In fact, assessments have resulted in tracking, labeling, inappropriate representation of minorities in special education classes across the country and in gifted and talented and honors programs. The challenge for teachers and others who are truly concerned about equity for all students in to find assessment measures which measure the same criterion from contexts and perspectives which reflect the life space and values of the student. To specifically address your question of the implications of a vast number of gifted and talented minority students not being identified, is that these students end up being the discipline problems, the drop-outs or the average performers because of the lack of challenging and exciting engagement in the classrooms. The implication is that the culture of the student is a very dominant factor that should be taken into consideration when attempting to evaluate and assess. I would add that this is also true to some extent as females move into areas that have been traditionally male oriented.
Performance gaps exist all over the country between certain groups of students.
Those gaps exist because of a lack of sensitivity to the degree of exposure, motivation, attitude toward the dominant culture and other factors that have nothing to do with ability. On the side of the assessor, the performance based assessments are guided by expectation level, relationship with students and general point of reference, that is sometimes far different from that of the student being assessed. I hope this statement sheds some light on my opening statement.