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Abstract
Each year, over half a million Black and Hispanic students in the United States are systematically denied access to gifted and advanced educational programs (Ford, 2013b). This persistent underrepresentation raises a critical question: Do culturally and linguistically diverse students inherently lack traits of giftedness, or does the issue lie within systemic flaws and deficiencies in identification and evaluation processes? While numerous studies have explored the lack of diversity in gifted education (Erwin & Worrell, 2011, Ford, 2010; Ford & Whiting, 2007; Grissom & Redding, 2016; Hodges & Gentry, 2020; Peters et al., 2019), few have examined the intersection of racial implicit bias and perceptions of creativity, an often overlooked dimension in gifted identification. This dissertation addresses that gap by quantitatively investigating whether, and to what extent, educators’ desirability of creative characteristics is influenced by their levels of racial implicit bias, operationalized in this study as automatic racial preference. Chapter 3 (Study One) replicates and extends the work of Kettler et al. (2018) by analyzing pre- and in-service educators’ perceptions of creativity, while expanding the range of demographic and professional variables collected. Findings indicate that factors such as teaching experience and subject area significantly influence how educators perceive creativity. Chapter 4 (Study Two) correlates participants’ creativity perceptions from Study One with their results on the Race Implicit Association Test ([IAT]; Greenwald et al., 1998). Through several analyses of variances and multiple regression models, the analysis reveals that demographic characteristics, particularly race, age, and gender, are the strongest predictors of implicit racial bias. Moreover, individuals with lower levels of bias were more likely to value creative traits in students than those with higher levels of automatic racial preference, suggesting that implicit bias may hinder educators' recognition and development of creative potential, particularly among racially diverse students. Chapter 5 synthesizes these findings and offers seven key revelations, accompanied by targeted recommendations. These include criteria for mentor teacher selection and strategies to enhance professional development and teacher preparation programs. Collectively, the recommendations aim to support the development of the C³ educator: one who is critically conscious, culturally responsive, and teaches for creativity.