Using the NAGC Gifted Programming Standards to Create Programs and Services for Culturally and Linguistically Different Gifted Students

The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC, 2000) issued its original 1998 standards to guide policy and practice with our most able students. Many of these students were and are neglected in the standards movement and in educational policy in general. At that time, the nation and our schools were relatively diverse and different relative to culture (e.g., race, language), but nowhere near as racially and linguistically different as we are today. Then and now, however, students identified and served as gifted remain unjustifiably homogeneous in terms of racial and linguistic background. Despite standards and legislation such as Brown v. the Board of Education (1954), the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act of 1988 (Javits), too few students in gifted education are Black, Hispanic, and Native American, with underrepresentation ranging from approximately 50% for Blacks, 40% for Hispanics, and 30% for Native Americans (Ford, 2011c). According to NAGC (2008), In particular, the Javits Act was originally passed by Congress in 1988 as part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to support the development of talent in U.S. schools. The Javits Act, which is the only federal program dedicated specifically to gifted and talented students, does not fund local gifted education programs. The purpose of the act is to orchestrate a coordinated program of scientifically based research, demonstration projects, innovative strategies, and similar activities that build and enhance the ability of elementary and secondary schools 46to meet the special educational needs of gifted and talented students. (para. 1)