Our next #gtchat is Thursday, June 29th at 8E/7C/6M/5P US and Friday, 30th June 1AM GMT. Our topic: “Building an Equity-Centered GT Classroom” with guest, Autumn Arnett Autumn A. Arnett - Ex. Dir. of The BEE Project.

Tonight is the night!

A1: Changing the face of who's teaching #gifted education starts with acknowledging the teaching force is overwhelmingly white, and gifted education is a microcosm of that, even though today's students are overwhelmingly not white. #GTChat

A1: I recently heard, “Representation matters. If you feel it doesn’t, then you are probably well represented.” This fully applies to selecting GT EDUs. Gifted hiring practices MUST be inclusive. Ss need to see that giftedness is cross/multi-cultural & can include anyone. #gtchat

A1: There's been tons of research on why having teachers who look like students matters, but in #gifted specifically, researchers estimate there a missing one million Black and Latinx children who should be IDed as gifted, but aren't. Dig in here: bit.ly/3NTQXQm #gtchat

A1: So we have to first all be on the same page that says WE NEED MORE BLACK AND BROWN TEACHERS. This doesn't mean white teachers are bad or should feel guilty. It just means everyone (even white and Asian kids #gifteded) benefits from more diversity & representation. #gtchat

A1: What this means specifically for us at The BEE Project is that we pay Black, Latinx, and Indigenous teachers to be part of training cohorts to get the information they need to get started on their GT certifications, and we cover costs associated w/ certs. #gtchat

A2: Cultural framing plays a role in everything. Even taking any bias convo out, If you're looking for giftedness to show up the same way in all kids, you're missing it. And it = ~1 million gifted Black and Brown kids. #gtchat

A2: For example, some Indigenous tribes struggle to acknowledge giftedness, bc their culture values community over self, and identifying kids as gifted is seen as elevating one's self. #gtchat

A2: Similarly, many Black and Brown cultures value community and collaboration over the individual, which means if you're looking for hyper independence in the classroom as a standard of giftedness, you may not see it in these students. #gtchat

A2: Back to the answers to Q1 -- teachers who are from these communities would inherently know this, but teachers who aren't likely wouldn't. Again, doesn't make them bad ppl, just means knowledge is often rooted in exposure + experience, and they aren't familiar. #gtchat

Often, we must reach out to the community for support. Sometimes we need to educate the community first and sometimes the community educates us. #gtchat

A3: It is our hope that by exposing disparities, we can close the identification gap in #gifted education and shatter the achievement ceilings, as our founder, Colin Seale, J.D. says. We know this isn't always true, but it's the goal. #gtchat

The BEE Project Yes to this! We all benefit when our schools and out GT services believe in, invest in, and hire for excellence for all. #gtchat

A4: Our theory of change says broadening the overall picture of who gets to be #gifted starts w/ changing the face of who teaches gifted. That means more Ts of color with gifted cert AND more white gifted educators with the cultural competency to ID & lead these students. #gtchat

A4: This has to include an effort to provide access to higher order thinking at the Tier 1 instruction level. If you give all kids access to more rigorous academic instruction, it doesn't matter if/how your school serves #gifted Ss or what your beliefs about gifted are. #gtchat

A5: When equity is centered in a #GT classroom, instruction and ID practices account for cultural differences. So while a student who displays an advanced vocabulary is verbally gifted, there's a recognition that the student who freestyles in the lunch room is too. (cont) #gtchat

A4: If we agree, as Colin Seale, J.D. says, that brilliance is distributed equally, Black and Brown students should be identified as gifted proportionate to their enrollment in the district. And as Autumn A. Arnett emphasizes, their needs, experiences and interests must be affirmed. #gtchat

A5: The brilliant DrDonnaYFord has led the conversation around a 20% equity allowance formula that says if a group is underrepresented by more than 20%, it is an intentional result of discriminatory practices. (More here: files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ113…). #gtchat

This was fun! Thank you for having us!!