Leading the Way Toward the Future: An Interview With Marcia Gentry

Parental Evaluation of the Socio-Personal Adjustment of High Ability Students in a Cluster Grouping Program

“…The main finding of this study is the absence of negative effects on students participating in a cluster grouping program. This is a relevant result, as it contradicts [ 38 ] results and supports studies pointing to the absence of negative effects [ 8 , 40 , 41 , 42 ]. However, it may help to clarify the growing debate the specialized literature on the adverse effects produced by this type of program.…”

“…Some seem to find a very small positive impact on social self-concept among high-ability students participating in cluster grouping compared to those in a regular classroom. On the other side, whereas [ 39 ] consider that this type of clustering negatively affects self-concept, other researchers consider the decrease in self-concept because of clustering as being purely speculative [ 8 , 40 , 41 , 42 ].…”

Young, Gifted, Black . . . and Country:

“…Traditional definitions and theories of giftedness "are normed and conceptualized on middle class whites" (Wright et al, 2017, p. 51). More critical frameworks of giftedness no longer focus giftedness solely on a high IQ and instead encompass a variety of behavioral characteristics (Henshon, 2020). When selecting texts for the content analysis, we employed Renzulli's (1978) theory of creative-productive giftedness that describes those aspects of human activity and involvement where a premium is placed on the development of original ideas, products, artistic expressions, and areas of knowledge that are purposefully designed to have an impact on one or more target audiences.…”

“…In 1969, the incomparable Nina Simone recorded and released the powerful call to attention, "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," in which she exclaimed, "In the whole world you know, there are a billion boys and girls who are young, gifted and Black, and that's a fact!" More than fifty years later, important concerns remain about the identification, support, and celebration of gifted Black youth (Henshon, 2020). These concerns are heightened further when considering that rural, gifted Black youth are doubly affected by a context in which they are "more likely to be less proportionally represented than their suburban and city counterparts" (Gentry et al, 2019, p. 98).…”