Top 10 Advocacy Tips for Parents of Black & Hispanic Gifted Students

{Pt 1 in Series of 6 ‘Going Back to School Empowered’ articles}

School districts nationwide are being challenged by scholars, families, educators to do a better job of including more students of culturally diverse backgrounds in gifted education services. Your role as an advocate for your child is critical. School districts will become  more responsive when parents speak up and stand up for their children’s rights.  

If you believe your child/teen has high potential/ is gifted as demonstrated by their unique responses to the world around them, school performance, exceptional gifts as demonstrated in community or church related events, arts activities, test scores or school grades and they have NOT been considered for the school district advanced learner or gifted education program services, use the following ten advocacy strategies to  help get your child noticed, identified, and served in gifted education or advanced classes.

Resources at the end of this list will also provide additional support for your advocacy:

1-      If you would like to have your child evaluated/tested for the gifted program, at the beginning of the school year, check the district’s website, gifted education section for the evaluation timeframe. Check specifically for dates that schools are collecting/soliciting referrals or nominations from parents/family members.  If the school does not list this information online, call the district office, ask to speak to the Gifted Education Specialist/Coordinator for more information (Bright Talented & Black provides information on testing and evaluation procedures used in gifted programs nationwide).

2- If you believe that your child needs additional academic challenge based on their experience the prior year, make an appointment early in the year to speak to your child’s homeroom teacher or content area teacher to ask how the school intends to challenge your child and what services are available (Books listed below & facebook pages have information on special program services for gifted students).

3- Keep a diary/scrapbook/electronic journal to collect artifacts and samples that demonstrate your child’s unique performances/work production over time. Share this journal with school personnel. Include letters from community members, out of school teachers/instructors that describe your child’s behavior and exceptional gifts & talents.

4- Attend all parent-teacher conferences, make sure you ask at least three questions during the Q& A time during group meetings. Show up at school often within district guidelines of course. (In research studies, high achieving African American & Hispanic students note that their parents were ‘always at school’, helping, talking with teachers, seeking out information).  

5- Ask school about intellectual and problem solving competitions (Destination Imagination; MathCounts; Math Olympiad; Olympics of the Mind; Chess; National Society of Black Engineers programs, etc). Offer to coach, share information with other parents of culturally diverse students. Far too often, these programs exist but are segregated and limited to students whose parents are better informed or have available funds to pay extra fees.

6- Volunteer to serve on the district Gifted Education Advisory Council or school based advisory council.

7- Find out more about how your state supports gifted students by reading the ‘STATE of the STATES report’ published by the National Association for Gifted Children. (Reports are available at a minimal cost via www.nagc.org)

8- Be patient with the evaluation/referral/nomination/evaluation process, however, if you sense inconsistencies or inequities, keep notes, and make an appointment with school district coordinator/principal or other personnel to discuss your concerns.

9- If your child is already identified and served in the gifted program, monitor instruction  to ensure that-

a.  materials are ‘culturally responsive’ and challenging, and

b.  your child is not singled out as ‘the only culturally different’ child in the program. If this is the case, ask district personnel what is being done to improve services for more students. (see Recruiting and Retaining Culturally Different Students for more information)

10-Always remember, you know your child best, you are their first teacher and they will count on you more than any teacher to ensure that their intellectual, psycho-social, and academic needs are met and to come to their defense when others simply don’t believe in their potential. Please, don’t let them down.

Below are other helpful resources. If you would like to share more, please write in the comment space below or send me an email. My best to all of our gifted students for a school year filled with challenge and positive, productive opportunities!!

