for mobility from program to program" (p. 1).</p> <p>The "tracking wars" both elevated these issues and prompted many equity-minded educators to oppose the concept of different classes for students achieving at different levels. For example, the National Governors Associations, the NEA, and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) have recommended complete elimination of rigid, non-flexible tracking on the grounds that the practice was inequitable ([<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref12">44</reflink>]). Still, objections to the elimination of differentiated programs have come from educators and parents who believe that cutting the programs would compromise the education of academically exceptional students or high achievers ([<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref13">33</reflink>]). In California during the late 1980s, the California Association for the Gifted (CAG) also opposed the elimination of separate accelerated programs, arguing that gifted children deserved to have access to programs that challenged them ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref14">29</reflink>]). Advocates asserted that "gifted students were as far from the norm and as 'needy' of separate learning environments as low-IQ students" ([<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref15">33</reflink>], p. 221). While some programs were merely re-branded, reforms during this era led to the elimination of programs or increased flexibility ([<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref16">33</reflink>]). Some GT programs would therefore be regarded as flexible "ability grouping" rather than rigid "tracking."</p> <p>When differentiated programs were eliminated, schools sometimes found that the changes had unintended consequences. Scholars have pointed out that, ironically, the dismantling of formal tracking programs may have contributed to the "increased informational gap between parents of middle- and upper-middle-class students and parents of low-income and minority students by removing clarity about the system that once existed" ([<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref17">44</reflink>], p. 227). More fundamentally, [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref18">29</reflink>] argues that the concerns about increased inequality due to tracking do not align with the data. Schools that moved to eliminate differentiation in the 1980s were doing so as measures of educational inequity, such as the black–white test score gap, were <emph>falling</emph>. Yet in the period after the mid-1980s, when Oakes and other reformers successfully worked to eliminate many forms of differentiation, measures of inequality rebounded and inequality continued to increase throughout the 1990s.</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-5">Participation of Students From Underrepresented Groups in Accelerated Programming</hd> <p>Given persistent achievement gaps, much recent work on the connection between differentiation and inequality has focused on the various methods and processes used to identify students for accelerated programming ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref19">4</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref20">5</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref21">13</reflink>]). An important theme is that many of the methods and processes used to identify students for GT programs may under-identify low-income and minority students who would benefit from acceleration. For example, teacher referrals and the use of norm-referenced standardized tests or some form of intelligence test for screening purposes is known to weed out students from low-income and traditionally underrepresented backgrounds because these tests may not reflect these students' life experiences and cultures ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref22">20</reflink>]).</p> <p>To shed more light on teacher referrals as a method of identification, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref23">27</reflink>] use an inequity score to reveal that "increases in the percent of White teachers is associated with lower [inequity score], which indicates greater inequity in identifying Hispanic students for GT programming" (p. 11). These inequities were consistent across all district locales (city, suburban, town, and rural). Similarly, [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref24">18</reflink>] found that students who are Black are referred to gifted programs, particularly in reading, at significantly lower rates when taught by non-Black teachers. These findings illustrate important challenges and issues with teacher referral systems. If school districts are to improve the diversity and equity of their gifted programs, other identification and screening methods need to be emphasized. For example, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref25">5</reflink>] showed that when schools utilize universal screening procedures without changing standards for gifted eligibility, there was a large increase in gifted participation and representation of economically disadvantaged and minority students.</p> <p>Ford (1998) also illustrated concerns over the recruitment and retention of students from minority backgrounds in gifted programs. She noted that school and student-related factors that inhibit identification and retention of underrepresented groups include identification instruments and screening procedures, lack of proper teacher training in gifted and urban education, peer pressure from other minority students, as well as fear of social isolation in predominantly white gifted programs. Similarly, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref26">47</reflink>] attributed the disproportional representation of students in GT programs to varied definitions of giftedness, identification procedures, and identification policies.</p> <p>Applying similar methods to Yoon and Gentry, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref27">36</reflink>] find that gifted disproportionality has continued with a few state-level exceptions. Using a Representation Index (RI), an index that denotes the degree to which a certain group of students is represented in the gifted population compared with the total student population, they reported that at the national level, "African American, Latinx, and Native American students remain underrepresented (2016 RIs of 0.57, 0.70, and 0.87, respectively) and European American and Asian American students remain well represented (RIs of 1.18 and 2.01, respectively)" (p. 276). In addition, students with limited English proficiency (LEP) and those who received services under IDEA also continue to be underrepresented in gifted programs. They also note that "simply having state mandates does not appear to translate to proportionality" (p. 280).</p> <p>To analyze variation in gifted identification within a southern, urban public school district that used a cognitive test for identification, [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref28">6</reflink>] concluded that the use of Cognitive Abilities Tests (CogAT) exhibited demographic group differences which leads to disproportional identification. They suggest that instruments that</p> <p>Display group differences (which includes all cognitive-related tests) should only be used as part of a GT identification process with the understanding that users may not achieve the results they seek (proportional identification) solely through the use of a nonverbal instrument. (p. 204)</p> <p>Other scholars ([<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref29">23</reflink>]) suggest that to have proportional identification, traditional methods of identification (i.e., IQ and standardized achievement tests) should be used in combination with nontraditional methods of identification (i.e., nonverbal tests, student portfolios, affective checklists). Despite concerns about the limitations of using standardized tests for gifted screening, school districts continue to over rely on these methods for identification. [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref30">4</reflink>] used three leveled surveys of 1,566 school district personnel respondents (elementary, middle, and high school) in separate school districts and found that "sixty percent of the district coordinators reported using a predetermined score or percentile on an intelligence/aptitude test or achievement test as the qualifying criteria for receiving gifted education services automatically" (p. 29).