“Why are the Gifted Classes So White?” Making Space for Gifted Latino Students

Abstract

Bryson Valley Elementary School’s population is changing, formerly consisting of students, 72% of whom identified as White, but now only 53% of students do so; 26% of its 800 students identify as Latinx,1the largest minority group in the school. The school’s new Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) teacher, Judith Hunter, notices a disparity in ethnic representation in the AIG program and hopes to change that situation. Two challenges that Judith faces are resistance from teachers who tend to hold deficit orientations toward some groups of students, as well as a fairly apathetic principal who is nearing retirement. When viewed through the lens of Critical Race Theory, the implicit racism in the school’s gifted identification procedures becomes more obvious.