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Books:

Bright, Talented & Black: A guide for Families of African American Gifted Learners by Joy Lawson Davis http://www.amazon.com/Bright-Talented-Black-Families-American/dp/1935067028

Retaining & Recruiting Culturally Different Students in Gifted Education by Donna Y. Ford 

http://www.amazon.com/Recruiting-Retaining-Culturally-Different-Education/dp/1618210491

African American Students in Urban Schools: Critical Issues & Solutions for Achievement by James L. Moore III & Chance Lewis http://www.amazon.com/African-American-Students-Urban-Schools/dp/1433106868

Special Award Competition:

CTY Announces New Award to Support Pre-College Math and Science Research 

BALTIMORE August 15, 2013—Young scientists ages 13 to 18 with promising research ideas can now be awarded funding of up to $600 through a new annual competition sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY). CTY is establishing the CTY Cogito Research Awards to help offset the costs associated with conducting research in math and science for selected middle and high school students.  

More information is also available on the Cogito site at: https://cogito.cty.jhu.edu/?p=39168.

Log on to Facebook, search for the following pages:

Parents Advocating for Gifted Education

International Gifted Education

WeAreGifted2

Mirror Books: the Power of Positive Images

The Brain Café

Prep For College

Uplift, Inc.

National Association of Multicultural Education

Upcoming Workshop:

National Harambee Education Summit Sept 19-22, 2013 Washington, DC

For more information: www.sankofaed.org

Upcoming NAGC Webinar:

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013, 7-8 EST Beyond Colorblindness: Building a Gifted Education Classroom that Honors Cultural Difference

http://www.nagc.org/wow.aspx

Your comments and ideas are greatly appreciated!! Dr. Joy

Profjoy1022@gmail.com

NEW & IMPORTANT BOOKS TO HELP WITH ERADICATING INEQUITIES IN EDUCATION!!

We're midway through the summer break for most educators and families. I hope by now, you've had some time for a break, vacation or will be going soon.  If you have more time for summer reading, please consider one of the books below.

These books have been selected because they will help as you reflect on what more you can do to contribute to making a difference for young people in our schools today and thus, change the course of their life chances and success for tomorrow.  I believe that these books should be on every educational advocate's reading list.

If you have read any of these books, you are among our nation's more progressive educators, parents, community leaders, political leaders who are truly interested in shaping schools across the nation to more fairly and equitably serve the needs of ALL learners.  (If you have not, you can access each of them by clicking the links below).

 

The ten (10) books listed here are just a few of the many critical readings that will help you in your efforts to create more effective and culturally responsive classroom conditions in schools everywhere, bring out the best in our children so that more and more of them can reach their highest potential, and help school leaders engage in very important conversations that will challenge the failures of schools in the past while creating new paradigms for successful schools in the future.

Your feedback and additions to this list are welcome! 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Bright, Talented & Black: A Guide for Families of African American Gifted Learners. By J.L. Davis

http://www.amazon.com/Bright-Talented-Black-Families-American/dp/1935067028/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1373845305&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Bright%2C+Talented+%26+Black

 

 

Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, 2nd Edition. By R. Delgado & J. Stefancic

http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Race-Theory-Introduction-University/dp/0814721354/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373846664&sr=1-1&keywords=Critical+Race+Theory

 

Helping Hispanic Students Succeed. By P. Quinn

http://www.amazon.com/Helping-Hispanic-Students-Succeed-Quinn/dp/0983851611/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373847470&sr=1-4&keywords=Hispanic+students

 

 

High Schools, Race & America's Future: What Students can teach us about Morality, Diversity & Community. By  L. Blum

http://www.amazon.com/High-Schools-Race-Americas-Future/dp/1612504655/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373844677&sr=1-1&keywords=High+Schools%2C+Race+%26+America

 

 

Implementing RtI With Gifted Students: Service Models, Trends & Issues. By M.R. Coleman & S.K. Johnsen, Eds. 

http://www.amazon.com/Implementing-RtI-Gifted-Students-Service/dp/1593639503/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373847987&sr=1-2&keywords=RtI+Johnsen+%26+Coleman

 

Multiplication is for White People: Raising Expectations for Other People's Children. By L. Delpit

http://www.amazon.com/Multiplication-White-People-Expectations-Children/dp/1595588981/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373846803&sr=1-1&keywords=Lisa+Delpit

 

 