</p> <p>Other studies have also consistently documented the academic achievement gaps that exist among racial/ethnic subgroups and low-income students ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref31">10</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref32">12</reflink>]). While the reasons for the disparities are likely multiple, overwhelming evidence shows that Hispanic, Black, and students from low-income backgrounds tend to enter school less prepared than their White, Asian, and more affluent peers ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref33">12</reflink>]). Differences in resources, family structure, and access to quality educational programs have consequences that likely drive these disparities in academic preparation, with later consequences for who will be identified for acceleration.</p> <p>A related issue is the wide variation in the achievement level of students in any given classroom, school, or grade. [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref34">11</reflink>] analyzed 1,149 students in five diverse elementary schools, including a GT magnet school, and found a range in reading comprehension of nine grade levels among third graders. Among fourth graders in those schools, the range was 11 grade levels. These inequalities may come in various forms including "excellence gaps"—differences between subgroups of students performing at the highest level ([<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref35">39</reflink>]). [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref36">38</reflink>] have argued that underrepresentation (lack of equity) has contributed to large and growing excellence gaps. [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref37">34</reflink>] have argued for a scalable method that could help balance the seemingly competing goals of equity and excellence. To some, the development of excellence is all that matters. However, research evidence suggests that excellence and equity do not need to be at odds ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref38">21</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref39">45</reflink>]).</p> <p>Studies (notably [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref40">5</reflink>]) have shown that it is possible to combat underrepresentation while also maintaining rigorous standards. Screening procedures based on recommendations and referrals may discriminate against students from low-income and minority backgrounds whereas universal screening may increase their participation ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref41">5</reflink>]). Other alternatives that might mitigate underrepresentation of students from low-income and minority backgrounds include nontraditional identification methods ([<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref42">23</reflink>]). Hodges et al. provide evidence that nontraditional methods narrow the proportional identification gap between underrepresented and represented populations. However, they contend that nontraditional methods alone do not address the issue of education inequity. To address education inequity and effectively deal with disproportionality, they suggest the use of nontraditional methods of identification in conjunction with other pathways.</p> <p>With the lessons of the "tracking wars" in mind, it is worthwhile to assess the extent to which access to GT programs for low-income and minority students may be increasing or decreasing over time as well as potential changes in the prevalence of schools offering gifted programs. Pointing to connections between policy, funding, and inequality, [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref43">26</reflink>] found that only Florida and Virginia had "policies and plans to provide equitable funding for gifted education to ensure equitable distribution of programming opportunities" (p. 102). They showed that rural schools, small schools, and schools with larger economically disadvantaged populations allocate less fiscal and human resources to gifted services. Indeed, schools in rural areas have unique challenges and the complexities of rural gifted education require nuance. [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref44">41</reflink>] reviewed the literature on rural gifted education and noted that funding constraints in many rural schools imply that gifted testing is only offered to those students who are referred for gifted identification. [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref45">40</reflink>] compared gifted opportunities in rural versus non-rural districts in Texas, finding that "gifted and potentially gifted students living in rural locations tend to have fewer opportunities for gifted education services than students living in nonrural locales" (p. 151). [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref46">28</reflink>] conducted a comprehensive review of the literature from 1990 to 2003 and found that students in rural settings are less likely to be identified as gifted and generally have fewer opportunities for gifted education services. Comparing types of non-rural schools, [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref47">1</reflink>] found that students in districts that are large, suburban, or both large and suburban, are more likely than those in urban districts to have access to GT programs.</p> <p>Focusing on student factors, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref48">36</reflink>] describe trends in gifted participation by student race/ethnicity, LEP status, and students with disabilities, finding that participation for these groups varies based on state gifted mandates such as whether a state mandates gifted identification, accelerated services, or both. The present study extends this work by describing trends in access to and participation in GT programs for schools of different sizes, with different levels of student poverty, and different settings (urban, suburban, town, and rural). We also analyze race/ethnicity trends specific to high-poverty schools to determine whether they differ from overall national trends. By contextualizing these trends, we are able to explore the extent to which school and locational factors may impact GT programs.</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-6">Research Questions and Hypotheses</hd> <p>The objective of this study is to evaluate variability in access to gifted programs among all public elementary and middle schools in the United States. Then analyze variability in representation and participation of students from low-income and minority backgrounds in gifted programs. To investigate, we developed the following research questions and hypotheses:</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-7">Research Questions</hd> <p></p> <ulist> <item> <bold> Research Question 1 </bold> : Are elementary and middle school gifted programs becoming less common between 2012 and 2016? If so, to what extent?