Why Talented Black and Hispanic Students Can Go Undiscovered

[Behind the Aegis]

Public schools are increasingly filled with black and Hispanic students, but the children identified as “gifted” in those schools are overwhelmingly white and Asian.

The numbers are startling. Black third graders are half as likely as whites to be included in programs for the gifted, and the deficit is nearly as large for Hispanics, according to work by two Vanderbilt researchers, Jason Grissom and Christopher Redding.

New evidence indicates that schools have contributed to these disparities by underestimating the potential of black and Hispanic children. But that can change: When one large school district in Florida altered how it screened children, the number of black and Hispanic children identified as gifted doubled.

That district is Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale and has one of the largest and most diverse student populations in the country. More than half of its students are black or Hispanic, and a similar proportion are from low-income families. Yet, as of 10 years ago, just 28 percent of the third graders who were identified as gifted were black or Hispanic.

In 2005, in an effort to reduce that disparity, Broward County introduced a universal screening program, requiring that all second graders take a short nonverbal test, with high scorers referred for I.Q. testing. Under the previous system, the district had relied on teachers and parents to make those referrals.

NY Times

[Ash_F]

1. Amazing and infuriating

'Despite these positive results, Broward County suspended its universal screening program in 2010 in a spate of budget cutting after the Great Recession. '

[brush]

2. The whole nation has been doing this for centuries

Think of the hundreds of years of neglect and racism that has cheated the country of talents in POC communities.

It continues to this day with attitudes of low expectations for non-white children.

It's simply a waste of human capital.

[Baobab]

3. Trade deals require the privatization and possibly globalization via government e-tendering/procur

of all sections of the former public sectors that do not pass the following test. Obviously neither K-12 or higher education in the US pass this test. To do that no money could be involved at all anywhere. So like health care it must be privatized and globalized. Its entirely possible that poor kids might even be shipped overseas for public education in the future if its cheaper. Same thing with care of the sick. That way the bad business models can be preserved and their profitability extended. If there are no jobs in the future many people think public education should cease. I have had that argument with countless people. Typical dumb statement "why give them unrealistic expectations". (speaking about poor kids) People dont realize how rapidly technology is moving forward. Poor countries are demanding a slice of jobs in the former public sector in exchange for liberalizing (privatizing) their services like health care and education.

"For the purposes of this Agreement…

(b) 'services' includes any service in any sector except services supplied in the exercise of governmental authority;

(c) 'a service supplied in the exercise of governmental authority' means any service which is supplied neither on a commercial basis, nor in competition with one or more service suppliers."

[brush]

4. You must've meant to respond to the poster I responded to.

[Baobab]

5. What happends if they are "discovered" ? At least they are not tagged as

unworthy of college? However, the ugly mathematics of disinvestment means that even the most talented kids are going to have to struggle to get the level of education they need to find interesting employment. And services globalization means that even if they do get that PhD in an in demand field, they may never get to use it because their wages would be undercut by low wage L-1 visa holder subcontractors from countries with a favorable regulatory environment. See the problem? The whole argument of their being deserving minorities falls apart when confronted with low wage high skill workforces from verified, documented LDCs like the many countries in Africa or Asia that the US has pledged to assist.