African American students are under-enrolled in gifted and honors programs due to external and internal factors, which are explained in this Executive Leadership Portfolio (ELP). To address this problem, I have studied the APEX program, a predominantly African American honors program based at East Side Charter School in Wilmington, Delaware, and made recommendations towards improving the recruiting and retaining of African Americans in the program. To improve and sustain the APEX program, I have engaged in three areas of work: strategies to understand the problem and identify opportunities for improvement, strategies to directly improve the APEX program, and strategies to help ensure the program's sustainability and impact. The strategies to understand the problem and identify opportunities for improvement began with a literature review to understand the research. This research gave me insight into the history of African Americans in gifted and honors programs. I learned about the policies and best practices that have been used to increase the number of African Americans in gifted and honors programs. To gain a better understanding of the APEX program, I created a logic model and wrote a memo about the curriculum and the MAP assessment students take. I also performed a qualitative study of the program, which allowed me to learn from both the staff of the APEX program and the private school partners that work with the APEX program. For strategies to directly improve the APEX program, I created a recruitment video that was shared online. For strategies to help ensure the program's sustainability and impact, I wrote a grant application, which yielded positive results for the APEX program. All these actions are outlined in the appendices of the ELP. At the conclusion of my study, I share my recommendations and follow up on how those recommendations were implemented. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]