Bias in Gifted Identification and Education: Creativity and Imagination vs. Quantifiable Gifts

Welcome to Vanguard Gifted Academy’s educational blog. This is article two in our series Bias in Gifted Identification and Education. I’m Elizabeth Blaetz, Founder and Head of School at Vanguard Gifted Academy, and today I’m going to share about creativity and imagination versus quantifiable gifts.

The attributes of gifted learners are not different for boys and girls. Giftedness comes with asynchronous development, high intellectual abilities, amazing connections, quick understanding and a million questions. The difference is in how the genders reveal their gifted attributes and the societal values that define gender roles. Statistically, giftedness should be equally identified in both genders. But evidence has proven that girls are often overlooked by teachers and family members because they reveal their attributes differently than boys.

Identifying Gifted Girls at School

As a teacher and school administrator, I talk with a lot of parents about their daughters, but far fewer girls are enrolled at Vanguard than boys. Often the conversation begins with my effort to enroll the gifted sisters of the boys who already attend. Our discussion centers around two points: Their daughter is socially happy at school, and she’s not showing advanced skills in specific domains such as math, science or reading like her brother did. I usually follow up with more questions about their daughter’s school experience, and I uncover that the work is easy, but the daughter is content because the teacher encourages her to help others who are having difficulties or lets her do a preferred activity while the others are finishing their work. Girls are naturally more community-oriented than competitive. Gifted girls are also sensitive to the needs of others and willing to help. Finally, gifted girls are eager to find a social niche within the classroom. That niche is often her perceived role as the teacher’s helper, especially when she’s in the elementary grades. The problem is, by fulfilling this role as the teacher’s helper, the gifted girl is missing out on her own educational needs. By spending her time helping others learn things she already knows, she’s not extending her own learning. If she is not challenged, she will not learn how to work, develop persistence, and appreciate the thrill of accomplishing a difficult goal. Helping others or doing preferred activities does not allow the gifted girl the opportunity to reveal her true abilities to the teacher. The teacher is the gatekeeper to the gifted opportunities in their school. In turn, the teacher reports to parents their daughter is doing great and is right where she belongs academically.

How Gifted Girls Reveal Themselves at Home

It is unusual for a gifted boy to put up with being placed in the same learning environment that a gifted girl accepts. He will act out, become a class clown, or drift away into a book underneath his desk. The teacher will notice his needs are not being met and consider that he may be gifted. Teachers recommend boys for gifted programs five times more often than girls. Even when girls are working at the same level as boys, teachers often attribute girls’ skills to hard work and boys’ skills to giftedness. 

When talking to parents, I like to delve into who their daughter is at home. Many times it is different from the helper role that the daughter plays at school. At home, the daughter often displays more creative play. She loves to imagine and do “what if” scenarios. She practices different social roles and often demonstrates a strong will. Since this is very different from their son who delved into nonfiction information collection on various topics, was driven to do higher and higher math calculations, or constructed things from whatever was available using virtual apps or kits or items around the house, parents don’t see their daughter's attributes of giftedness. I like to share with them the evidence that giftedness is uncovered in their daughter’s play. It is a very strong intellectual mind that considers abstract ideas and then moves those from thoughts to representations in art, drama or movement. It requires higher-level thinking to take on the characteristics of different roles she sees around her and to exhibit the emotional attributes of those roles. She’ll show empathy to her dolls as she’s playing school. She’ll speak out if she’s playing a role that demands somebody’s attention, or show sadness if she’s acting in a role of caring for another person. All of this shows amazing giftedness. 

Finally, I address the strong will, which is often the result of having to conform to the niche of school behaviors all day long. When a daughter’s strong will comes out, this is her time to say, “I need to have my voice.” Girls need to be themselves  – they want to show independence and strength.

Gifted Attributes Flourish in Supportive Learning Environment

I talk with parents about how each child finds a niche even within the family unit. When one sibling demonstrates strong attributes in a specific domain, other siblings, especially girls, often look for different attributes to secure their niche within the family. An example is one child may be praised in the family for his math ability, another sibling may be recognized for creative storytelling, and a third be appreciated for their athletic ability. This offers less competition and more balance within the family. It may not be until high school or even college when the sibling known in the family for creative writing or athletics, realizes she also has an amazing math aptitude.

I encourage parents to look at their daughter’s education, not in light of their social comfort, but in light of their personal potential. Are they learning every day in school? Does their creativity and imagination get sidelined rather than integrated into the development of other domains? For example, creativity is key in architecture. Once creativity is integrated into math and science, it leads to innovation, creative expression, and movement. When combined with fields in medicine, creativity could lead to better artificial limbs for amputees. All things told, creativity and imagination move our world forward, and these are the gifts that girls often bring to the table.

Thank you for continuing to follow our series on Bias and Gifted Education. We hope that Vanguard Gifted Academy’s educational blog will continue to be a valuable resource for you. To learn more about this series, check out our previous blog on how the world has changed for gifted girls in the last 50 years or call Vanguard at (224) 213-0087 – we would love to hear from you!