Multicultural Issues

Gifted education has been criticized for the persistent underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic students. Many explanations have been advanced, including teacher underreferral, test bias and unfairness, and discriminatory policies and procedures (e.g., criteria), to name a few. Themes permeating the aforementioned explanations have been low expectations for Hispanic and Black students, and inadequate preparation among educators and decision makers to be culturally responsive to their issues and needs. In this column, I propose that a great deal of the factors that contribute to and/or exacerbate underrepresentation rest in the painful reality of prejudice and that both intentional and unintentional prejudice must be considered and addressed for progress and equitable change(s) to occur. Two models of prejudice are presented that shed light on different types and degrees of prejudice, with implications for gifted education specifically. This discussion is followed by suggestions grounded in intergroup contact theory.