"I Don't Want to Look at Them Differently": Teacher Perceptions of the Role of Culture in High Potential Students

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research-in-Progress Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Early Care and Education: Teacher Perceptions, Literacy Development, Culture, and Identity (Table 8)

Abstract

For this study we considered how 62 teacher interview responses perceive high potential in cultural, racial, and ethnic groups. Educators in the Northeastern United States were asked the questions: Do students from different cultural/racial/ethnic groups express high potential differently? If so, in what ways? We examined responses using thematic analysis, and the lens of Critical Race Theory to uncover the similarities and differences in responses. Some themes uncovered were the use of deficit language as mentioned in a prior study, the role of the parent, background knowledge, and some teachers stating they do not want to see their students differently. In the final section of analysis, we analyze teacher advice on working with diverse populations

Author

• Shana Dietrich Lusk, University of Connecticut