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Increasing Educators’ Knowledge and Skills to Identify and Serve Twice-Exceptional Students in Rural, Title I Elementary Schools — Holly A. Kincaid, Marcia A. B. Delcourt, Susan M. Baum, & Karen L. Westberg

Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 10:45 am – 12:15 pm, Lawrence D. McHugh Hall, Room MCHU 201

Despite increasing research on the identification of twice-exceptional (2e) children, there is a lack of information on educators’ knowledge, understanding, and skills in providing appropriate educational opportunities to foster these students’ strengths and talents. Due to this gap, 2e children are underserved in schools, leading to inequality in educational access. 2e learners in rural, impoverished educational settings are especially vulnerable. These environments often lack resources and staff to meet the diverse needs of these individuals. In this study, 100 educators were recruited in rural, Title I environments, and half were provided with an 8-week PD opportunity about 2e learners. Posttest ANOVAs (Welch tests) indicated significant group differences, with treatment group members receiving higher scores on 9/9 familiarity items, 2/4 experience items, and one item regarding confidence to access appropriate services for 2e learners. For those participating in the PD, qualitative analyses resulted in four emergent themes: (a) teacher awareness increased about the 2e students within their school/classroom, (b) collaborative groups within schools were created for the discussion of student needs, (c) strengths-based talent-focused instruction resulted in increased 2e student/teacher interactions and classroom innovation, and (d) self-identified teacher growth about 2e learners.