Being a Double O

The Unique Vantage Point of Being a Double “O”

In 2020, the reality that, we are in an unprecedented time; global pandemic, national racial division, and an educational crisis must be the primary focus in addressing the academic and socio-emotional needs of gifted and high-achieving Black students.

The concept of Black Excellence is not a novelty or merely a current hashtag to be coined in a laundry list of other black-centric terms flooding social media and ‘Black Twitter’. The combination of being Black and being identified as smart, intelligent, or gifted presents a peculiar set of circumstances which can leave an indelible mark on the development of the student. The impetus to these set of circumstances is in the identification of the gifted Black student. Ironically, the dearth of opportunities for Black students to receive access to universal testing for the purpose of being identified as gifted; only serves to widen the opportunity gap for gifted Black students. Once a child is identified, granted access to services, and placed in an academically appropriate environment; they typically become an outlier in the class. It is within this set of circumstances where the reality of being the “only one” or ‘one of the only ones” in certain academic spaces begins.

Depending on the region, state, county, or district in the United States there may be areas where intentional effort is being put forth to address issues of equity and the racial disparities in gifted education. There are academic settings in which the presence of Black students is not the bare minimum; but the opposite is true in far too many of these rigorous academic settings. The reality for the vast majority of Black students who are identified as gifted, those students in honors, AP and IB courses, those who win the science fair, and speak multiple languages, those who travel abroad for enrichment, those for whom an academic scholarship provided access to advanced and specialized learning spaces, they will most often be the “only one” or “one of the only ones” in those settings for the duration of their academic experience.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s # 1 National Bestseller, Outliers, he opens the book with a dictionary definition of the word outlier.

out·li·er \-, au̇t-ˌlī(-ə)r\ noun

1: something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body.

2: a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from others in the sample.

 Black students in gifted education programs and advanced academic courses are outliers in the student demographics in national education statistics and research. There is a shared experience among gifted and high achieving black students of being the outlier i.e., ‘the Capital O’ and one of the only ones i.e., the ‘Double Os’. Both of these situations can lead to a sense of isolation and frustration that can negatively affect students’ academic and socio-emotional development.

The Toolkit for The Double Os: Creating a Cultural Community for Gifted Black Students is a new product in the Wholistic Education (WE) Critical Thinking Initiative 2030. The mission of this multiple year initiative is to use the Gee Theory of Wholistic Education to design and develop components of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to empower learners and support parents towards the actualization of critical thinking skills and specifically to use the resources in this toolkit to develop a common language to address issues in gifted education programs and academically advanced courses (AP/IB/College Prep.) for students who are often one of the only ones i.e., a Double O.

The Toolkit is presented in 2 (two) separate components; one for the scholars and one for the parent(s) of the scholar. Each component is guided in the 8 Elements of Critical Thinking; but they are specifically tailored for the target audience.

The Toolkit Includes: Webinars (pre-recorded / ‘evergreen’)

                                           Classroom Access to lessons, activities, resources

                                           WE- Critical Thinking Initiative 2030 programs

                                           Bill of Rights for Gifted Students of Color

                                           Gee’s Steps to Gifted Enrichment Education (GEE)

                                           Trending Genius: Scholars Sessions

                                           Critical Conversations: The Unique Challenges Facing

Racially Diverse Gifted Student

                                        Gifted Education Equity (GEE) Task Force Membership

                                           Invitation to Ambassadorship -

1) Student Ambassador 2) Parent Ambassador

                                           Preview/ Limited access to related products, programs

and services

*Option for 1-on-1 Critical Conversation(s) 30 mins., 1 hour

 **Longer or recurring 1-on-1 Consulting services are available on the website                                 

The Toolkit for The Double O: Creating a Cultural Community for Gifted Black Students

*Student Component

*Parent Component

The Toolkit was designed for students and parents of Black gifted and talented who have the experience of being the only one or one of the only ones i.e., the Double O in gifted and academically advanced course.

The Toolkit provides resources to apply critical thinking skills to developing:

            Self- Efficacy

            Self- Awareness

            Self- Confidence

 The Toolkit is being rolled out at its Introductory Price of $500 for each component (parent and student).