Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Abstract

According to the National Association for Gifted Children (2019) up to 10% of the population can benefit from receiving gifted services. Due to wide variability in definition, identification and services offered, the NAGC recognized that gifted students have been and continue to be overlooked (NAGC, 2019). Not only are gifted students under identified overall, the ratio of identified students who are Black, Latine, special education, and female was lower than the ratio in the population and occurred at a significantly lower rate than their white counterparts (Ecker-Lyster & Niileksela, 2017). The issue of underrepresentation within the gifted population has been a concern for several decades, with little movement in decreasing the gaps. Three predominant areas are identified in the literature as having had an impact: parent referral, testing bias, and teacher referral. Teacher referral was the focus of this study, which provided teacher training on gifted students followed by model lessons to highlight potentially overlooked students. Results analyzed the impact of the training and lessons on teachers’ perception of potentially gifted students, their representation of a culturally inclusive classroom environment, and referral of targeted student populations who are chronically underrepresented. The referral rates of potential students from the previous year were compared to the four-month period following the training and subgroups were analyzed. Teachers were interviewed following the training and lessons. The interviews were transcribed and coded for themes to explore changes in teacher’s perceptions following the training. This study showed an increase in referrals to gifted evaluation for all target subgroups and qualitatively describes perception changes.

Keywords: gifted education, disproportionality, culturally inclusive

Year manuscript completed

2022

Year degree awarded

2022

Author's Keywords

gifted education, diversity, disproportionate, education, teacher training, cultural awareness

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Dissertation Committee Chair

Stephanie Sullivan

Committee Member

Jennifer Menees

Committee Member

Melissa Chapman

Document Type

Dissertation

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