Although black students make up 43 percent of the children in Metro Nashville Public Schools, only 16 percent of them are in the district's gifted student program, Encore.
"The disparities are just so intense and so stark along lines of race," District 5 Board Member Elissa Kim said at Tuesday's Metro Nashville Board of Education meeting. "It feels to me like we need a wholesale change ... incremental change on the margins is not going to change this reality."
As you can see in the graphic above, white students comprise 31 percent of the total MNPS population, yet make up 70 percent of the children accepted into the program, according to district data.
The district is working on increasing diversity in the gifted program by holding community meetings and creating new screening assessments that may less "culturally biased" than previous assessments, said Schunn Turner, the Encore program's new head.
Typically, students are referred to the program either by principals or teachers, or they hear about the program through other parents, Turner told the school board.
"This has to change," said Board Chair Sharon Gentry. "We know that it's not that one group of students is brighter than another group of students."
The district is looking at a more universal screening program that would give more students the chance for a spot in the gifted program, she said.
The board also heard a presentation on the district's special education program and an update about the district's bus driver shortage.
Here's the play-by-play from Tuesday's Metro Nashville Board of Education meeting:
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An earlier version of this story said only 16 percent of black students were accepted into the Encore program. The story has been updated to say "in" rather than "accepted".Â
