vol. 35 • no. 3 GIFTED CHILD TODAY COLUMNS The Stress of Black Male Achievement Ten Nonnegotiables Malik S. Henfield, PhD' Abstract: Oftentimes, when the subject of Black students' talent maximization in gifted and advanced courses and programs is broached, students are treated as a monolithic entity. In fact, tbere is considerable evidence to suggest tbat unsuccessful achievement of academic excellence may be more troublesome for males than females at many points along the educational pipeline (Ford, 2010; Grantharn, 2004a). School counselors, trained to understand the intended and unintended consequences of ignoring the itnportance of race and gender are well equipped to assist in the battle to increase the academic performance of talented Black males and—by extension— aid in ameliorating the achievement gap between the best and brightest Black students. The purpose of this column is to provide a brief introduction of the cumulative risks associated with being Black and male in educational settings as well as a discussion of how these risks are associated with mental health and academic performance. The column will conclude witb a discussion of implications for scbool counselors. Keywords: gifted and talented, stress. Black males, achievement Multicultural Issues T oo few school counselors have received formal training to work with and understand the experiences and needs of gifted students (Peterson & Morris, 2010); even fewer get training to counsel and guide gifted Black students. As a professional school counselor, I decided to take a different route to actively seek such training. I saw and still see so tnany gifted students, especially Black males, failing to achieve to their potential. Serving as leaders and advocates, professional school counselors are in an ideal position to support gifted students. In addition to supporting students' academic and career needs, they are also prepared to nieet the social-emotional and affective needs of gifted students from all backgrounds. To be effective with Black males, however, specific information must be understood first. For quite some time, there has been a great deal of attention given to the persistent disconnect between Black students and high academic achievement. Specifically, an overwhelming body of literature has been published highlighting the difficulties Black students' experience in K-12 educational environments in comparison with their White peers (Ford, Grantham, & Whiting, 2008; National Center for Education Statistics, 2003). Most often referred to as the achievement gap (Barton & Coley, 2009; Ferguson, 2003), the conundrum can best be described as nothing less than the top educational crisis of our time—with no significant changes in sight. Indeed, numerous policies have been created to address the issue, yet the problem persists in urban, suburban, and rural contexts alike. Oftentimes, when the subject of Black students' talent maximization in gifted and advanced courses and programs is broached, students are treated as a monolithic entity. There is considerable evidence that unsuccessful achievement of academic excellence may be more troublesome for males than females at many points along the educational pipeline (Ford, 2010; Grantham, 2004a, 2004b; Toldson, 2008). It is also quite clear that when issues related to Black students, even those formally identified as gifted, are introduced in popular and scholarly literature, it typically focuses on race without taking Black males' conceptions of masculinity (Majors & Billson, 1992) into much consideration. As a result, when constructing interventions to disrupt the unfortunate academic trends as related to Black males, masculinity is sacrificed for a narrow focus on race; doing so fails to take into consideration the cumulative risks associated with being Black and male, as opposed to one or the other, and the issues the dual identities represent for them in academic settings. School counselors, trained to understand the intended and unintended consequences of ignoring the importance of race and gender are well equipped to assist in the battle to increase the academic performance of talented Black males. By extension, aiding in ameliorating the achievement gap between capable Black students may also assist in closing the ovei-all achievement gap between Black and White students (Ford, 2011; Plucker, Burroughs, & Song, 2010). As such, the DOI: 10.1177/1076217512445999. From 'The University of Iowa. Address correspondence to: Malik S. Henfield, PhD, N352 Lindquist Center, Department of Rehabilitation and Counselor Education, College of Education, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, lA 52242; email: malik-henfield@uiowa.edu. For reprints and permissions queries, please visit SAGE's Web site at http://www.sagepub.com/iournalsPermission.nav. Copyright © 2012 The Author(s) 215