"You're Supposed to Know It Before It's Been Taught": Interrogating the Gifted and Talented Label

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 2
  In Poster Session: Talent Development of Students Placed at Risk SIG Poster Session

Abstract

The central equity issue in gifted education in the U.S. concerns the underrepresentation of educationally marginalized students (i.e., economically disadvantaged, non-native English speakers, and students of color) in gifted programs. However, virtually no research exists which troubles the phenomenon of the gifted label itself as applied to the learner identities of marginalized students in public education. This study leveraged post-intentional phenomenology (Vagle, 2010, 2016) to investigate the lived experiences of six diverse adults working in academia who were formerly identified as gifted in childhood in order to better explicate the phenomenon of having been labeled as gifted.

Author

• Margaret Smith-Peterson, University of Minnesota