Diversity in Gifted Education

Individual Differences

Most gifted education programs are designed to identify and provide alternate educational opportunities for those who demonstrate academic excellence. They are designed to identify those who are different from the mainstream school population. What is often missed in most of these programs is that there is also diversity within the gifted population itself, which further complicates the processes. The oft-used square peg in a round hole analogy is not quite sufficient.

Variability within the gifted population often is forgotten when educational decisions are being made about specific students. To carry the square-peg analogy a bit farther, gifted kids are not all “squares” either; some are diamonds, some are stars, and some might even be described most accurately as free-form or asymmetrical. Schools, however, often try to shape gifted students educationally, as if they were all alike. One way to think about the ways that gifted individuals differ from each other is by looking at four general categories: degree of giftedness; racial, cultural, and socioeconomic differences; type of giftedness; and other confounding variables. Any of these, singly or in combination with the others, can affect the probability of a particular gifted student having difficulties in school, even in an otherwise well-designed gifted program. The potential impact of individual differences within each of these categories is as follows:

Degree of giftedness: The more highly gifted that students are, the more likely that they will be at risk in the typical school environment.

Racial, cultural, and socioeconomic differences: The more that gifted students differ from either the dominant racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic group or from the expectations of their own group, the more likely it is that they will be at risk in the typical school environment.

Type of giftedness: Gifted students who are creative, divergent thinkers; those who are gifted in the psychosocial domain; and those who are gifted in visual and performing arts are likely to be more at risk in a typical school environment that focuses on convergent thinking and academic achievement.

Other confounding variables: Students who have been identified as having learning disabilities or behavior disorders; those who are considered to be emotionally disturbed; and those who are physically challenged, hearing impaired, or visually impaired are likely to be more at risk in the typical school environment because their other-identified exceptional educational needs tend to be addressed rather than their giftedness.

Broadening the definition of giftedness to encompass multiple talents and diversity among the gifted may have come out of a desire to create educational environments more suitable to the development of creative potential. So far, efforts to modify the learning environment have not kept pace with an understanding of giftedness that includes the entire range of individual differences within the gifted population.

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