The Gifted Effect: Public School Enrollment Responses to Gifted and Talented Programming

Abstract

Amid declining public school enrollment, identifying ways to retain high-achieving students in public schools is increasingly important. This thesis examines gifted and talented programs as one possible retention mechanism. Using fixed-effects models and event study designs, I estimate the relationship between G&T availability and public school enrollment, examine dynamic enrollment responses to the initiation and elimination of G&T programs, and assess heterogeneity across county contexts and racial groups. The results provide little evidence that G&T programming systematically affects overall public school enrollment, but they reveal important race-specific differences in response to program elimination: Asian public school enrollment declines, Hispanic enrollment increases, Black enrollment appears largely unaffected, and White results are less consistent across estimators. These findings suggest that the enrollment effects of G&T programming vary across student groups and that program elimination may be more behaviorally salient than program adoption. More broadly, they imply that scaling back G&T programs may, in some cases, have unintended consequences for public school enrollment.