Giving Compass' Take:

• Marta W. Aldrich reports that research has shown that, across America, gifted programs are primarily serving students from wealthier families. 

• Can gifted programs be made equitable? Are these programs worth saving?

• Learn about gifted and talented programs that missed their diversity goals. 

Elementary school students from higher-income families are far more likely to land in gifted programs than their lower-income classmates, even if those students go to the same school and show similar levels of achievement in math and reading, says a new study.

In fact, across America, a student from a family in the top fifth of economic and social status is twice as likely to receive gifted services than an equally achieving peer in the bottom fifth.

And the gap swells to almost seven times more likely when examining all students, say researchers from Vanderbilt University and the University of Florida.

The findings, published this week in the Harvard Educational Review, aren’t a surprise. Previous research using data in multiple states and districts have come to similar conclusions. But it’s the first study to use national data and also to factor in achievement results.

The research highlights the challenges of getting gifted services to talented students based on students’ personal merits — not on family advantages, biased referral or evaluation processes, or questionable policies.

The issue is important because high-achieving, low-income students who are being overlooked for gifted programs also have the most to gain by participating, according to previous research. Meanwhile, advantaged students are getting outsized access to programs that are linked to important benefits such as greater engagement in school, increased motivation to learn, pathways to improved academic performance, and self-efficacy, or the idea that “I’m good at school.”

“There are a lot of districts around the country that are taking this problem very seriously,” said Jonathan Plucker, president of the board for the National Association for Gifted Children. “This study doesn’t tell us a ton that we didn’t already know, but it’s another reminder that we’ve got to stop seeing low-income students as untalented, which is a huge mindset problem.”

Read the full article about inequities in gifted programs by Marta W. Aldrich at Chalkbeat.