Education Commons^™

Teacher Background And Underrepresented Students In Gifted Education, Kayla Berg

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic students in gifted education programs is a longstanding concern involving equity and access in educational systems. This qualitative research explores the complex factors influencing this disparity, focusing on the role of teacher perceptions in the identification process. Elementary and middle school teacher participants (N = 14) from a single school district provided interview data. Data collection focused on interviews with classroom and gifted teachers related to the three research questions. The research design was a multiple embedded case study.

First, the study investigated how teachers' perceptions of gifted characteristics vary based on personal experiences, …