The cultural divide in this country is very real, and it is impacting our children immensely.
Faculty members at the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, as well as representatives from Vanderbilt University, conducted a study that found African-American children are three times more likely to be identified as gifted and be placed in gifted programs if they have a Black teacher than if they have a teacher of a different race.
In addition, the data show African-American students are “54 percent less likely than white students to be identified as eligible for gifted education services after adjusting for the students’ previous scores on standardized tests, demographic factors and school and teacher characteristics.”
African-American students are vastly underrepresented in gifted programs, and this study concludes that is in large part due to the fact that white teachers don’t even consider Black children as gifted.
I have said for years that, unfortunately, some teachers stereotype students based on the child’s race, parents’ socio-economic status and even how the children dress or behave. This disproportionately hurts our children and limits their full potential.
I recently had a conversation with someone who volunteers at an inner-city school. The young lady — whom I consider a friend — and several other volunteers help children who have difficulty reading. They are assigned specific students, and they assist those students throughout the year. With the school year wrapping up, the “tutor” described to me the tremendous progress one of her “mentees” had made throughout their time together. The young boy, who once had severe difficulty reading, had advanced considerably academically, and he recently made honor roll. The male student is an ethnic minority, and so is the woman who shared all this with me.
During a recognition event at the school, one of the caucasian educators said to my friend, “I am so surprised (he) made honor roll.” She went on to say how that was something she didn’t expect.
My friend, a very passionate and socially conscious individual, was immediately offended, because when given the proper resources and attention, she believes all children have the potential to make honor roll.
The white educator, who probably is a very nice and sincere person, unintentionally stereotyped the child. Unfortunately, such things happen all too often to our children. If they aren’t being overlooked for gifted programs, they are inappropriately labeled. Oftentimes, such labeling can be attributed to the cultural divide that is a harsh reality in this country.
The IU/Vanderbilt study shows Black teachers have a more positive perception of Black students than white teachers do. The study states Black teachers “more positively assess Black students’ approaches to learning, self-control and other behaviors that may be important in identifying giftedness.”
This study identifies a cause of the disparity in numbers of Black children in gifted programs, and work on the solutions must begin right away. While I am far from an expert on the subject matter, one solution that seems clear to me is the need for more African-American teachers.
Another recently released study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and American University concluded Black teachers had higher expectations than white teachers that Black students would succeed in school. So monumental! If we have more Black teachers pursuing careers in education and more schools deliberately recruiting and hiring teachers of color, we could quite literally change the paradigm of Black students’ success throughout their academic lives. That would be authentic transformational change!
As you can probably gather, I am more than excited about the findings of the IU/Vanderbilt study. The thing that makes it so significant is that previous studies recognized the underrepresentation of Black students in gifted programs, but they could not determine the root cause of the problem. The IU/Vanderbilt study has clearly identified the problem, using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study — a federal program that tracks information about students from kindergarten through eighth grade. The data measures the likelihood that Black and white students will be placed in gifted programs. Documentation shows adjustments are made for test scores and student, teacher and school characteristics. Kudos to the researchers at Indiana University and their Vanderbilt counterparts. The researchers have given us a foundation to improve opportunities for children of color.
