IAGC 2026 Annual Conference, NIU Naperville, Wednesday, October 21
Igniting Potential: Identity-Affirming Gifted Education for Children of Color
Thank you for being in the room. Here are the slides, the readings, and ways to keep the work going.
The slides
Most of our programs accommodate gifted children of color. This session is about affirming them. The full slide deck is yours to download and share with your team.
Stay connected
Leave your name and email and one follow-up note will come to your inbox within two days of the session.
Parents and caregivers, you are invited to the Parent Circle, a monthly virtual group supporting families of gifted and high-potential children from birth to age 14. Check the box below and your invitation will come with the follow-up note. Free Meet and Greet: Monday, November 2. First Circle: Saturday, November 7.
Your one change, and the child it is for
You came as one of three people. Each sphere has its own leverage. Start with one sustainable change inside yours.
Leader
Leverage: System. Look at who referred your last identified group, then pilot screening every child in one grade.
Where you have reach: identification policy, program culture, hiring, professional development, and family voice in program design.
Teacher
Leverage: Practice. When a child shows you more than the scores do, write it down and nominate them.
Where you have reach: nominations, all three tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy, mirrors and windows in the curriculum, personalization, and relationship before intervention.
Parent
Leverage: Voice. Put it in writing: “Please screen my child for gifted services. Here are three things I have seen them do.”
Where you have reach: documenting your child’s gifts, the language of advocacy, screening requests in writing, choosing schools through a cultural affirmation lens, and community with other families.
In practice: update the goal the moment a child passes it. Don’t send a child into next year with last year’s goals.
Readings from the session
- Card, D., & Giuliano, L. (2016). Universal screening increases the representation of low-income and minority students in gifted education. PNAS, 113(48), 13678-13683.
- Ford, D. Y. (2010). Underrepresentation of culturally different students in gifted education. Gifted Child Today, 33(3), 31-35.
- Ford, D. Y. (2013). Recruiting and Retaining Culturally Different Students in Gifted Education. Prufrock Press.
- Ford, D. Y. (2016, March 9). My son’s gifts sent me back to school. Black Enterprise.
- Ford, D. Y., & Moore, J. L. (2024). Educators of gifted and talented students must be formally trained. Theory Into Practice, 63(1), 28-37.
- Ford, D. Y., & Tyson, C. A. (2024). Preparing educators to decolonize children’s literature. Gifted Child Today, 47(1), 74-78.
- Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Herder and Herder.
- Gentry, M., Whiting, G. W., & Gray, A. M. (2024). Systemic inequities in identification and representation of Black youth. Urban Education, 59(6), 1730-1773.
- Grissom, J. A., & Redding, C. (2016). Discretion and disproportionality in gifted education. AERA Open, 2(1).
- Hines, E. M., Ford, D. Y., et al. (2023). Good trouble, necessary trouble: Adding culture to GT programs. Roeper Review, 45(3), 150-160.
- Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children.
- Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465-491.
- Long, D. A., McCoach, D. B., Siegle, D., et al. (2023). Inequality at the starting line. AERA Open, 9.
Keep the work going
For parents and caregivers
The Parent Circle is a monthly virtual group supporting families of gifted and high-potential children from birth to age 14.
Free Meet and Greet: Monday, November 2
First Circle: Saturday, November 7
For schools and districts
Wise Leadership Consulting partners with districts, universities, and foundations on culturally responsive gifted identification and programming, principal and teacher professional learning, and leadership coaching. If your gifted program is not finding or keeping the children it should, a 30-minute conversation is the right first step.
Still holding the question you did not get to ask? Send it to peggie@wiseleadershipconsulting.org.
Dr. Peggie Burnett-Wise, Ed.D.
Founder, Wise Leadership Consulting. Program Director, M.A. in Instructional Leadership, Roosevelt University.