Achievement and Self-Concept of Minority Students in Elementary School Gifted Programs

Despite considerable interest in the identification of minority students for gifted programs, few studies have investigated minority students actually selected for gifted programs. The present study reports on the standardized achievement scores and self-concept levels of African-American (N = 299), Hispanic (N = 52), and white (N = 595) elementary school students placed in gifted or regular school programs. Results indicate that minority students identified for gifted programs scored significantly higher on achievement measures than minority students placed in regular classrooms, although white gifted-program students scored significantly higher than both African-American and Hispanic gifted-program students. There were no minority-group differences in academic or social self-concept. Additional analyses suggested that the distinction between academic and social self-concept used with white students may not be applicable to minority students. This article challenges gifted education to address the conceptual problems and methodological difficulties in interpreting the meaning of standardized achievement test scores for minority students in gifted programs.