</item> <p></p> <item> <bold> Research Question 2 </bold> : To what extent did overall gifted student participation decline between 2012 and 2016?</item> <p></p> <item> <bold> Research Question 3: </bold> During the same time period, is there a decrease in gifted student participation and representation of students who are Black and Hispanic in high-poverty schools? If so, to what extent?</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0147950841-8">Hypotheses</hd> <p></p> <ulist> <item> <bold> Hypothesis 1: </bold> The proportion of schools with gifted programs has not changed overtime. In other words, there is no difference between 2012 and 2016.</item> <p></p> <item> <bold> Alternative Hypothesis 1: </bold> The proportion of schools with gifted programs has fallen between 2012 and 2016.</item> <p></p> <item> <bold> Hypothesis 2: </bold> The proportion of students enrolled in gifted programs, especially in high-poverty schools and across locales, has not changed between 2012 and 2016.</item> <p></p> <item> <bold> Alternative Hypothesis 2: </bold> The proportion of students enrolled in gifted programs, especially in high-poverty schools and across locales, has decreased between 2012 and 2016.</item> <p></p> <item> <bold> Hypothesis 3: </bold> In high-poverty schools, racial participation and representation of Black and Hispanic students in gifted programs has not changed between 2012 and 2016.</item> <p></p> <item> <bold> Alternative Hypothesis 3: </bold> In high-poverty schools, racial participation and representation of Black and Hispanic students in gifted programs has decreased between 2012 and 2016.</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0147950841-9">Data and Methods</hd> <p>We conduct national analyses of GT programs for all public elementary and middle schools using data from two sources: The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), and the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES).</p> <p>The OCR data include gifted program enrollment for each school by student racial/ethnic group, and the NCES data include the proportion of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch and school enrollments for each racial and ethnic group. First, we appended the 2011–2012, 2013–2014, and 2015–2016 OCR GT enrollment data.[<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref49">4</reflink>] Then, we merged the 2009–2010, 2010–2011, 2011–2012, 2012–2013, 2013–2014, 2014–2015, and 2015–2016 NCES school data on enrollment and other school-level data. As data describing the percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) were missing for 2.7% of elementary and middle schools in the years of OCR data we analyze, for these data points, we use the most recent year of data available in NCES, or, when the "neighboring" years are available and not the same year, we use an average of the neighboring years. After preparing these data sources, we then merge them using the unique identifiers in both data sets.</p> <p>Next, we divided gifted enrollment by school enrollment for each student subgroup and for the school overall to calculate the percentage of students enrolled in gifted education. School poverty is gauged by participation in the FRPL program.[<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref50">5</reflink>] We follow NCES's poverty classification, which defines low-poverty schools as having no more than 25% of students on FRPL, middle-poverty schools between 25% and 75.0%, and high-poverty schools as those having 75.0% or more ([<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref51">32</reflink>]).</p> <p>Our national sample includes 197,405 school-year observations of elementary and middle schools, 185,072 of which represent schools with more than 20 students per grade and are therefore included in all figures.[<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref52">6</reflink>] These observations represent 70,538 unique elementary and middle schools. More than one quarter of the national sample (26.8%) are high-poverty schools, 19.2% are low-poverty, and a majority (54.0%) are classified as middle-poverty.</p> <p>For school-level analyses (e.g., in calculating the percentage of schools with gifted programs), we exclude very small schools—those with fewer than an average of 20 students per grade, as these schools are much less likely to have gifted programs and, by definition, serve fewer students.[<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref53">7</reflink>]</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-10">Findings</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0147950841-11">Section I: Availability and Access Overtime</hd> <p>During the period from 2012 to 2016, Figure 1 below shows that, the percentage of elementary and middle schools with gifted programs declined slightly from 69.5% of schools in 2012 to 68.5% of schools in 2016.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 1. Proportion of schools with gifted programs between 2012 and 2016 (down very slightly—average school N = 61,735). Source: 2012 – 2016 Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>In Figure 2, we see that in the schools with gifted programs, participation declined very slightly during this period, from 8.8% of students in 2012 to 8.7% of students in 2016. Essentially, gifted enrollment held stable during this period.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 2. Gifted enrollment rates between 2012 and 2016 (down very slightly—average school N = 43,697). Source: 2012 – 2016 Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-12">Section II: Gifted Program Variations</hd> <p>Gifted programs are much more common in larger schools. Figure 3 shows that for a school with 175 to 225 students, the probability of having a gifted program is 51.5%, whereas more than 75% of schools with more than 625 students have GT programs. More than 80% of large schools with more than 825 students have the programs.[<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref54">8</reflink>]</p> <p>Graph: Figure 3. Percentage of schools with gifted programs by school enrollment (204 school-year observations with greater than 1,500 enrollment excluded). Sources: 2015 – 16 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>Analyzing the likelihood of having gifted programs and school enrollment disaggregated by year (2012, 2014, and 2016), we get the following graph, Figure 4. This graph indicates that there is very little variation in the percentage of schools with gifted programs by school enrollment for the three analyzed school years.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 4. Percentage of schools with gifted programs by school enrollment disaggregated by year. Sources: 2012 – 2016 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>The likelihood of having a gifted program does not vary much by school poverty level, and low-poverty schools are slightly less likely to have the programs than other schools (Figure 5). In 2016, Table 1 shows that 65.4% of low-poverty schools had gifted programs, whereas 69.9% of middle-poverty schools, and 68.1% of high-poverty schools had the programs.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 5. Percentage of schools with gifted programs by school poverty (2016 only). Sources: 2015-16 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>Graph</p> <p>Table 1. Schools With Gifted Programs by Poverty-Level by Year.