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This article, built upon individual case studies and an analysis of 3 years of district-wide data for a gifted and talented grant application, identifies the underrepresentation of gifted English learners in gifted and talented programs. The authors argue for (a) reviewing and revising identification procedures and criteria for gifted populations, and (b) professional development for teachers, counselors, and administrators in the area of gifted education in order to better serve gifted English learners who are twice exceptional.
Introduction
Although a variety of definitions of giftedness exist in the literature, such as Robert Sternberg's Triarchic Theory (1985), Gardners Multiple Intelligence Theory (1993), or Heller, Perleth, and Hany's Munich Model of Giftedness (Sousa, 2009), Renzulli's Model of Giftedness (1978) describes the majority of gifted children with whom we have worked. Renzulli defined giftedness as high performance in nearly all intellectual and artistic pursuits, demonstrated in the intersection of (a) above average general abilities (e.g., processing information) or specific abilities (e.g., acquiring knowledge or performing an activity); (b) commitment to a task (e.g., endurance, focus, perseverance; special interest in a specific subject); and (c) creativity (e.g., flexible thinking, creative thought) (Renzulli, 1978; Sousa, 2009). Although giftedness exists in every group in society regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, identification and participation of students in gifted education from some groups, such as Hispanic/Latino, African American, and Native American Indian groups, occurs at a much lower rate than others, such as White and Asian populations, resulting in underrepresentation (California Association for the Gifted, 2006; Webb, Gore, Amend, & DeVries, 2007). In the prevailing two theories on the causes of underrepresentation, one focuses on inappropriate identification procedures (Discrimination Theory) and the other (Distribution Theory) suggests that giftedness may indeed be unequally distributed due to certain causes that must be recognized and prevented, such as lack of resources (California Association for the Gifted, n.d.). Indeed, the most plausible theory may be a combination of both of these issues. Regardless of which theory is in focus, we have seen giftedness across our K- 12 students over a course of 5 decades and have become increasingly concerned with students who fall through the cracks because the identification of giftedness is affected by an additional consideration or condition, such as poverty, a disability,...