Identification Policy: Addressing Equity and Excellence for Advanced Learners

Abstract

Identification for gifted and talented services is governed by state and local policies. Inclusive, student-centered policies can support equity and excellence by ensuring that all students have access to appropriate levels of academic challenge. Gifted programming standards, evidence-based interventions, and emerging strategies can provide guidance for the creation of strong identification policies and for the revision of policies that do not adequately support equitable access, program alignment, and the proportional representation of students from culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse backgrounds. Some critical points to consider when creating identification policies for advanced learning programs include providing opportunities to learn, expanding access to advanced programming, embedding retention supports, ensuring flexibility to account for local needs, maintaining an emphasis on excellence, and inviting input from families and community members.

A Pragmatic Analysis of How North Carolina School Districts Aim to Differentiate for Gifted High School Students

“…Second, we directly addressed a local pressing need, that may be beneficial to other U.S. states or school districts, by identifying a number of additional researchbased and/or recommended best practices that were mentioned is some of the plans. Such noteworthy practices included social and emotional interventions (e.g., affective curriculum; Rinn, 2020), culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 2014), differentiated learning environments (Lee et al, 2021), early graduation (Plucker et al, 2022a(Plucker et al, , 2022b, leadership training (Meyer & Rinn, 2021), metacognitive skills (ElAdl & Polpol, 2020), Model UN (Khadzir & Sumarmi, 2020) and preassessments to inform differentiation (Wormeli, 2018). Some plans also included collaboration with other stakeholders besides general education teachers, such as EC, ELL, and technology teachers, administrators, and parents and families (Mofield, 2020).…”

“…A lack of comprehensive programming can be attributed to barriers such as misconceptions about gifted students, issues related to identification, and limited or no funding for resources, training, and materials (Rinn et al, 2020). It is imperative to advocate for gifted students, including those at the high school level from all backgrounds, because inadequate policies and programming could limit students' opportunities to learn and access to the services they need to thrive (Plucker et al, 2022a).…”