Purdue University Study Examines Barriers to Gifted Education for Black Students

A new study led by Marcia Gentry, a professor of education studies and the director of the Gifted Education Resource Institute at Purdue University, finds that Black students’ opportunity to access gifted education programs is severely limited because they go to schools that do not offer gifted education programs. In addition, the study found that in schools that offer gifted education, many Black students are overlooked.

More than one-third of children in the U.S. do not attend schools that have gifted education programs. Nationwide, children who are Asian or White are 2 to more than 10 times more likely to be identified with gifts and talents than students who are Black. In no state is the percentage of Black students in gifted education programs equal to the overall percentage of Black students in that state’s schools.

The study estimated that in 2016, Black youth were under-identified on average by 50 percent. Some, 276,840 Black students were identified as gifted, but as many as 771,728 Black students were missing from identification. Missing students come from two sources: Schools in which students have no access to identification (schools that do not identify students) and schools in which some groups of students are under-identified.

The full study, System Failure, Access Denied: Gifted Education in the United States – Law, Access, Equity, and Missingness Across the Country by Locale, Title I School Status, and Race may be accessed here.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Black students are merely overlooked they are refused evaluation
    My experience in Suffern, NY elementary school insists that that is the case. Once we moved evaluations effected, my two children were found to have IT’S of 160 +.

    • Thank you for your response. Our sons did not like school. They’ve often remarked that they did not feel academically challenged in school.

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