Recruiting & Retaining Culturally Different students in Gifted Education. By D.Y. Ford

http://www.amazon.com/Recruiting-Retaining-Culturally-Different-Education/dp/1618210491/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373844770&sr=1-5&keywords=Donna+Y+Ford

 

 

Special Populations in Gifted Education: Understanding our most Able Students from Diverse Backgrounds. By J. A. Castellano & A.D. Frazier

http://www.amazon.com/Special-Populations-Gifted-Education-Castellano/dp/159363417X

 

 

The Young, Triumphant & Black: Stories of Life & Liberation by Talented Black Students. By T. C. Grantham, M.F.T. Scott, & D. A. Harmon

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1618210297/ref=rdr_ext_tmb#reader_1618210297

 

 

Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined. The Truth about Talent, Practice, Creativity and the many Paths to Greatness. By S.B. Kaufman

http://www.amazon.com/Ungifted-Intelligence-Scott-Barry-Kaufman/dp/0465025544/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373846971&sr=1-2&keywords=Ungifted

 

Create, Engage, Experiment, Excite, Immerse: Summer Focus on STEM!!

An immersion experience is one during which learners are deeply engaged and actively learning, creating, and producing over a period of time. Like a foreign language immersion school or classroom, when you immerse your students/children & youth in STEM- STEM becomes a part of their everyday experience!!        

Immersion creates a sense of ‘ownership’ and increases the value students have for the learning and outcomes are improved and achievement increases!           

To be immersed in STEM programming allows learners to focus on the skills and concepts of scientific thinking and problem-solving while being exposed to future oriented skill-building. Discussing ideas, creating new solutions, working with and developing new technologies are exciting to young people! STEM is a widely known acronym for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. As a nation, we have become excited about STEM and the benefits of STEM learning for all students.

Even with all the attention and new programs, we continue, however, to see STEM as an area of disproportionate representation. In a blog posting earlier this year, it was noted that cultural minority youth participate in STEM less frequently than students from Asian and Anglo backgrounds. This lack of participation is the result of a lack of access and opportunities, not necessarily to a lack of interest in STEM related courses and activities.

At a gifted and talented symposium earlier this month, Doug Paulson, STEM Integration specialist with the Minnesota Department of Education, indicated that four very important “C” skills are developed through STEM involvement:

1. Creativity
2. Critical Thinking
3. Collaboration
4. Cross Cultural Connection

Developing these skills in ALL learners will be crucial to their sustained success in school as they prepare for secondary and post-secondary education, training, and entry into the world of work. It’s a small world and we need to do all we can to ensure that ALL high ability children have competitive expertise, critical thinking skills, and communication skills needed to work with their peers across the nation and around the world.

Use this summer as a time to stir up interest in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics by immersing your children and youth in STEM programming helping them to take advantage of the numerous long-term benefits that come from participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics related courses.

We can combat the low number of children of color, particularly Black and Hispanic students enrolled in STEM related secondary and post secondary programs by stirring up interest early and sustaining this interest through active engagement. The idea that students are not interested in STEM is just a myth! Like so many other myths perpetuated by general society about children of color, we MUST do our part to dispel the myths.

Recently, I scanned  several websites  sharing STEM related programming and competitions and noticed an obvious equity issue. Most of the sites presented pictures of students from Anglo, Asian, Middle Eastern cultures, few if any represented African American and Hispanic American students. Again, the income gap may be at work here, because participation in STEM programs can be costly, however, it is interesting to note that major corporations we all support provide substantial funding for most of these programs. So we’re back to the issue of access and opportunities.

We must do our part to help children of color know that STEM careers are for them, too!! STEM careers are interesting, exciting and allow students to create new ideas and innovative products that contribute to the advancement of society. Exposure and Access will change the Outcomes! STEM related disciplines also provide opportunities to engage in hands on, experimental design, competitions, and to engage with the global neighbors. 

A few tips:

1)    Enroll your child in summer STEM camps that are available at many colleges and universities nationwide! Conduct a web search to find programs in your area (some of the links below may be of assistance). It’s not too late!!

