First-generation students in rural communities: A study of effective programming components that support closing the excellence gap

Reducing Excellence Gaps: A Systematic Review of Research on Equity in Advanced Education

“…Twelve of those articles used data from students in the United States, 1 study focused on data from Egypt (Ayoub, Alabbasi, & Plucker, 2021), 1 used a sample of students in Spain (Hernández-Torrano, 2018), and 1 study compared students from the United States and India (Makel et al, 2016). Twelve of the studies used quantitative methods (Assouline et al, 2020; Ayoub et al, 2021; Brigandi, Rambo-Hernandez, & Schwartz, 2020; Crabtree, Richardson, & Lewis, 2019; Hernández-Torrano, 2018; Kettler & Hurst, 2017; Lu & Weinberg, 2016; Lu, Weinberg, & McCormick, 2020; Makel et al, 2016; Peters et al, 2017; Wai & Allen, 2019; Yaluma & Tyner, 2021), 2 used qualitative methods (Collins & Jones Roberson, 2020; Tomlinson & Jarvis, 2014), and 1 used mixed methods (Ihrig et al, 2018). A key theme that was developed from the findings in these articles is that equitable access to advanced learning opportunities requires policy-level, district-level, school-level, and classroom-level changes that acknowledge that ability and talent are dynamic and enhanced by supportive environments.…”

“…Across the studies in this systematic review, it was evident that culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students are underrepresented in gifted and advanced academic programs (e.g., Hamilton et al, 2018; Peters, Gentry, et al, 2019). Several recommendations focused on adapting identification processes (e.g., Carman et al, 2018, 2020; Peters, Rambo-Hernandez, et al, 2019; Wai & Lakin, 2020) and providing flexible placement options in school (e.g., Brigandi et al, 2020; Ihrig et al, 2018; Wai & Allen, 2019) and beyond the school day (e.g., Hodges et al, 2017; Little et al, 2018; Wu et al, 2019). Educators, students, and their families must know about advanced learning options in and out of school and know how to access them (e.g., Lu & Weinberg, 2016; Lu et al, 2020).…”

Talent denied: Equity and excellence gaps in STEMM

“…They encompass all manner of gaps in all STEMM fields across age groups, educational levels, and scale levels. The following list illustrates the prevalence, extreme diversity, and complexity of the subject: Kinds of gaps: excellence gap, 16,17 pay gap, 18,19 achievement gap, 20 confidence gap, 21,22 opportunity gap, 23,24 representation gap 25 STEMM‐fields: astronomy, 26,27 biology, 28,29 chemistry, 30,31 engineering, 32,33 geosciences, 34,35 computer science, 36 math, 37,38 medicine, 39,40 pharmacy, 41,42 physics 43,44 Age groups: early childhood, 45 childhood, 46,47 youth and adolescence, 48,49 adulthood 50,51 Educational levels: kindergarten, 52,53 elementary education, 23,54 secondary education, 55,56 higher education, 57,58 vocational education 59,60 Kinds of groups: ethnicity, 48,61 gender and sex, 62,63 immigrants, 64,65 migrants, 66,67 generational, 68,69 sexual orientation and gender identity, 70,71 countries, 72,73 special educational needs and disabilities, 45,71 twice exceptional 74 Scale levels: geography, 75,76 culture, 77,78 institutions and organizations, 79,80 schools, 56,81 groups, 61,82 family 83,84 …”