This chapter urges educators to think differently about identifying and serving young children in gifted education services. Embedded in the chapter are principles for creating equitable services for young children which include focusing on and respecting the strengths and talents that all young children bring to their early learning environments. Creating thinking environments maximizes opportunities to promote and strengthen intellectual engagement as well as social and emotional development. Described through the metaphor of a jazz musician, the author emphasizes the important roles that teachers play in implementing culturally responsive pedagogies that embrace teaching for social justice. The author concludes with a scenario that illustrates the principles for creating equitable services for all young students and reiterates the need to change conceptions of early childhood gifted education from comparative practices to strengths-based and appropriately challenging instruction for all.
TopIntroduction
The aim of teaching is to provide conditions for learning. (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1993, p. 57)
This chapter urges educators to think differently about the identification of young children for gifted education services. Rather than espousing to what is broadly suggested as more equitable practices to serve more students from underrepresented populations– universal screening, using local or school norms, and using multiple measures to identify children for gifted education, this chapter will delve into using appropriate curriculum and instruction to identify and develop the strengths of all children. Gifted education for young children does not need to center on comparative performance. The field of gifted education has been built upon the relationship between giftedness and intelligence, as measured by tests or measures of cognitive ability, with the assumption that these scores indicate one’s readiness for advanced or accelerated instruction. Therefore, gifted education has been reserved for a select number of students who demonstrate high performance on those tests. Educators in the field of gifted education created arbitrary systems for making decisions about who belongs in gifted programs. Throughout the United States, school districts identify an arbitrary “top” as measured by some criteria to determine who receives gifted education.
High quality early learning experiences are important for all children. We know there are life-long benefits for children who access high quality early education. Children who have been typically underserved in gifted programs, including children from poverty, English Language Learners, or children of color are also those who are not accessing high quality learning environments proportionally to their White peers in upper income families. Creating rich learning contexts for all children is a first step in creating equitable learning environments. According to the National Council of Teachers of English,
It is widely recognized that effective early childhood programs have long-lasting and wide-reaching positive benefits on the educational, social, and emotional development of young children. Children attending such programs show more improvement in cognitive ability, are less likely to be referred for special education, less likely to drop out of school, and less likely to repeat a grade in later years. Long-term outcomes include increased high school graduation rates and labor performance rates and a reduction of criminal activity and teen pregnancy. (National Council of Teachers of English, 2016, p. 1)
What happens in early education environments influences all children’s future. It is essential to create equitable access to rich high-quality early learning experiences. Early childhood gifted education must be seen as different from upper elementary, middle, or secondary gifted education --- it must be seen as the starting point for nurturing all children’s potential, for providing rich learning contexts, and for valuing each learner as a young scholar who has a natural desire to learn and grow.
In this chapter the author will share ways to create equitable services for young children. Chapter sections will include ways to respect the uniqueness of their talents, to design learning environments that stimulate their thinking and continually challenge them, and to examine and improve the field of early childhood gifted education through equity lenses. Opportunities for growth in both performance and potential does not require one to compare children to others or separate them based on their pre-existing knowledge. This chapter dares the reader to serve young students without comparisons of one child to another –especially in early childhood classrooms.
TopEquitable Services For Young Children
One of the main issues within the field of gifted education is the arbitrary way in which states articulate policies and practices all over the country that guide or mandate procedures for districts to identify children for gifted programs. The Federal definition which is in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, defines gifted children as: