How does a teacher’s race affect which students get to be identified as ‘gifted’?

*The idea that more Latino students are identified as “gifted” in schools where there are more Latino teachers is not surprising, but it is game-changing information. The consequence is that many gifted Latino students aren’t getting the attention they need, and the lesson is that student giftedness should not be a “function of the characteristics of the teachers. ” VL

By Emma Brown, The Washington Post

Black students are more likely to be identified as “gifted” when they attend schools with higher proportions of black teachers, according to a new study, and Latino students are more likely to be called gifted when they go to schools with more Latino teachers.

The study doesn’t get at why there is such a correlation, but it adds another layer to a long-simmering debate about why black and Latino children are less likely to be called “gifted” than their white and Asian peers.

[Gifted students — especially those who are low-income — aren’t getting the focus they need]

The connection between teachers’ race and students’ likelihood of being called gifted “should give us pause,” said Jason A. Grissom, a professor at Vanderbilt University and the study’s lead author. “That does speak to something that fundamentally doesn’t feel right.”

“Really, a kid’s probability of being assigned to gifted services should not be a function of the characteristics of the teachers in the school,” Grissom said.

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[Photo by Lumina Foundation/Flickr]
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