Gifted Programming Identification Procedures: A Hidden Curriculum

Abstract

What is giftedness? Centering research on Diné (Navajo) perceptions of giftedness (Hartley 1991), this paper posits that gifted programming identification procedures often epitomize a unique and dangerous hidden curriculum founded on White, Westernized narratives surrounding intelligence. Drawing from theory on critical positionality (Johnson-Bailey 2012) and hope (Duncan-Andrade 2009), two tables are presented: one to examine hokey versus critical gifted programming practices, and one to examine dehumanizing versus humanizing gifted identification procedures, with corresponding implications and questions to consider further. Toward decolonizing the field of gifted education, these tables are intended to generate discussion on what happens when diverse ways of conceptualizing giftedness decenter Western ways of understanding, informing, and ordering the field of gifted education.