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Advocacy Issue – Greater Participation of Black and Latino Students in Gifted and Talented Programs at the Elementary Level

As a school counselor advocate, my plan would entail increasing the number of brown and black students at my elementary school who would participate and be enriched in a gifted and talented initiative. Educational studies have shown that these groups of students are underserved in gifted programs due to many factors, including classism and racism (Dreilinger, 2020). The same studies show that Black and Latino students benefit and academically grow from gifted instruction which can lead to future academic success (Dreilinger, 2020).

My advocacy group would be minority students in the 2nd grade who have been nominated and/or discussed as potential gifted and talented students by teachers, teacher aides, and parents/guardians, but who are not currently being tested and/or placed in the gifted program.

Resource:
Dreilinger, Danielle.  (2020, October 14).  America’s gifted education programs have a race problem.  NBC News

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ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors:

·         M 2. Self-confidence in ability to succeed

·         M 3. Sense of belonging in the school environment

·         M 5. Belief in using abilities to their fullest to achieve high-quality results and outcomes

·         B-LS 10. Participate in enrichment and extracurricular activities

·         B-SS 5. Consult to support student achievement and success

·         B-SS 6. Collaborate with families, teachers, administrators, other school staff and education stakeholders for student achievement and success

·         B-PE 2. Identify gaps in achievement, attendance, discipline, opportunity and resources

Resource:

American School Counselor Association. (2019a).  ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs.  Alexandra, VA: Author.

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SMART Goal Template

| Academic Year | 2021 |   to | 2022

Identify outcome data (achievement, attendance or discipline) that serves as basis for goal:

| School data has shown that elementary aged students, especially Black and Latino students, at my school, have been underserved by not participating in our school’s gifted and educated program. As a school counselor, I will use the data that has been collected to show this unequal access to this curriculum and to advocate for greater participation among qualified minority through testing and other measures/recommendations from teachers and parents. As more Black and Latino students participate in the program, I will stay in communication with the GATE instructor and maintain dialogue with the faculty on being aware of recommending underserved students to the gifted and talented curriculum.

| By | 06/01/22 |  , | 2nd grade Black and Latino students
|   | End Date |   | Targeted Group

| will | be screened, selected, and successfully participate in a GATE program
|   | (increase/decrease something related to achievement, attendance or discipline) |

| by | 50% | from | 10 students |  to | 15 students
|   | Measure of change |   | Baseline data |   | Target data

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Stakeholders:

It will be vital to have every stakeholder under and accept the premise of this advocacy issue and its implementation. As a school counseling leader, it will be incumbent on me and my professional colleagues to present supporting data and to provide a structured initiative to include a diverse body of elementary aged students into the GATE program.

Administrators: It will be critical to include, educate and gather information to the building administrator to show how minority students are being denied an enriching, challenging curriculum through GATE due to myriad factors, including systematic educational racism and classism. Through data, we could provide the information to a principal that more students need to be included in gifted education and lay the groundwork for possible additional funding for this program so all qualified students can have a chance to participate.

School counseling department: Every professional school counselor should be brought into this advocacy issue at its infancy; every counselor should feel that they have a vocational interest in this matter. The supporting data should be a collaborating goal that all staff members will participate in and be open to discuss and advocate with their colleagues and community members.

Teachers: The school counselors should present their data before the faculty and have conversations with teachers on how they gauge their recommendations to a GATE program. Is there a chance that implicit bias may affect which students are selected? It will be important to gather the input of minority teachers in the school who may be more aware of brown and black students who could be potential gifted education student.

Parents: Once the supporting data is available, it should be presented to the entire school community, including parents. They should have the chance to provide feedback on the data and to discuss their own concerns on how the GATE program has been distributed and their own history with other children who may or may not have been selected for the program. It may also be a catalyst for the parents to take action for greater GATE funding, especially in testing and data collection on which students are selected into a gifted and talented classroom.

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Building Diversity in Gifted Programs | Amanda Champany | TEDxABQED

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Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today that he will end the city’s program for gifted and talented students, saying the program is flawed.