Gifted migrant and EDP students in the United States: lived and learning experiences

When migrant and externally displaced persons (EDPs) students in the United States are identified as gifted and talented, public school district Gifted and Talented education (GATE) programs offer support. The purpose of the study was to research the experiences of gifted migrant and EDP students in the United States. The participants were ten public education GATE District coordinators who serve urban, culturally, and linguistically diverse communities. The research instrument was a GATE coordinator survey which asked participants to detail the demographics of their district/GATE program, general services offered, and those to migrant and EDP students. The methods were qualitative and quantitative. Key findings revealed that the demographics of the GATE program did not parallel the district demographics, that the most highly attended GATE programming was Family Night and the English language instruction supported students in their language acquisition. In conclusion, the survey results indicated that district GATE Programming could attend to gifted migrant and EDP students through increased acculturation support, socio-eotional instruction and multilingual programming.