Parents play a vital role in identifying and cultivating talent for diverse gifted children but their experiences with schools and educational leaders are rarely studied. To examine parent perspectives on identifying and serving diverse gifted students, we conducted six focus groups with 39 parents of K-12 children from culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse backgrounds (CLED), and/or identified as twice exceptional (2E). Thematic analysis and its six-phase approach was used to analyze data. We found (a) that the majority of parents advocated for their gifted and talented children, (b) a lack of consistent and comprehensive strategies by educational leaders to promote parent engagement, (c) disproportionate communication from district leaders rendered engagement efforts less effective, (d) GT identification remained problematic to some parents, and (e) front line educators served a critical role in the bilateral relationship between school and family. Implications are discussed for researchers and educational leaders.
Researchers in gifted and talented education (GATE) have increasingly taken on the role of advocating equity and access for minoritized populations. However, subgroups of racially and ethnically diverse students are rarely disaggregated from monolithic racial and ethnic categories. Studies on academic achievement of Asian American and White students, based on aggregated data, risk straying from scientific rigor and may lead to conclusions that further contribute to the masking of inequities and disparities of nested subgroups. The roots of this phenomenon can be traced to the practice of racial/ethnic data aggregation from the national level on down. We contend that fair and equitable access should be afforded to all students and call for the normalization of racial/ethnic data disaggregation in GATE research to increase scientific rigor in our scholarship and unmask intra-ethnic inequities.
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