Giftedness Assessment

Before children can be declared eligible for special education or placed in a special education program, they must be evaluated by a team of professionals. The law requires that schools and other agencies give tests to children that show both their strengths and their weaknesses. This is called nondiscriminatory testing. All tests must be given to children in their own language and in such a way that their abilities and their disabilities are accurately displayed. Children will be placed in special education based upon several tests, not upon one single test or test score. Nondiscriminatory testing ensures that children who do not need special education will not be placed there, and that children who need special school services will get them. (Parent Educational

In 2015, I wrote about my personal philosophy of the gifted learner. I stated in my paper that, “Giftedness is not a one, set definition. The definition of gifted must encompass intellect, ability, creative talent as well as emotional awareness. It cannot be micro-managed and be a “one size fits all” definition” (Dauber, 2015). People, who are gifted, need differentiation and opportunity to express, demonstrate and show their giftedness. Educators must be able to provide opportunities for the gifted learner to express his/her abilities and/or talents. Gifted students learn differently and require special educational experiences in order to grow academically and achieve their highest potential. Therefore, the education field must be able to understand not only the cognitive side of a gifted learner but the affective or social/emotional aspects too.

One of the difficulties in identifying the needs of low-income students is the profound cultural barriers which exist that prevent their strengths and deficits from being identified. Children from low-income homes frequently have poorer vocabularies and a weaker basis of the type of knowledge that is frequently considered 'intelligence' on most forms of assessment. A low-income child's IQ may be high, even though he lacks a framework of accepted middle-class knowledge. "In January 2003, the National Academy of Sciences released a report on the seeming overrepresentation of minorities in special education and underrepresentation of those students in gifted education. The NRC reported that, nationwide, 7.47 percent of all white students and 9.9 percent of Asian students are placed in gifted programs. Meanwhile, 3.04 percent of African-American students, 3.57 percent of Hispanic students, and 4.86 percent of American Indian students are classified as gifted" (GT-minority identification, 2003, ERIC Clearinghouse). The discrepancy, the NAS believed, could not be solely explained by talent alone but was at least partially rooted in the methods of identifying students labeled as gifted. Biases in standardized and other tests identifying student strengths, combined with prejudices, however unintentional, amongst educators and administrators lead to under-identification of the gifted

A Gifted and talented (G/T) student” is “one who . . . exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area, possesses an unusual capacity for leadership, or excels in a specific academic field” (Aldine ISD Board Policy Manual, 2014). The Texas Education Agency (TEA) provides a state plan, which outlines the standards for Texas schools to be in compliance. It also offers the educational opportunities these students should receive. In fact, there are performance measures for five aspects of G/T programs including student assessment, service design, curriculum and instruction, professional development, and family and community involvement. The plan assists districts in delivering these comprehensive services to

Arlington county Public Schools test everyone for giftedness and they can be identified any year. The normal process is done at the beginning of the school year, but

After talking with my host teacher, any students who have an IEP he assesses in order to determine his or her weaknesses and strengths in sports skills, fitness, and basic motor skills. Based on the results he creates long term goals that relate to the students overall program goal in order to be successful and meet the objectives for the class. The teacher stated that he mostly encounters advanced or gifted students. These abilities can range from physical abilities and performance or cognitive ability in regards to the use of knowledge and understanding

[Students who are gifted] give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic or leadership capacity, or in specific academic field, and who need services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities. ( No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 [NCLB], 2002, p. 526)

Validity is the assessment of the test’s informational construct, content, and criterion (Jarosewich, Pfeiffer, & Morris, 2002). Despite the fact that GATES does not reference any giftedness theory or theory of support, content validity is confirmed for GATES since the test was developed based on literature reviews, critiques of existing rating scales, and academic and test construction experts of the field (Jarosewich, Pfeiffer, & Morris, 2002, p. 330). A combination between federal guidelines on giftedness and a confirmatory item analysis is the basis of GATES creation.

cognitive ability. This test can get students into gifted programs in schools and was used by the

Beginning in kindergarten, students may be referred for gifted services. Highly qualified professionals will identify students using multiple criteria including: achievement testing, teacher rating scales, parent questionnaires, portfolio of student products/performances (minimum of two), student self-assessment (grades 6-12 only), and grades/awards (grades 6-12

Simonton’s view of gifted intelligence supports the concept that gifted education can improve the overall academic performance of students who are identified as exceptionally high performing. His work suggests that there are two key identifying factors that acknowledge a difference between early and late blooming talent indicators. While Simonton’s work is focused more on the very young student, it is interesting to consider that gifted education is not limited in scope. Further emphasis is given to the role of the loss of intelligence over time without proper encouragement and intellectual nourishment. Simonton suggests that young people, who have been identified as gifted, can experience a significant drop in academic promise, determination,

Before the 1950s, most educators and school systems tended to follow Louis Terman’s example and based most decisions about gifted individuals on IQ and scholastic achievement scores. Standardized group intelligence tests, such as California Test of Mental Maturity, were often used to determine IQ. In these tests, educators were looking for exceptional ability in verbal or performance IQ, or a combination of the two. For the final identification, individual IQ tests such as the Wechsler scales and the Stanford Binet were used. Most school systems around this time considered an IQ of 130 or above to fall in the "gifted" range. This information comes from a book by Frederick B. Tuttle, Laurence A. Becker, and Joan A. Sousa (48).

How then are certain students singled out from the rest as being gifted and or talented, and placed in acceleration programs? What benchmarks and tests do educators use to classify individuals for ‘acceleration’ programs?

Gifted students demonstrate characteristics and behaviors that differs from their peers because they are self-motivated, finds joy in learning, think creatively and take many risks. Most truly gifted students go above and beyond to expand their knowledge. During my case study, I was granted the opportunity to get to know “Bella”. Bella is a 4th grade student at Canby Lane Elementary which she has attended since Kindergarten. She entered the gifted and talent program at the age 6. She is 10 years old. Her birthday is November 18, 2006. Bella lives with both of her parents. They were both born in Togo, West Africa. She is the oldest of four children. She has two brothers and a sister.

Furthermore, the age of the students the developers select as the tests intended test takers plays a significant role in the development of the rest of the test. For example, test developers will have to establish an expectable level of difficulty of the test items for each age or grade level to ensure the test is testing giftedness or not. It is apparent that these decisions must be made before any other aspect of the test can be developed. Upon establishing the intended use, content specifications (or content framework) requires test developers to define the extent of the selected construct that the test scores will measure. Furthermore, a greater understanding of the tests relation to measuring the intended construct should be established.