Clatrina Lane and Shawna McCoy

You will have 5 minutes to complete this assignment.

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4.
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Spanish
Vietnamese
Hmong
Chinese, Cantonese
Korean
Haitian Creole
Arabic
Russian
Tagalog
Navajo
3,598,451
88,906
70,768
46,466
43,969
42,236
41,279
37,157
34,133
27,029

Giftedness Defined
Federal Government: 1993
Children and youth with outstanding talent perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment
U.S Department of Education, 1993
Outstanding talents are present in children and youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor
Only seven states definition of giftedness specially mention culturally diverse groups by name

Challenge of Bilingual Limited English
Proficient Students
● 18% of these students speaks a language other than
English at home (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003)
● 8% of the same population is not fluent in English
(National Center for Educational Statistics, 2003)
● 13% of public schools in the United States do not offer a bilingual program (NCES, 2003, 1997)
● As a result, these students are more likely to be placed in special education classes or are labeled as slow learners

● Linguistic Bias
● Communication Style Bias
● Cognitive Style Bias

Refers to the fact that students’ knowledge may not be recognized because of language errors they make in testing situations, academic settings, and/or social conversation

Refers to teachers who are not familiar with expression styles or different ethnic groups and therefore misjudge the intent and gist of communication by their diverse students.

May influence identification of high ability students when they express their ability in ways not matching standardized test performance requirements, or teachers’ expectations of how ability should look.

Test Bias
The identification procedures for gifted programs used in the majority of school districts in the country are still heavily weighted in favor of IQ and standardized test scores (Castellano, 2002)
If test scores are the primary method of identifying students for gifted programs, diverse students, especially students with limited
English proficiency are at a serious disadvantage
The literature suggest that most gifted programs serve students who are white, middle class, easily identifiable by “objective” means such as standardized test (Frasier, 1995; Karnes, 2002)

Teacher Expectation
Rather than establishing a demanding, yet nurturing environment for LEP students, teacher expectations are lower for these students.(Educational
Research Service, 1998)
Poverty
Poverty is often found in conjunction with cultural diversity (Donovan & Cross,
2002).
A lack of access to stimulating educational materials and experiences can hinder children's early intellectual development (Bainbridge, 2002)

According to Clark (1983), low socioeconomic gifted Black underachieving students had parents who:
● Were less optimistic and expressed feelings of helplessness hopelessness
● Were less assertive and involved in their children’s education
● Set unrealistic and unclear expectations for their children
● Were less confident in terms of their parenting skills

In a study of gifted Black underachievers( Ford,
1995), it was reported:
● Less positive teacher-students relations
● Having too little time to understand the material
● Less supportive classroom environment
● Being unmotivated or disinterested in school

Many schools districts are starting to take a new approach in identifying a more diverse population of students by looking at students strengths and weaknesses.
Asking questions such as: How can we best serve them?

Examples of how school programs can support Cultural Linguistic
Students
● Recognize that a problem of underrepresentation of diverse students exist
● Increase awareness among faculty of cultural impact on student academic performance
● Establish programs that support program coordinators and teachers to make necessary changes to help develop the talent of culturally linguistic students
● Parental and community involvement

Instructional Recommendations of LEP Students
● Preview basic and conceptual vocabulary before the lesson
● Use pictures and concrete examples to make the vocabulary comprehensible
● Use graphic organizers
● Use concept mapping
● Allow student to do her thinking and processing in native language
● Allow student to communicate with in native language
● Utilize families as a resource

Bibliography
Bainbridge, W. (2002). Demographics, diversity, and K-12 accountability: The challenge of closing the achievement gap. Education and Urban Society , 34(4). 422-437
Castellano, J. A.(2002). Renavigating the waters: The identification and assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse students for gifted and talented education.( p. 94-116)
Clark, R. (1983). Family Life and School Achievement: Why Poor Black Children Succeed and Fai. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press
De Wet, Catharine F. (Winter 2005)"The Challenge of Bilingual and Limited English Proficient Students." The National
Research Center on the Gifted and Talented .
Donovan, M. S., & Cross, C. T. (Eds.) (2002). Minority students in special and gifted education . Washington, DC: National
Academy Press.
Ford, Donna Y., and Antoinette Thomas. (1997) "Underachievement Among Gifted Minority Students: Problems and
Promises." Gifted Education Digest E 544

Ford, Donna Y. (Winter 2005) "Intelligence Testing and Cultural Diversity: Pitfalls and Promises." National Research
Center on the Gifted and Talented
U.S Department of Education. (1993). National Excellence: A case for developing America’s talent. Washington, DC:
Author.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2003). Status an trends in the education of
Blacks. Washington D.C. Author.