2)    Visit area science museums and participate in brief (1-2 day) workshops

3)    Create a STEM club within your own community. Purchase Lego Robotics kits, engage an area engineer or college students to come and work with the students. Provide a space, access to ‘wi-fi’, computers, and also provide a meal so that your young designers, builders, creators are nutritionally able to work ALL Day!!

4)    Investigate the possibility of initiating a STEM partnership program supported by private and public funding. Solicit neighbors and family members in STEM careers to serve on your advisory board. Inquire about funding through government agencies and private foundations

5)    Create, Innovate, Engage, Design, Application, Model, Collaborate are just a few words used frequently in STEM classrooms. Increase your child’s use of the words by posting STEM words throughout the home for vocabulary development. Use the words in general conversation and discuss transferability of words to other contexts

6)    Study inventions by male & female Engineers, Scientists, Mathematicians from culturally diverse backgrounds. Post pictures, provide biographies, and other books of interest for easy student access

Use the resources listed below to get started: 

v  egifted online courses  

http://www.egifted.org/#!engineering-class/c1k1g

v  Intel International Science and Engineering Fair

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/compete/intel-isef/

v  National Society of Black Engineers

http://www.nsbe.org/Programs/Competitions/KidZone.aspx

The National Society for Black Engineers strives to increase the number of minority students studying engineering at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. To accomplish this, their activities include high school and middle grades outreach programs.

v  National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) 
http://www.nacme.org 
The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering provides leadership and support for the national effort to increase the representation of successful African American, American Indian and Latino women and men in STEM-focused careers.

v  Society of Women Engineers (SWE) 
http://www.swe.org 
SWE is the driving force that establishes engineering as a highly desirable career aspiration for women SWE empowers women to succeed and advance in those aspirations.

v  Uplift, Inc. Washington, D.C.

http://www.upliftdc.org/index.html

Uplift, Inc. guides preK-12 students through innovative educational experiences in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics and Computer Science (STEAM+CS), teaching them to solve everyday problems as they advance toward making real world impact.

Uplift's 4 week-long summer camps are geared towards students ages 8-17. This summer classes focus on programming concepts, game design & scoring (music), robotics, and animation.

"A focus on STEM concepts especially among underrepresented populations is increasingly important as technology has been integrated in every area of our lives. When children are engaged in hands-on programs that help them understand the theory on which STEM concepts are based it demystifies what are typically considered as "hard" subjects. It also promotes a desire to investigate and solve problems while having fun and developing team building skills" 

                                                           – Nailah Mbiti, Engineer & Educator Kansas City, MO. 

Our readers would love to hear about your STEM program experiences, please comment here to share your ideas, resources, and personal testimonies of the benefits of STEM for yourself, your students, & others !!

The Blessings and the Burdens of Race: A Call to Change Course

 'Where I go, you go with me' 

Carrying the burden of my race on my back everyday-

John Edgar Wideman, one of our nation’s most prolific and gifted authors, wrote a book in 1987 entitled ‘Reuben’.  Reuben is a very complex novel in which Wideman defines through several very colorful characters and their interactions the ‘pains of being black’.  In the novel is the story of a young man who is a scholar athlete, attending a prestigious college on an athletic scholarship. Obviously, he has been recognized by his community, teachers in high school and family as being very smart. Smart enough that he is selected to go to college and school personnel help him to do this. It appears in this segment of the story that he is the first of his family and perhaps his neighborhood to ‘go off to college’. Like so many first generation college students in the past and even the present, he had mixed feelings. He was glad to be at what appeared to be an ‘ivy league’ school, with stone buildings, small hallways, classrooms that seemed to be out of a novel, not real-life to him.

