Eminence-Focused Gifted Education

Abstract

This article is based on Grantham’s commentary on an eminence-focused gifted education model developed by Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius, and Worrell. Grantham primarily reviews the model from an equity perspective, taking into account the changing demographics in the nation’s public schools. Specifically, Grantham asserts that education leaders want and need forward-thinking models that address race and class issues because public school populations are increasingly browner and poorer, unlike many gifted program enrollments that tend to represent students from White and middle-class backgrounds. Underrepresentation in gifted programs among minorities (particularly Blacks and Hispanics) and low-income students plagues our field and turns off many public school advocates to gifted education. Education leaders may embrace new models when they squarely address the reality that circa 2020, public schools will be majority minority. Researchers stand a better chance of gaining traction to move the field forward when their model shows promise for involving greater numbers of students representing our pluralistic society. To rethink giftedness and gifted education, Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius, and Worrell rely on works from psychology; however, important past and present perspectives from psychologists who have researched underrepresented groups and equity issues are excluded. Education leaders may recognize this omission and view the eminence-focused approach (and perhaps its underlying paradigm) as a less novel model and more of a perpetuation of the same status quo in gifted education. In sum, Grantham’s commentary encourages scholars not to depart from a legacy of addressing excellence and equity through new models that move the field forward.