Parents' Views of a Gifted and Talented Phase-Out Proposal: One School's Journey Toward Increased Equity

• In Event: Maintaining or Interrupting Inequities: Qualitative Studies of Gentrification, Race, and School Choice

Abstract

New York City is home to the most segregated school district in the country (Kuscera & Orfield, 2014) with critics naming academic screens as an influential contributing factor (SDAG, 2019). The Gifted & Talented (G&T) program is the only academically screened option available to families at the elementary school level. G&T programs are typically within-school programs that start in kindergarten and are based solely on the results of a test score when children are four-years-old.

The purpose of this case study was to examine parents’ views of a G&T phase out proposal, and how those views differed by race and track placement. Data included school documents, observations, parent list serve emails, and interviews with 37 parents and one principal. Purposeful and snowball sampling was utilized to obtain a racially diverse group of parents who had children in the G&T program (n=21), Dual Language (DL) program (n=5), or General Education program (n=7). Three parents in the sample had two children enrolled in different programs (e.g. one child in G&T and one child in DL).

I applied the theory of aspirational class (Currid-Halkett, 2017) to this multiracial school with a G&T, General Education, and DL tracks, to examine the relationship among material goods (in this case G&T), parental status, and views on the G&T phase out proposal. The aspirational class is the “new dominant cultural elite” which illuminates their position in society through “cultural signifiers” that portray their values and identities (p. 18). Applied to this case, the aspirational class are mostly White and high-income parents who choose G&T as a signal to others about their higher status positioning, as well as their beliefs about peer effects, academic rigor, and future academic placements. I found that when that status/label is threatened, many become adamant “G&T-defenders” even as they simultaneously admit that the admissions process is unfair. Their preferred solution to the G&T segregation is to offer test prep classes to close racial achievement gaps, and to diversify the gifted program instead of eliminating it.

On the other side, as Currid-Halkett (2017) wrote, “This luxury of affluence and information can inspire very important social movements and pushback” (p. 109). This is where the parents that are for the G&T-phase out fit into the scenario. As a group, which included some G&T parents, I found that they resist the philosophy of G&T and advocate for the school to become a community that is racially balanced within. This pro-phase out group believed that separate cannot be equal, and that integration (not test prep) can close gaps in the school. Parents spoke about the negative consequences of the G&T program, including resource hoarding in the G&T classrooms, and a common belief that if the school eliminated the self-contained G&T program, that they would lose the ‘good’ families who fundraise the most and increase the overall reputation of the school.

This research adds to our understanding of how neighborhood gentrification affects G&T enrollment and segregation, and how inequities can be interrupted via a G&T phase out proposal.

Author

• Allison Roda, Molloy College