The brief part of the novel indicates that was doing the best he could to settle in to his new home and begin his quest to becoming educated. He enjoyed the new environment, but no matter what he did he could not forget the people from his neighborhood. He felt responsible for them. In one scene in the novel, he shares a burdensome feeling of ‘carrying’ his neighbors from the community back home on his back as he walked around campus and each day it seemed that first one, then another would ride or he would pick them up..the author writes this story so clearly that eventually until a reader actually visualizes the young college student bent over from the weight of his neighbors riding on his back  from class to class. For without him going to college, he knew his family and neighbors would never get there. This scene is a clear, visual image of what ‘bearing the burdens of race’ looks like. For so many first generation college students, African American, Hispanic, low income, it becomes a huge responsibility in general society to ‘carry’ your family and friends along with you to experience something that they have not been fortunate enough to bear/witness/experience or may not have possessed the skills, gifts, talents that you have do and therefore, they will never have such an opportunity.

This metaphoric condition has been defined by many writers and historians over time as the burden of race. The race burdent takes different forms. Sometimes it is that an individual will feel responsible to do 'well' for the whole group, because in general the group is consistently maligned and denigrated. The individual may also feel a sense of obligation to help others, so much so that it becomes a 'burden'..one that is often too much to bear. 

Being a person of color, from an ethnically diverse group in this nation can be a horrendous burden to bear in the midst of a society that constantly perpetuates negativity and denigrates your people. Simultaneously, sometimes our neighborhoods are fearsome places to be and over time, our children begin to believe that their very existence is a burden to society.  We want to teach our children to be proud of their race, ethnic group, history, legacy, and want them to see being Black or Hispanic or from any other culturally diverse group as a blessing. And for most of us it is a blessing indeed. The blessings are real, but sadly, because of daily life conditions that students must suffer from, so are the burdens.  

Not me, I’m color blind-

In schools, ‘color blindness’ gives some educators a false sense of security regarding treatment of culturally diverse students, as they suggest that they treat all of their students the same. It’s not that I can read into the minds and hearts of every person who uses that term…but what I can say is that when someone looks at me, I don’t want them to be blind- I want them to see me for who I am -a woman of color with a strong, rich heritage and legacy of a family that originated from multiple continents whose people have a strong belief system and have courage, wisdom and fortitude to have been challenged generation to generation and yet, survived and in most cases, even thrived against the odds.  My race and ethnicity along with my other traits make me who I am. Color blindness is not the ideal state we have been led to believe it is.

Each child attending our schools has the right to have their legacy and their heritage respected and included in their learning experience. They have the right to learn about their history, they have the right to know that they come from people who were wise, creative, and intellectual ingenious. When schools can address students as the individuals they are then- being racially or ethnically different will no longer be a burden. It will be a blessing simply to be who they are. One who sees themselves as a blessing has a very different outlook on life and different functioning that one who sees themselves as a burden and their people as a burden. Along with the feeling of being blessed, is a higher self-esteem, higher level of confidence which are both linked to higher school achievement results.

I don’t have all the answers for this duplicitous condition that we perpetuate in society today. I do know that the most sensitive, most gifted, and most creative among our children are suffering day to day in a world where being black or brown is anything but a blessing. I wanted in this post, to introduce some and to help others be reminded that the burdens still exist and are far too much for young children and developing youth to continue to bear in our society. It's simply not fair. 

A call to change course-

Readers, please consider the positive outcomes if we all worked together to create conditions in schools where every child believed themselves to be a blessing and in communities where burdens of race would be something of the past. Please help me and my colleagues who are working tirelessly to create equitable and excellent conditions in schools and CHANGE THE COURSE OF EDUCATION IN AMERICA. We need school conditions that are culturally responsive, sensitive to all learners, and respectful of who they are and where they come from and stimulate thinking of students so that their gifts and talents will emerge and be more fully developed.

We need neighborhoods where children and youth can grow up and be their very best and count on being in environments where they will not living in fear. We need schools that recognize the individual gifts that children have and work to help each child to reach their full potential. Schools where children are blessings, not burdens to anyone is the ideal.  Working together we can create these ideal conditions that will be more effective, more compassionate, and achieve greater outcomes for all!

Recommended reading/viewing:

Blum, L. (2012). High Schools, Race, and America’s Future: What Students can Teach Us About Morality, Diversity, and Community. Harvard Education Press.

