Challenging Expectations: Case Studies of High-Potential, Culturally Diverse Young Children

Abstract

For an array of complex reasons, minority students and students from low-income backgrounds are typically underrepresented in programs for learners identified as gifted. Project START, a university/school district collaboration, identified and served high-potential, low-income and/or minority, primary age students based on multiple intelligence theory. Instructional and programmatic interventions also included multicultural emphases, language immersion, use of manipulatives, participation in mentorships, and a family outreach program. This article reports findings from eight case studies of START learners, and provides insights into factors that promoted success and discouraged success for these learners, both in the regular classroom and in transition to special services for gifted learners. Minority students, particularly those from tow-income backgrounds, are typically underrepresented in programs for gifted learners (Baldwin, 1994; Frasier & Passow, 1994; U.S. Department of Education, 1993). This is the case for an array of reasons, including: limited and limiting definitions of giftedness, lack of culturally sensitive means of assessing potential, inadequate preparation of teachers in issues and practices related to an increasingly multicultural school population, and lack of awareness among teachers about ways in which potential in culturally diverse populations may be

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