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup><col align="left" /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /></colgroup><thead><tr><th align="center">Poverty</th><th align="center">2012 (%)</th><th align="center">2014 (%)</th><th align="center">2016 (%)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Low</td><td>68.0</td><td>66.5</td><td>65.4</td></tr><tr><td>Middle</td><td>70.9</td><td>69.5</td><td>69.9</td></tr><tr><td>High</td><td>67.9</td><td>68.9</td><td>68.1</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>1 Sources: 2012 – 2016 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>Almost all of the decrease in the percentage of schools with gifted programs during the period of study comes from a decrease in low-poverty schools with the programs (see Table 1). The percentage of low-poverty schools with gifted programs dropped from 68.0% in 2012 to 65.4% in 2016, a decline of 3.8% (see Figure 6). The prevalence of the programs in middle-poverty schools also decreased slightly, but in high-poverty schools, the prevalence of gifted programs increased very slightly, rising from 67.9% to 68.1% of schools (a change of 0.3%) (Figure 6).</p> <p>Graph: Figure 6. Percentage change of schools with gifted programs by poverty. Sources: 2012 – 2016 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>The period of study saw slight declines in the likelihood of having a gifted program for schools in rural, urban, and town areas (see Table 2). When looking at the prevalence of programs by urbanicity, only suburban schools became more likely to have the programs during this period, although the increase of 1.2% is still very small (Figure 7).</p> <p>Graph</p> <p>Table 2. Schools With Gifted Programs by Urbanicity by Year.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup><col align="left" /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /></colgroup><thead><tr><th align="center">Locale</th><th align="center">2012 (%)</th><th align="center">2014 (%)</th><th align="center">2016 (%)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Rural</td><td>71.2</td><td>67.4</td><td>68.9</td></tr><tr><td>Town</td><td>67.7</td><td>67.4</td><td>66.5</td></tr><tr><td>Suburb</td><td>68.1</td><td>68.5</td><td>68.9</td></tr><tr><td>City</td><td>70.5</td><td>71.6</td><td>68.6</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>2 Sources: 2012 – 2016 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 7. Percentage change of schools with gifted programs by urbanicity. Sources: 2012 – 2016 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>In general, there is little correlation between the racial/ethnic makeup of a school and its likelihood of having a gifted program. Figure 8 below shows that schools that have very little minority enrollment are somewhat less likely to have gifted programs, and schools with nearly 100% minority enrollment are the least likely to have these programs.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 8. Percentage of schools with gifted programs against percent minority students. Sources: 2012 – 2016 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-13">Section III: Gifted Participation</hd> <p>Next, we turn to gifted participation in different types of elementary and middle schools with gifted programs. Gifted participation is highest in low-poverty schools, and it has been increasing steadily in those schools during the period of study (see Table 3). Gifted participation in low-poverty schools with the programs increased from 11.9% in 2012 to 12.7% in 2016, an increase of 6.7%. Participation in high-poverty schools also increased, although not as much as in their low-poverty counterparts. Participation in high-poverty schools rose from 5.6% to 5.8%—an increase of 3.6% (see Figure 9). In middle-poverty schools, gifted participation declined very slightly during the study period, falling 1.1% (Figure 9).</p> <p>Graph</p> <p>Table 3. Gifted Enrollment Rates by School Poverty by Year.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup><col align="left" /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /></colgroup><thead><tr><th align="center">Poverty</th><th align="center">2012 (%)</th><th align="center">2014 (%)</th><th align="center">2016 (%)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Low</td><td>11.9</td><td>12.3</td><td>12.7</td></tr><tr><td>Middle</td><td>8.9</td><td>9.0</td><td>8.8</td></tr><tr><td>High</td><td>5.6</td><td>6.0</td><td>5.8</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>3 Sources: 2012 – 2016 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 9. Percentage change in gifted enrollment rates by school poverty. Sources: 2012 – 2016 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>When looking at gifted enrollment in schools with gifted programs by urbanicity, enrollment falls in all schools in all types of places (see Table 4). Figure 10 indicates that the decline is greatest in towns, where gifted enrollment dropped 5.5% during the study period. Gifted enrollment was flattest in suburban schools, where the slight decrease does not even register a tenth of a percentage point. Gifted enrollment fell by 3.2% in urban areas and 2.4% in rural areas.[<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref55">9</reflink>]</p> <p>Graph</p> <p>Table 4. Gifted Enrollment Rates by Urbanicity by Year.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup><col align="left" /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /></colgroup><thead><tr><th align="center">Locale</th><th align="center">2012 (%)</th><th align="center">2014 (%)</th><th align="center">2016 (%)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Rural</td><td>8.2</td><td>8.0</td><td>8.0</td></tr><tr><td>Town</td><td>7.3</td><td>7.0</td><td>6.9</td></tr><tr><td>Suburb</td><td>9.3</td><td>9.2</td><td>9.3</td></tr><tr><td>City</td><td>9.3</td><td>9.4</td><td>9.0</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>4 Sources: 2012 – 2016 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 10. Percentage change in gifted enrollment by urbanicity. Sources: 2012 – 2016 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-14">Section IV: Proportionality by Race</hd> <p>Among all elementary and middle urban, suburban, and rural schools with gifted programs, a total of 8.7% of students are enrolled in gifted programs. Asian students constitute 4.9% of the overall student population and 8.6% of students enrolled in gifted programs. Black students constitute 15.0% of the student population and 9.9% of those enrolled in gifted programs. Hispanic students constitute 27.5% of the student population and 20.8% of students enrolled in gifted programs (see Figure 11 below). Finally, White students constitute 47.5% of the student population and 54.7% of students enrolled in gifted programs.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 11. Racial/ethnic proportionality compared against overall student population (2016 only). Sources: 2015-16 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>Another way to look at the racial/ethnic proportionality of gifted programs is to examine the percentage of each student subgroup participating in gifted programs (see Figures 12 and 13 for 2016 and 2012 school years, respectively). In 2016, Figure 12 illustrates that compared with 8.7% of gifted students overall, 16.3% are Asian, 5.6% are Black, 6.3% are Hispanic, and 10.9% are White.When looking at gifted participation by race over time for all schools (low, middle, and high poverty), we find that participation drops slightly or remains very similar for all student groups. In Figure 14, we see that for Asian, Black, and White students, the share of students participating in gifted programs overtime drops slightly, with Black students experiencing the largest drop. For Hispanic students, the share of students participating rose by 0.5% in 2016 from 2012, a change that barely registers when rounding to a tenth of a percentage point. Hispanic students also increase as a proportion of the overall sample of students during this period, rising from 21.2% of students in 2012 to 23.1% of students in 2016.