Do Teachers' Opinions of Gifted and Talented Students Affect Their Classroom Practices?

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: Gifted Education, Creativity, and Talent Development Posters

Abstract

This study aimed to broaden our understanding of how teachers’ attitudes toward gifted and talented students affect the teaching strategies they use with those students. Using a sample of 317 teachers and structural equation modeling, we found that teachers’ views on elitism, ability grouping, and their self-perceptions as gifted were significant predictors of the use of differentiated classroom practices. Positive opinions of ability grouping and self-perceptions as gifted negatively affected the use of differentiated classroom practices with gifted students. Teachers who found gifted education to be elitist used differentiated classroom practices more often.

Authors

• Ophélie Allyssa Desmet, Valdosta State University

• Juliana Tay, Purdue University

• Nielsen Pereira, Purdue University

• Yukiko Maeda, Purdue University

• Marcia L. Gentry, Purdue University