Davis, J.L. (2013). Transcending race in gifted programs: Are we there Yet ? SENGVine

http://www.sengifted.org/archives/articles/transcending-race-in-gifted-programs-are-we-there-yet

Delpit, L.D. (1992). Education in a multicultural society: Our future’s greatest challenge. The Journal of Negro Education, 61, 237-249. Retrieved from: http://www.jcu.edu/education/ed350/Delpit_Education%20in%20a%20Multicultural%20Society.pdf

27 things you had to deal with as the only Black Kid in your class

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/27-things-you-had-to-deal-with-as-the-only-black-kid-in-your?s=mobile

Ford, D.Y., & Moore III, J. L. (2004). Creating culturally responsive gifted education classrooms:  Understanding "culture" is the first step. Gifted Child Today, 27(4), 34-39.

Grantham, T.C. (2000). Rocky Jones: A case study of a high achieving Black males’ motivation to participate in gifted classes. Roeper Review, 26(4), 208-215.

A SALUTE TO GREAT TEACHERS

 “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell, where his influence stops.”

– Henry Brooke Adams

Qualities of a great teacher: Ingenious, Patient, Creative, Sense of humor, Tough, sets High Expectations, Determined, Passionate, Demonstrative, Selfless, Energetic, Consistent, Generous, and Compassionate.   

This is the week/month/that should be a year of Celebrating Teachers. Teachers affect everyone’s lives…every surgeon, police officer, actor, lawyer, engineer, mother, father, store clerk, businessperson, artist, programmer, banker, politician, humanitarian, athlete, musician, naturalist, professor, ecologist, environmentalist, astronaut, educator, dreamer, visionary, strategist, and anyone from any profession were all positively affected by a great teacher and some more than one in a lifetime.

It is the teaching profession that should be the most highly regarded of all professions in society, worldwide…but that is not the case. In America today- teachers are among the lowest paid, least respected, most disregarded professionals.  Teachers don’t always get their just due. Of course, like any profession there are some who may not deserve our gratitude, but that’s not what we are celebrating this week. This we are celebrating the Great Teachers and there are so many.

We count on teachers to set high expectations for all students and work to bring out the best enabling every child to reach their highest potential. Teachers who have this as a special gift deserve to be treated well, respected, and honored, not just this week, but every day.

These are the teachers who

Wipe their student’s tears

Cheer them on from the stands

Encourage them to be their very best

Help them believe that they can shoot for the moon

and ride on the stars

Answer the questions that no one else will

Maintain high standards in the midst of less than perfect communities

Cause their students to think, nurture a love of reading and a desire to discover in them

Are sensitive to the needs of every child in the classroom

And encourage their students to be compassionate and sensitive to human difference

Provide help when their students' resources are limited

Pay fees for them, cloth them, keep snacks in their drawer for the late afternoon

Have a listening ear when a secret must be told

Show students the world from inside the walls of the classroom

Give them 'mirrors' through the the lives of people from all cultures so they can see the best of themselves

And ‘stained-glass windows’ to see the best of the world

Laugh with them and cry for them

Hold them down to protect them from the dangers ahead

And then, let them go to fail, grow, and make new discoveries

Believe their stories, laugh at their jokes

Praise their projects, pat them on the back
Read their papers again and again

Dance with them, play ball with them,

Make their students sing on key, stand up straight, sit still..

And then, set them free to run and explore..

And at the end of the day…prepare themselves

To start all over again.

Teachers do indeed affect eternity. Aside from parents, Teachers are the most influential people in the lives of our children and youth. For all the great teachers of the world — we salute you!!

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This post is dedicated to all my favorite teachers: Miss Thomas, Mrs. Evans, Miss Simmons,  Mr. Wright, Mrs. Harewood, Mr. Miller, Miss Greif, Mr. Hocheiser, Mr. Caputo, Mrs. Bartlett, Mr. Lee, Ms. Brown, Mr. Woodard, Mr. Williams, Mr. Art Miller, Dr. Perry, Dr. Dance, Dr. Leslie, Dr. Patton, Dr. VanTassel-Baska, and.. my mother, Mrs. Mildred ‘Bay’ Smith Lawson.