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 12. Racial/ethnic proportionality compared against overall gifted participation. Sources: 2015-16 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data. Note. All schools—low, middle, and high poverty (2016).</p> <p>Graph: Figure 13. Racial/ethnic proportionality compared against overall gifted participation. Sources: 2011-12 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data. Note. All schools—low, middle, and high poverty (2012).</p> <p>Graph: Figure 14. Percentage change in gifted participation rates by race (change over time for all schools—low, middle, and high poverty). Sources: 2012 – 2016 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-15">Section V: High-Poverty Schools' Proportionality by Race</hd> <p>When looking at gifted participation in high-poverty schools with gifted programs, we saw a slight increase in overall participation from 2012 to 2016 (comparing Figures 15 & 16 below), and in Figure 17 we see that this increase is entirely attributable to an increase in Hispanic participation in these programs. Specifically, gifted participation drops for all student subgroups except Hispanic. For Asian, Black, and White students, the share of students participating in gifted programs overtime drops by 5.1%, 4.2%, and 3.3%, respectively. For Hispanic students, the share of GT participation rose by 5.8% in 2016 from 2012, a very large change considering all other subgroups experienced declines. However, Hispanic students also increase as a proportion of the overall sample of students in high poverty schools during this period, rising from 36.3 percent in 2012 to 41.5 percent of students in 2016.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 15. High-poverty schools' racial/ethnic proportionality against their overall gifted participation. Sources: 2011-12 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data. Note. Only high-poverty schools (2012).</p> <p>Graph: Figure 16. High-poverty schools' racial/ethnic proportionality against their overall gifted participation. Sources: 2015-16 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data. Note. Only high-poverty schools (2016).</p> <p>Graph: Figure 17. High-poverty schools' percentage change in gifted participation by race overtime. Sources: 2012 – 2016 National Center for Education Statistics and Office for Civil Rights data.</p> <p>As of 2015-16 school year, we see that in high poverty schools with gifted programs, although 5.8% of all students participate in GT programs, 12.9% of gifted students are Asian, 4.6% of gifted students are Black, 5.5% of gifted students are Hispanic, and 8.9% of gifted students are White (refer back to Figure 16).</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-16">Limitations</hd> <p>Although we are able to calculate the proportion of students qualifying for FRPL in each school, we are unable to identify which FRPL students enroll in gifted programming. Because we limit some analysis to schools with at least 75.0% of FRPL students, we can be confident that findings are applicable to many students who are high-poverty. In fact, 75.0% is only the lowest bound for our high-poverty schools, and more than half of the high-poverty schools in our analytic sample have more than 88% of their students qualifying for lunch benefits. Nevertheless, we can never be certain and we recognize that this is a limitation to our findings on participation and proportionality. In addition, because we are using non-restricted, publicly available, OCR data, there is a minor loss of granularity in our data set. There is also additional noise added to the data set due to rounding.</p> <p>Finally, because of the nature of the data, we use binary classifications of gifted enrollment for students. We do not have data on the quality or characteristics of gifted programming, and this is known to vary considerably across schools. Whether gifted programming is targeted to specific subjects, what types of professional development that teachers of gifted students experience, and the extent to which students can engage curriculum outside of their grade level are questions beyond the scope of this study. Furthermore, we have no information about what constitutes "gifted programming," as the OCR provides no guidance to states about what to include or exclude.[<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref56">10</reflink>] Results are based on data reported to the U.S. Department of Education, and in some cases, the latter may be incomplete or simply incorrect. If states or districts vary in the way that they choose to report gifted enrollment or other related data, then we have a potential measurement validity issue.</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-17">Discussion and Policy Implications</hd> <p>Our findings show that between 2012 and 2016, the percentage of elementary and middle schools with gifted programs declined slightly from 69.5% of schools in 2012 to 68.5% of schools in 2016. Although this finding confirms our first alternative hypothesis (that the proportion of schools with gifted programs has fallen between 2012 and 2016), it is very minimal, and the critical takeaway is that the period did not see any growth in the number of elementary and middle schools offering GT programs. This lack of growth is further indication of the field's persistent struggle to convince policymakers at all levels of government of its importance. This was also evident in the 2009 U.S. government stimulus plan that approved more than 12 billion dollars for IDEA/IDEIA but no funds were allocated for gifted education and the existing Javits program was reduced to US$0 during the 2011 budget negotiations ([<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref57">14</reflink>]). Hodges, Tay, Desmet, et al. (2018) also demonstrate an overall trend of shrinking budgets allocated toward gifted education in Texas. Interestingly, they also found that the 2008 recession adversely affected GT funding for suburban school districts. Remarkably, a new report by the Institute for Educational Advancement found that most Americans support increased funding for gifted education as well as specific programmatic improvements ([<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref58">25</reflink>]). Although practically and politically challenging to implement policy changes to the administration and funding of gifted programs, there is a need for policymakers to begin acknowledging the important role gifted programs can play to both promote educational excellence and improve equity.</p> <p>The period we study also highlight declines in the likelihood of having a gifted program for schools in rural, urban, and town areas. Only suburban schools became more likely to have the programs during this period, albeit by a small increase (just 1.2%). Importantly, we find that gifted participation or enrollment by urbanicity decreased across all four locales, a finding that agrees with our second alternative hypothesis (proportion of students enrolled in gifted programs, especially in high-poverty schools and across locales, has decreased between 2012 and 2016). This decline is greatest in towns, followed by cities, rural areas, and finally suburban areas. Therefore, not only did suburban schools see a slight increase in the number of gifted programs offered but they also experienced the smallest decline in participation rates. [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref59">8</reflink>] underscore this finding with evidence suggesting that urban school districts characterized by socioeconomic and racial segregation contribute to the national gifted gap to a greater extent than suburban and rural school districts.