Naming giftedness: whiteness and ability discourse in US schools

Abstract

This paper offers a conceptual analysis of ability discourse using the theoretical lens of critical whiteness studies and the methodological framework of critical discourse analysis. From its origins in the Progressive Era to contemporary debates on tracking, the concept of giftedness has been formed through racial projects throughout US history. Through these projects, the concept of ‘giftedness’ became synonymous with ‘whiteness’, and gifted education has served to maintain white privilege both within and between US schools. While counter-discourse on giftedness has been dominated by scholars working outside the field of gifted education, there is a growing critique of this concept within the field of gifted education.

Keywords:

• ability grouping
• critical discourse analysis
• gifted education
• high-ability learners
• critical whiteness studies

Notes

1. These federal and state reforms and programmes aimed to support equitable education opportunities in US schools. Compensatory education broadly refers to programmes that support students who are identified as ‘at risk’. either based on their academic performance, test scores or socio-economic status. These programmes are largely funded through the federal Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which supports both academic and social services for impoverished students. Head Start was created in the same year as part of Johnson’s Great Society programmes and the related ‘war on poverty’, providing funding for early childhood education of low-income students. Johnson also moved school integration forward through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which paved the way for mandated bussing in urban school districts throughout the 1970s and 1980s. In the meantime, free school and open classroom movements gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with programmes established in both public and private school systems. Both models emphasised individualised, self-directed learning and eschewed the bell schedules and mandated curricula of traditional school systems.