These teachers have affected eternity, their influence is never ending! 

Joy Lawson Davis, ed.d. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

CELEBRATES ITS ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY ONLINE!!

Time does go by quickly, especially when you are fully engaged in work that brings meaning to the lives of others and impacts their everyday

condition. One year ago today, I posted the first blog for this website with the hopes that other like-minded individuals had similar interests and concerns and needed a place to go for more information, a place that would provide deeper insight into the unique and often overlooked needs of  many children and youth who have great potential but don't always get the positive attention they deserve. WeAreGifted2 is such a place. 

I have been deeply moved by the outpouring of support from readers world wide. Some of the readers are parents and family members, others community members, research scholars, K-12 educators, some policymakers - ALL with a similar concern- that we make equity in gifted and advanced learner programs a HIGH priority in our schools and communities. This 'high priority' status means that rather than focusing so much attention on the negative outcomes or results of schooling conditions, we should bring greater attention to their intellectual, creative, and academic strengths. 

It is important for us all to acknowledge that among the students who are poorly served in school environments (low achievers, high on suspension rolls, dropouts, etc) are many who have great potential for intellectual, creative and academic accomplishments who with the proper resources and expectations CAN be successful. Thus, focusing attention on what they CAN do, rather than what they CAN'T DO has greater potential to yield better results for all. Stories shared here over the past year has demonstrated this to be true. 

I believe that most of us are drawn to this blog because we believe that more children and youth have potential to express 'high ability and gifted level' behaviors than our schools have traditionally served. I believe that many readers have always felt that advanced level schooling should be made available to a wider range of students from different communities than has traditionally been the case. 

Whatever your beliefs and reasons for reading this blog, it is clear that there are many of us who believe the same. The numbers don't lie. In the past year, this blogsite has had over 15,000 pageviews from many different parts of the USA and around the world. As a result, we have partnered with more individuals and organizations than before. Among our partners are mathematics, technology gurus, artists, researchers, community leaders, parent advocates, authors, journalists, and gifted education support organizations representing many different ethnic groups from the east coast of the USA to the west coast, in Europe, South America, and Africa. 

I have invited many of you to share as guest bloggers and you have been very gracious sharing your stories, your research, your day-to-day experience as advocates for gifted learners who are far too often overlooked, cast aside, and thus, are in time-- ill-prepared to face the challenges of post secondary education, the globally competitive marketplace, and a world of growing technological advances.  

Thank you all so much for being a part of WeAreGifted2! 

Over the next month, a number of you have accepted the invitation to share as guest bloggers and I am very excited about reading and posting your experiences with high ability and gifted learners and specific programmatic efforts you are leading to nurture and help develop their potential.   

The invitation to others to share is OPEN!! If you have a story or have a special program that you would like to have featured here, please send me an email!! 

Thank you again for helping WeAreGifted2 REACH THE MASSES as we spread information and advocacy support for high ability students who are African-American, Hispanic, Native American, biracial, first generation immigrant living in rural, urban, suburban communities across the nation and around the world. 

REMEMBER, WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER~

WALKING 'THROUGH THE DOORS' OF GIFTED EDUCATION

'There comes a day in your life when you must act for others...and you must be ready. You must be bold, have courage and walk through a door that leads to opportunity for others' 

-Vivian Malone, class of 1965, first African American to graduate from the University of Alabama

Last week, I had the distinct and humbling pleasure of visiting Tuscaloosa, Alabama to share the James P. Curtis Lecture to commemorate the 50^th Anniversary celebration of the Desegregation of the University of Alabama. The event and others that will follow began as a recognition of the day in 1963 when the former Governor George Wallace ‘stood at the door’ on the campus of the university to keep Black students from attending the university. His ‘gumption’ on that day has became a part of history and was also momentum to give courage to two students- Vivian Malone and James Hood to enter the University and be role models for generations of Alabama students and others across the nation and around the world. Malone & Hood stood up for themselves in 1963 and entered the University, risking their lives in doing so (it is also important to note that another student, Autherine Lucy was admitted to the University in 1956, however because of fear for her  life, she only remained there three days. All three students' stories are included in the timeline, see the  link below).

