Not what, but who: Controlled choice in gifted education programs in the United States

Gifted education’s most pressing problem, according to its critics, is a lack of racial, cultural, and socioeconomic diversity. This lack of diversity can be attributed to the fractured nature of gifted education’s historical development, and the also fractured development of its very independent and numerous stakeholders. By the 20th century, these factors caused an overreaching regulatory structure to be practically infeasible. This policy proposal attempts to push back against historical precedent and begin a process of implementing overarching guidelines for gifted education programs in the United States based on a Controlled Choice model of admissions for gifted and talented pro-grams that receive federal funding. The new federal Special Task Force on Equity in Excellence will be tasked with enforcing and overseeing this policy change