Equitable Access to Excellence: Opportunities for Gifted Education to an Underrepresented Population through Open Enrollment

Abstract

Gifted education has served the educational community as a leader in curriculum designed for promoting excellence in our nation's classrooms. The apparent lack of equitable opportunities for entrance into gifted programs for certain segments of the school population have, justifiably, brought criticism of elitism. Inappropriate identification procedures create underrepresentation in programs. This paper describes a gifted program that identified students after entry into the program. Students are judged suitable for gifted education only after they have had the opportunity to develop and exhibit behaviors within a gifted classroom environment. The result has been student opportunities and achievements that span the chasm between excellence and equity.