</p> <p>We also find that from 2012 to 2016, gifted participation or enrollment is highest in low-poverty schools. In fact, gifted participation in low-poverty schools increased by 6.7%, while only increasing by 3.6% in high-poverty schools. That is, low-poverty schools have twice the increase in gifted participation than high-poverty schools. Therefore, not only did gifted programs in low-poverty schools already enroll twice the share of students high-poverty schools enroll ([<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref60">46</reflink>]), participation is increasing faster in low-poverty schools. [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref61">8</reflink>] also find gifted gaps and extensive socioeconomic and racial disproportionality across a metropolitan school district, leading to reduced enrollment and participation of low-income and minority students in Advanced Placement (AP) courses and STEM opportunities.</p> <p>These revelations might help explain findings from a recent report from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) that family affluence may be more important than individual talent for outcomes in K-12 and beyond. Specifically, their report shows that among students with similar academic potential in kindergarten, the test scores of economically disadvantaged students are more likely to decline and stay low during elementary, middle, and high school than the test scores of high-SES peers ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref62">7</reflink>]). If low-SES schools are not encouraging and cultivating young talent through high quality educational programs as much as high-SES schools, it is no surprise that students attending high-poverty schools are falling behind their low-poverty peers, overtime.</p> <p>[<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref63">19</reflink>] also find that even among students with similar achievement and other background characteristics, higher SES students are more likely to receive gifted services than lower SES students, even within the same school. Considering the many family and neighborhood factors as well as raw economic differences between low- and high-poverty students, it is important that local school districts recognize how these students' needs vary. Selecting students for gifted programming based on local norms at the school level may help account for differences in students' backgrounds and represents a politically palatable, race-neutral mechanism for promoting racial diversity. Research indicates that the use of local norms or group-specific norms (a method of identification that compare students only to those who have had similar opportunities to develop the skills being tested) or a combination of group-specific and local norms can help mitigate racial and socioeconomic disproportionality ([<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref64">35</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref65">37</reflink>]).</p> <p>The other important finding from this study looks at proportionality of gifted students by race. Among all elementary and middle urban, suburban, and rural schools with gifted programs, we show that in the most recent data (2016), students who are Asian and White are statistically well represented in gifted programs whereas students who are Black and Hispanic continue to be statistically underrepresented. This is a phenomenon that has plagued gifted programs for many years and continues to do so. In high-poverty schools, we find that Black GT participation has declined by 4.2% (agreeing with one-half of our third alternative hypothesis which states that in high-poverty schools, racial participation and representation of Black and Hispanic students in gifted programs has decreased between 2012 and 2016). Conversely, Hispanic GT participation in high-poverty schools has increased by 5.8% (disagreeing with one-half of our third alternative hypothesis).</p> <p>Although this is positive news for Hispanic students, they still continue to be underrepresented in GT programs. To improve gifted participation and representation of Black and Hispanic students, policymakers at the local levels need to heed to research evidence that delineate strategies to combat this problem. For example, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref66">5</reflink>] discussed above provide evidence of a strategy that might work. [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref67">22</reflink>] suggest the use of both traditional and nontraditional methods of identification. Other strategies may include increasing the workforce of teachers of color ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref68">17</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref69">16</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref70">31</reflink>]). Although increasing teachers of color is a difficult challenge for many school districts, improving conditions and providing support in schools where most teachers of color work could help attract and retain many qualified teachers of color ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref71">31</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-18">Conclusion and Future Research</hd> <p>Adopting universal screening, norming entrance criteria locally, and improving the representation of teachers of color are the most promising methods to improving the representation of low-income and students of color in gifted programs. The recently proposed reforms to the admissions criteria for New York City's selective high schools contained some of these elements, and, although those reforms were eventually shelved, policymakers and advocates should work to investigate how such reforms may be effectively implemented in their communities. Researchers, educators, and journalists should continue to shine a light on student diversity in accelerated programs, in particular by studying and evaluating programs implementing these newer approaches to promoting diversity.</p> <p>Universal screening, for example, has become more common, and future research should investigate the effectiveness of new programs as they roll out. For instance, as districts or schools implement reforms that boost diversity, do the changes result in lowered academic standards or negative peer effects? And how do student growth trajectories change with the reform of identification policies? Researchers should also work to help practitioners and the public understand the extent to which disproportionate admission across groups is attributable to biased selection policies as opposed to legitimate differences in academic preparedness across student groups. Better understanding of these questions will not only help practitioners to decide how to maximize student development, but will also assist with the political hurdles to sustaining these reforms by providing information to the public that may allay fears that idealistic policies come at an unacceptable cost to some students.</p> <hd id="AN0147950841-19">About the Authors</hd> <p> <bold>Christopher B. Yaluma</bold> is a PhD student in Public Policy and Management at John Glenn College of Public Affairs, Ohio State University. His primary research interests are school choice, analysis and evaluation of local and state education policies, and access to gifted and talented programs for low-income and minority students. He has published national reports analyzing access to elementary charter schools as well as access to gifted programs. