Within the United States, the underrepresentation of historically underserved student groups continues to be a phenomenon in gifted and talented (GT) programs. In a phenomenological study exploring teachers' and African American parents' perceptions of the underrepresentation of gifted African American students, four themes emerged from the study. Those themes are: (a) misperceptions regarding a student's race and ability; (b) the lack of parent awareness programs about issues related to gifted and talented education; (c) the need for professional development training related to the needs of minority gifted students; and (d) issues related to testing and assessment instrumentation. A paradigm shift in leadership and GT program practices must occur to reduce identification and placement gaps. The Chadwell Transformative Model for Gifted Program Reform is a means to improve the identification and placement of historically underserved students into gifted and talented programs.
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