Abstract
The foundational question explored in this chapter is: what are the implications of identifying, or not identifying, English learners (ELs) who have high abilities/gifts/talents, for the students, for our schools, and for society? The answer to this question begins with a review of the literature on the identification and inclusion of ELs in high ability/gifted and talented (HA/GT) education. This chapter will also explore alternative identification practices that are demonstrating the potential for including ELs in HA/GT settings. However, it is not enough to find ways to identify this underrepresented student group for HA/GT programs. Teachers need to understand both EL and HA/GT educational models and practices to be successful with either group of students, but most importantly, in inclusive settings where ELs are active participants in HA/GT instruction. This chapter will explore the intersection of these two fields outlining high-impact teaching practices for including ELs in HA/GT classrooms.
TopIntroduction
English learners (ELs) are the fastest-growing population of learners in the United States (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013); however, it is widely acknowledged that ELs are an under-represented group in High Ability/Gifted and Talented (HA/GT) education across the nation (Callahan, 2005; U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, 2014). A 2016 review of research by the National Center for Research on Gifted Education (NCRGE) stated, “While the number of ELs continues to grow rapidly in the United States, corresponding proportions of ELs are not found in gifted and talented education programs across the nation. The underrepresentation of ELs in gifted programs is both a societal and a research problem” (p. 11). According to the NCRGE (2016), “The problem of underrepresentation of ELs among students identified as gifted is an urgent one and requires immediate attention both in research and in practice” (p. 33).
With a quarter of the children in United States classrooms expected to be ELs by 2025 (National Education Association, 2022), it is critical that the field of education addresses the issue of inequity. Educational law is responding to this call by requiring schools to account for several areas of educational attainment for ELs in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015). As reported by Sparks and Harwin (2017), “Every Student Succeeds Act…requires states and districts to report the number of their students performing at the advanced academic level…and to include advanced- achievement data for specific student groups, including English-language learners.” (para. 4). Esquierdo & Arreguin-Anderson (2012) concluded in their report on the underrepresentation of gifted bilingual students that a paradigm shift is needed in the field of gifted and talented education in both identification approaches and appropriate training for educators and other stakeholders.
The author’s research questions that provide the structure for the content addressed in this chapter address three areas of exploration:
- •
Research Question 1 Addresses the Rationale for Including ELs in HA/GT Programming: Why should EL students who have high abilities, gifts, and talents (HA/GT) be included in HA/GT services while they are still learning the language?
- •
Research Question 2 Addresses the Identification of ELs for HA/GT Programming: How can educators identify ELs who have the potential to perform at advanced levels of achievement when they are not yet proficient in English?
- •
Research Question 3 Addresses the Inclusion of ELs in HA/GT Education: Once educators have identified ELs as having high abilities, gifts, and talents, how do they create inclusive learning environments to maximize their potential?
Key Terms in this Chapter
Alternative Identification: The use of tools and strategies to identify students for gifted education programs that go beyond traditional testing, such as looking at the rapid growth in language and content learning, observation protocols specific to second language learners, and including English learner specialists in decision making.
Collaborative Classrooms: Classrooms that are interactive between the teacher and learners, constructing knowledge together.
Assets: The knowledge, skills, dispositions, heritage, culture, and languages that students bring to the classroom that assist in their own and others’ learning.
Depth of Learning: Learning that goes beyond the level of being able to define or identify content knowledge and constructs/ideas and included critical thinking.
Underrepresented Group: A group of students who are not proportionately represented in gifted programming according to their percentage in a school district.
Curriculum Development as a Dynamic Process: The development of units of study that are not static but evolve as the teaching and learning process proceeds.
Watch Group: A group of English learners who have been identified through alternative identification as having high-trajectory growth in language and/or content learning and are placed in a group to receive gifted services alongside English language development services to monitor learning growth.
Alternative Assessment: The use of tools and strategies to assess knowledge/learning that do not fit in a traditional testing model, such as graphic representations of knowledge, performance assessments, authentic assessments that result in a product of use to the learning community or others.
Language Development: The process of acquiring first and/or additional languages that occurs in stages and requires comprehensible input in a context that supports the development of all modes of language usage.
Macro-Concepts: Terms that represent broad, transferable ideas or constructs that cross over and/or intersect content areas and form deep schematic maps.