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics from Berea College and a masters' degree in transformative education with a concentration in leadership, policy, and research from Miami University.</p> <p> <bold>Adam Tyner</bold> is an associate director of research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, where he helps develop and manage Fordham's research projects. Prior to joining Fordham, he served as senior education analyst at Hanover Research, where he executed data analysis projects and worked with school districts and other education stakeholders to design custom studies. His work has appeared and been cited in national and international media such as <emph>The Economist</emph>, <emph>The New York Times</emph>, <emph>Forbes</emph>, <emph>Education Week</emph>, <emph>Education Next</emph>, and <emph>The Diplomat</emph>, as well as in numerous local outlets. 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AERA Open, 5(2). <ulink href="http://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419848446">http://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419848446</ulink></bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Plucker J. A., Hardesty J., Burroughs N. (2013). Talent on the sidelines: Excellence gaps and America's persistent talent underclass. Center for Education Policy Analyses, University of Connecticut.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Plucker J. A., Peters S. J. (2020). Excellence gaps in education: Expanding opportunities for talented students. Harvard Education Press.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Puryear J. S., Kettler T. (2017). Rural gifted education and the effect of proximity. Gifted Child Quarterly, 61(2), 143–152.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Rasheed M. (2020). Context and content in rural gifted education: A literature review. 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Seeking excellence and equity for under-represented students of color in gifted education. Global Education Review, 4(1), 45–60.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Yaluma C., Tyner A. (2018). A gifted gap? Gifted and talented services in high-poverty schools. Thomas B. Fordham Institute. <ulink href="http://edex.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/publication/pdfs/%2801.31%29%20Is%20There%20a%20Gifted%20Gap%20-%20Gifted%20Education%20in%20High-Poverty%20Schools.pdf">http://edex.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/publication/pdfs/%2801.31%29%20Is%20There%20a%20Gifted%20Gap%20-%20Gifted%20Education%20in%20High-Poverty%20Schools.pdf</ulink></bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Yoon S. Y., Gentry M. (2009). Racial and ethnic representation in gifted programs: Current status of and implications for gifted Asian American students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 53(2), 121–136.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <ref id="AN0147950841-21"> <title> Footnotes </title> <blist> <bibtext> The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Christopher B. Yaluma</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext>Graph https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3091-0745</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Gifted programming and enrollment data have been included in the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) data since the 2009–2010 collection, but the reported numbers in that first year are wildly different than those reported in later years, so we exclude them from our analysis. For more, see our "Limitations" section.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> The proportion of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is a common proxy for poverty in education research, but it does not precisely capture poverty for a variety of reasons. See for instance, [3].</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> We define elementary and middle schools as those schools without grade 9 or higher; we also exclude schools with grade codes for "adult education" or "ungraded."</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> We calculate the number of grades for each school with reference to the highest and lowest grades in the NCES data set. For the few schools without information on the highest and lowest grades, we assume that they are Pre-K–8, meaning they must have at least 200 students to be included in the school-level analyses.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> The share of schools with gifted programs by school size is similar in all 3 years of the data.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Numbers for percentage change graphs (Figures 6, 7, 9 and 10) may not add up with those in the corresponding tables due to software rounding issues.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Respondents are simply asked to report the "number of students enrolled in gifted-and-talented programs (disaggregated by race, sex, disability-IDEA, LEP)."</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Christopher B. Yaluma and Adam Tyner</p> <p>Reported by Author; Author</p> <p></p> <p>Christopher B. Yaluma is a PhD student in Public Policy and Management at John Glenn College of Public Affairs, Ohio State University. His primary research interests are school choice, analysis and evaluation of local and state education policies, and access to gifted and talented programs for low-income and minority students. He has published national reports analyzing access to elementary charter schools as well as access to gifted programs. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics from Berea College and a masters' degree in transformative education with a concentration in leadership, policy, and research from Miami University.</p> <p>Adam Tyner is an associate director of research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, where he helps develop and manage Fordham's research projects. Prior to joining Fordham, he served as senior education analyst at Hanover Research, where he executed data analysis projects and worked with school districts and other education stakeholders to design custom studies. His work has appeared and been cited in national and international media such as The Economist, The New York Times, Forbes, Education Week, Education Next, and The Diplomat, as well as in numerous local outlets. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, San Diego, where he completed his doctoral dissertation on the integration of rural-to-urban migrant workers in China's cities. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in international studies from the University of Oklahoma.