Who’s Gifted – and in What Subjects? Gendered Patterns at the Intersection of Race and Social Class

• In Event: 21020 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 5: Exceptionality in Education

Abstract

Gifted and talented designations confer an elite academic status with associated benefits for students, yet research has done little to examine patterns with respect to gender inequality. We argue that gender stereotypes about academic content areas (i.e., math is masculine, and language arts is feminine) will shape decisions about which students are designated as gifted and talented in different curricular areas. We also hypothesize that these gendered patterns could be stronger among those with racial and social class privilege. We analyzed statewide data from Indiana to examine which students were classified as G/T” in the following areas: “General Intellectual” (both math and ELA), “Math Only,” and “ELA Only.” We found that girls and boys were more likely to be classified as “General Intellectual” when they were high achieving in their non-stereotypical subject area (e.g., Math for girls and ELA for boys). For “Math Only” placements, we found that high-achieving boys were much more likely than comparable girls to be classified in this category. However, girls did not enjoy the same gendered advantage in ELA. Finally, we found that gender gaps favoring boys were stronger for higher-income students.

Authors

• William J. Carbonaro, University of Notre Dame

• Catherine Riegle-Crumb, University of Notre Dame