Gifted students from minority backgrounds, including low SES, African American and Latinx students, are underrepresented in gifted education, specifically high school Advanced Placement (AP) programs. Despite national legislation and guidance, the federal government allows individual states, including Georgia, to create their own gifted policies and delegate implementation to individual districts. Georgia, like many other states, continues to show inequity in gifted education for minority students and deficiencies in gifted instruction. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent of inequity in gifted education for high school students in Georgia through a generic qualitative research design that analyzed AP teachers’ perceptions of gifted educational practices. The study took place in two West Georgia school districts where teacher perceptions of high school gifted education and Gagné’s environmental catalysts was gathered. Legislation and Gagné’s environmental catalysts from his Model of Giftedness were used to create interview questions for a generic qualitative study with 8 AP teachers via Zoom. This study filled gaps in the literature on teacher perceptions of efficacy in the use of AP coursework as gifted instruction as designated by Georgia state legislation. The study revealed information on the major themes of milieu, persons, provisions and events that revealed AP teachers perceived AP classes as an inadequate gifted education option. Gagné’s framework helped focus on the themes of environmental catalysts to analyze implications for students underrepresented in the gifted education, revealing that teachers perceived impenetrable barriers between home and school in the themes of persons and milieu, with a lack of equality in adequate gifted opportunities for high school students from low socioeconomic African American and Latinx backgrounds.
","abstract_html":"<p>Gifted students from minority backgrounds, including low SES, African American and Latinx students, are underrepresented in gifted education, specifically high school Advanced Placement (AP) programs. Despite national legislation and guidance, the federal government allows individual states, including Georgia, to create their own gifted policies and delegate implementation to individual districts. Georgia, like many other states, continues to show inequity in gifted education for minority students and deficiencies in gifted instruction. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent of inequity in gifted education for high school students in Georgia through a generic qualitative research design that analyzed AP teachers’ perceptions of gifted educational practices. The study took place in two West Georgia school districts where teacher perceptions of high school gifted education and Gagné’s environmental catalysts was gathered. Legislation and Gagné’s environmental catalysts from his Model of Giftedness were used to create interview questions for a generic qualitative study with 8 AP teachers via Zoom. This study filled gaps in the literature on teacher perceptions of efficacy in the use of AP coursework as gifted instruction as designated by Georgia state legislation. The study revealed information on the major themes of milieu, persons, provisions and events that revealed AP teachers perceived AP classes as an inadequate gifted education option. Gagné’s framework helped focus on the themes of environmental catalysts to analyze implications for students underrepresented in the gifted education, revealing that teachers perceived impenetrable barriers between home and school in the themes of persons and milieu, with a lack of equality in adequate gifted opportunities for high school students from low socioeconomic African American and Latinx backgrounds.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Atkinson, Rebekah Annette"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Education","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Teacher Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Andrea Dawn Frazier, PhD","Parul Acharya, PhD","Basil Conway, PhD"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:44:41Z","subjects":["qualitative","gifted","Advanced Placement","high school","Education"],"languages":["english"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations/538","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Andrea Dawn Frazier, PhD","Parul Acharya, PhD","Basil Conway, PhD"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Atkinson, Rebekah Annette"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-08-09T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Teacher Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Education"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["qualitative","gifted","Advanced Placement","high school","Education"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["english"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations/538"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Gifted students from minority backgrounds, including low SES, African American and Latinx students, are underrepresented in gifted education, specifically high school Advanced Placement (AP) programs. Despite national legislation and guidance, the federal government allows individual states, including Georgia, to create their own gifted policies and delegate implementation to individual districts. Georgia, like many other states, continues to show inequity in gifted education for minority students and deficiencies in gifted instruction. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent of inequity in gifted education for high school students in Georgia through a generic qualitative research design that analyzed AP teachers’ perceptions of gifted educational practices. The study took place in two West Georgia school districts where teacher perceptions of high school gifted education and Gagné’s environmental catalysts was gathered. Legislation and Gagné’s environmental catalysts from his Model of Giftedness were used to create interview questions for a generic qualitative study with 8 AP teachers via Zoom. This study filled gaps in the literature on teacher perceptions of efficacy in the use of AP coursework as gifted instruction as designated by Georgia state legislation. The study revealed information on the major themes of milieu, persons, provisions and events that revealed AP teachers perceived AP classes as an inadequate gifted education option. Gagné’s framework helped focus on the themes of environmental catalysts to analyze implications for students underrepresented in the gifted education, revealing that teachers perceived impenetrable barriers between home and school in the themes of persons and milieu, with a lack of equality in adequate gifted opportunities for high school students from low socioeconomic African American and Latinx backgrounds.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Advanced Placement Teachers’ Perspectives on Effectiveness of Georgia Gifted Legislation: A Generic Qualitative Study"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Andrea Dawn Frazier, PhD","Parul Acharya, PhD","Basil Conway, PhD"],"dc:creator":["Atkinson, Rebekah Annette"],"dc:date.available":["2024-08-09T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Gifted students from minority backgrounds, including low SES, African American and Latinx students, are underrepresented in gifted education, specifically high school Advanced Placement (AP) programs. Despite national legislation and guidance, the federal government allows individual states, including Georgia, to create their own gifted policies and delegate implementation to individual districts. Georgia, like many other states, continues to show inequity in gifted education for minority students and deficiencies in gifted instruction. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent of inequity in gifted education for high school students in Georgia through a generic qualitative research design that analyzed AP teachers’ perceptions of gifted educational practices. The study took place in two West Georgia school districts where teacher perceptions of high school gifted education and Gagné’s environmental catalysts was gathered. Legislation and Gagné’s environmental catalysts from his Model of Giftedness were used to create interview questions for a generic qualitative study with 8 AP teachers via Zoom. This study filled gaps in the literature on teacher perceptions of efficacy in the use of AP coursework as gifted instruction as designated by Georgia state legislation. The study revealed information on the major themes of milieu, persons, provisions and events that revealed AP teachers perceived AP classes as an inadequate gifted education option. Gagné’s framework helped focus on the themes of environmental catalysts to analyze implications for students underrepresented in the gifted education, revealing that teachers perceived impenetrable barriers between home and school in the themes of persons and milieu, with a lack of equality in adequate gifted opportunities for high school students from low socioeconomic African American and Latinx backgrounds.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations/538"],"dc:language":["english"],"dc:subject":["qualitative","gifted","Advanced Placement","high school","Education"],"dc:title":["Advanced Placement Teachers’ Perspectives on Effectiveness of Georgia Gifted Legislation: A Generic Qualitative Study"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Teacher Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Education"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:44:41Z"}