I was deeply touched to walk the campus of the University of Alabama, think about the experiences of the early African American graduates and faculty and stand in front of 'the door' last week on campus. The experience touched a chord in my spirit and encouraged me to keep this advocacy effort going. We all have so much to learn from this historical event.  The courage demonstrated by Malone, Hood and so many others after them was remarkable. Those students knew they were just as capable as any student currently attending the university and that they deserved an opportunity to be admitted and pursue their dreams.

Today we are having same fight with different players with potential for a different outcome. Today the players are gifted children from culturally diverse groups around the nation fighting to be recognized and provided access to gifted education and advanced learner programs and classrooms where they are equally capable of succeeding in, yet not as likely to have access to. (One caveat~nationwide, we are hearing more and more about efforts districts, parents, and educators are making to improve gifted education services for ALL students- these efforts are encouraging, but the battle is not yet over).

Gifted education advocates, this is a clarion call for  all of us to learn a lesson from history. Learn that just as Vivian Malone & James Hood determined it was their time to ‘come through the doors’ of the University of Alabama. It is now time for ALL high ability/gifted children & youth, regardless of their ethnic group, family income, or background to also ‘come through the doors’ of gifted education.

We must learn to use what our ancestors demonstrated- the same guts, bravery, gumption, courage and wisdom to get what they knew they deserved. No one has the right to stand in front of doors to stop our children from entering classrooms where the instruction is delivered in a more challenging, creative manner, where they can have access to resources and materials so they can reach their full potential.

Just as it was a moral imperative to force Gov Wallace to move from in front of those doors in Alabama fifty years ago, it is as imperative that we WORK TO OPEN DOORS IN GIFTED EDUCATION TODAY!  If we want equitable access to gifted programs, those of us who have the skills and information, must be generous in sharing information to ensure that all children have equitable access to gifted education classrooms and schools across the nation.  

A few tips to help open the doors:

Ø Form coalitions of community organizers, educators, and families to address this issue locally. Place equity in gifted education as your primary goal. Develop  a plan of action with goals, objectives and activities to accomplish your goals.

Ø Share resources, tips, brochures and other informational sources to help parents/families know the ‘rules of the game’. Use different venues to share materials to reach all of your audiences (don’t assume that everyone has easy access to technology).

Ø When you hear information about enrichment programs, take the information to community gathering places like houses of worship, barber shops, beauty salons, community centers, athletic events to share. There are  many, many other highly able children in our communities whose families NEVER  hear information about special programs.

Ø Almost every state in the nation has a state organization for gifted children whose members are professionals and nonprofessionals with interest in gifted education.  Find out the NAME OF YOUR STATE’S ORGANIZATION, GET DATES FOR REGIONAL OR STATEWIDE CONFERENCES, attend the conference, pay membership dues, actively participate on committees.

We have a great history of civil rights movements in our nation. Together, we can conquer this problem using civil rights actions as an example of how to defeat a major problem in our society. Under-representation in gifted education is a major problem in our society today just as desegregating the University was fifty years ago in Alabama! The role models are before us.

Today, a magnificent tower stands on the campus of the University of Alabama to mark the place where protesters stood to keep Black students off campus. The tower is just across from the doors where Gov Wallace stood to block their passage into educational buildings. The tower is there today to demonstrate their courage and recognize the success of the action on the part of the students who believed they had a right to attend the University of Alabama. The doors are open now and students of every ethnic group move around freely on campus.

Join advocates of full equity and access in gifted education in ‘opening the doors’ so that ALL children who are capable and in need of gifted education services can walk right in!!!!

For more information about the University of Alabama’s 50^th anniversary and to see an outstanding photo-timeline of the University’s historical desegregation activities, go to: http://www.throughthedoors.ua.edu/

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. JOY LAWSON DAVIS, Ed.D.