Black and low-income students: no academic gains from participating in a school’s gifted program

 Growing concerns about inequitable access have made public investment in gifted programs controversial in many school districts, yet advocates maintain that gifted services provide necessary enrichment for exceptional students to succeed at school. 

This study provides evidence on whether the typical gifted program indeed benefits elementary students’ achievement and nonachievement outcomes, using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, 2010–2011 kindergarten cohort. 

Leveraging within-school and within-student comparisons, the study finds that participating in a school’s gifted program is associated with reading and mathematics achievement for the average student, although associations are small. the study finds no evidence of a relationship between gifted participation and student absences, reported engagement with school, or student mobility. Black and low-income students do not see the academic gains that their peers experience when receiving gifted services.