</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref1"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib42" firstref="ref2"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref6"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref8"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib43" firstref="ref9"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref11"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib44" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref21"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref22"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref23"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref24"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib47" firstref="ref26"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref27"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref29"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref31"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref32"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref34"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref35"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref36"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref37"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref38"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib45" firstref="ref39"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref43"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref44"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib40" firstref="ref45"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref46"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib32" firstref="ref51"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref57"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref58"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib46" firstref="ref60"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref63"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl33" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref64"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl34" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref65"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl35" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref67"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl36" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref68"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl37" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref69"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl38" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref70"></nolink>
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  Data: Are U.S. Schools Closing the 'Gifted Gap'? Analyzing Elementary and Middle Schools' Gifted Participation and Representation Trends (2012-2016)
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  Data: English
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Yaluma%2C+Christopher+B%2E%22">Yaluma, Christopher B.</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3091-0745">0000-0003-3091-0745</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Tyner%2C+Adam%22">Tyner, Adam</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Journal+of+Advanced+Academics%22"><i>Journal of Advanced Academics</i></searchLink>. Feb 2021 32(1):28-53.
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  Data: 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
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  Label: Peer Reviewed
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  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 26
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2021
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
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  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
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  Label: Education Level
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Elementary+Education%22">Elementary Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Junior+High+Schools%22">Junior High Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Middle+Schools%22">Middle Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Secondary+Education%22">Secondary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Academically+Gifted%22">Academically Gifted</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Gifted+Education%22">Gifted Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Elementary+Schools%22">Elementary Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Middle+Schools%22">Middle Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Access+to+Education%22">Access to Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Rural+Schools%22">Rural Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Urban+Schools%22">Urban Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Suburban+Schools%22">Suburban Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Racial+Differences%22">Racial Differences</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ethnicity%22">Ethnicity</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Socioeconomic+Status%22">Socioeconomic Status</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Equal+Education%22">Equal Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Acceleration+%28Education%29%22">Acceleration (Education)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Talent+Identification%22">Talent Identification</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22African+American+Students%22">African American Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Hispanic+American+Students%22">Hispanic American Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Poverty%22">Poverty</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Enrollment+Rate%22">Enrollment Rate</searchLink>
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  Data: 10.1177/1932202X20937633
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  Data: 1932-202X
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
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  Data: This article tests hypotheses by examining variations in the percentage of elementary and middle schools offering gifted and talented programs as well as gifted student participation and representation between 2012 and 2016. Using the Office of Civil Rights and the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) Common Core data, we find that between 2012 and 2016, the percentage of schools with gifted programs declined slightly. Crucially, gifted participation is increasing faster in low-poverty schools than in high-poverty schools. Furthermore, suburban schools became more likely to have gifted programs than urban, rural, or town schools. However, gifted participation by urbanicity decreased across all four locales. Using only 2016 data, we show that students who are Black and Hispanic continue to be statistically underrepresented. We conclude with a brief discussion and policy implications.
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  Data: 2021
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  Data: EJ1281289
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        Value: 10.1177/1932202X20937633
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 26
        StartPage: 28
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Academically Gifted
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Gifted Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Elementary Schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Middle Schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Access to Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Rural Schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Urban Schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Suburban Schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Racial Differences
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Ethnicity
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Socioeconomic Status
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Equal Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Acceleration (Education)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Talent Identification
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: African American Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Hispanic American Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Poverty
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Enrollment Rate
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Are U.S. Schools Closing the 'Gifted Gap'? Analyzing Elementary and Middle Schools' Gifted Participation and Representation Trends (2012-2016)
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