Recognizing Academic Potential in Students of Color

Abstract

Students of color are often underrepresented in academic programs for gifted and talented students. This study explored the impact of The Teacher’s Observation of Potential in Students (TOPS) tool on teachers’ ability to systematically observe and document the academic strengths of 5- to 9-year-old students across nine domains. Teachers indicated that without the TOPS, they would have overlooked the academic potential of 22% (1,741) of their children of color and 53% of African American boys, in particular. After using the TOPS, a majority of the teachers (74%) felt they could more readily recognize high-potential students from culturally or linguistically different and economically disadvantaged families. Barriers that might have kept teachers from seeing students’ strengths were also examined. Results indicate two statistically significant relationships between teacher race and perceptions of student behavior. This study has implications for supporting teachers’ more effective identification of strengths in all children.