Date of Conferral

8-4-2025

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Kathleen Norris

Abstract

Despite years of research on best practices in gifted program identification, racially diverse, linguistically diverse, and socioeconomically disadvantaged student populations continue to be underrepresented in elementary gifted programs. Guided by Renzulli’s three-ring conception of giftedness and practical system for identifying gifted and talented students, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore local educational leaders’ perceptions of disproportionality in the identification of students for elementary gifted programs in a large public school system in the Eastern United States. For this basic qualitative design, data were collected through semistructured interviews with 18 educational leaders from the local elementary principal population. Thematic analysis using open coding revealed five themes: local educational leaders (a) acknowledged disproportionality among diverse groups; (b) recommended school-based perspectives should be more strongly considered during the identification process; (c) indicated that the Cognitive Abilities Test screening assessment is imperfect and over relied on; (d) recommended the continued use of cluster grouping to provide more access to advanced content; (e) recommended taking social, emotional, and behavioral factors into account in the identification process. The findings from this study may contribute to positive social change by promoting gifted program identification practices that minimize disproportionality and ensure that potentially gifted students from all backgrounds are identified for elementary gifted programs. This access assures that traditionally excluded students receive the advanced instruction they need, improving their access to rigorous teaching and allowing them to reach their potential.

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