Identification / Assessment of Gifted Learners

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Identification / Assessment of Gifted Learners

• Dr. Georgann Toop
• Dr. Jennifer Scrivner

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What is identification of the gifted?

• A process by which educators attempt to become
  aware of students whose ability, motivational
  patters, self-concept, and creative capabilities
  are above and beyond everyone else.
• We will discuss
• major issues/concerns of identification
• methods to deal with these issues
• general set of guidelines

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Search, Screening and Identification Issues and
Procedures

• Intellectual ability
• High Achievement
• Specific academic ability
• Creative ability
• Leadership/Motivation
• Visual/Performing Arts
• Barbara Clark (2004)

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Research suggests.

• A comprehensive identification program should
  provide the following
• Evidence that students demonstrate extraordinary
  ability in relationship to their age/peer group
• Evidence of the range of capabilities and needs
• Processes that measure potential as well as
  achievement
• Methods to seek out and identify students from
  varying linguistic, economic, and cultural
  backgrounds, and special populations.
• Implications for educational planning
• Smith, Dean, Kaplan (1990)

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Measuring Intelligence

• Standardized measures have changed little in 30
  years
• Sternberg information processing framework with
  outlined components of giftedness
• Feuerstein IQ measures what people already
  know, which is not as important as what they can
  learn or where their cognitive deficiencies lie
• WISC-R (1949,1958 and recently)
• Stanford-Binet (1916, 1937, 1960, and recently)
• CogAT (1983)
• Inclusive vs. Exclusive
• the danger of false negative is a real
  onethe danger of false positives is not

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Reliability (Accuracy in Measurement)

• Reliable standardized tests
• Not so reliable rating scales, self-concept
  inventories, and observation systems
• Reliability must be present to a high degree for
  the identification process to be fair.

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Ceiling Effect (Obscuring their True Achievement)

• 95 or above on grade level tests
• Solution Off grade-level testing/above grade
  level testing.

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Tests Used in Identification

• Ability Tests
• CogAT Cognitive Abilities Test
• The Raven
• MAT Millers Analogy Test
• Wechsler WISC III /WISC R
• Stanford Binet Intelligence Test SB IV
• Achievement Tests
• ITBS - Iowa Test of Basic Skills
• FCAT- Florida Achievement Test nationally
  normed 2 years ago
• Stanford 9

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Screening

• Nomination forms
• Teacher reports of student functioning
• Family history/student background
• Peer identification
• Student inventory
• Student products/achievements/grades
• Multidimensional screen tests
• None should be used alone all should be used in
  combination

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What does the research tell us.

• Teachers most often choose children like
  themselves as gifted
• Teachers typically identify 45 of the children
  in classes who were cognitively gifted, actually
  missing 55. Further, of the children they
  nominated only 26 actually qualify 74 do not
  qualify
• 25 of the gifted go through school undetected
• Teacher effectiveness in gifted identification
  drops from 45 in middle school to 10 in
  kindergarten
• Teacher effectiveness is improved with 5 day
  training sessions
• (Pegnato Birch 2000) (Gear 1978)

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Research on Parents ..

• Jacobs (1971) found that parents could identify
  76 of the gifted children in a kindergarten
  classroom. This is significantly higher than the
  teachers ability at that level.

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The Six Principles

• Advocacy should be what is best for all
• Defensibility research based
• Equity should guarantee no one is overlooked
• Pluralism broadest definition of giftedness
• Pragmatism should allow for modification
• Comprehensiveness as many as possible gifted
  learners should be identified and served
• National Report on Identification, Assessment and
  Recommendations for Comprehensive Identification
  of Gifted and Talented Youth