The under-identification of African American, Hispanic American, and Native American students as gifted and their subsequent underrepresentation in gifted education classes and programs (and advanced placement classes) is a pervasive problem in U.S. education. Under-identification and underrepresentation are widespread, and efforts to redress them and increase access to gifted education have yet to be effective.

For several decades, reports and studies have shown that these three culturally different student groups have been poorly represented in gifted education. Underrepresentation exists when the percentage of students in the general school-going population does not match or proportionately represent their percentage in a given program—in this case, gifted education. Several factors, objective and subjective, contribute to these discrepancies in identification and representation.