Shalisa Gee Literature Review Reflection 4

Identification and Assessment of Gifted

Assessing Gifted Children

Citation:
Osborn, J. Understanding Our Gifted Open Space Communications, Inc. pp. 912
winter 1998. http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10221.aspx
Bloom, B. S. (1985) Developing Talent in Young People. New York: Ballantine
Books.
Gottfried, A. W., Gottfried, A. E., Bathurst, K. & Guerin, D. W. (1994). Gifted
IQ: Early Developmental Aspects: The Fullerton Longitudinal Study. New York:
Plenum Press.
Gross, M. U. M., (1993) Exceptionally Gifted Children. London: Routledge.
Hart, B. & Risley, T. D. (1995) Meaningful Differences in the Everyday
Experience of Young American Children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brooks
Publishing Company.
Roedell, W. C., Jackson, N. E. and Robinson, H. B. (1980) Gifted Young
Children. New York: Teachers College Press.
Fox., L. H., Brody, L. & Tobin, D. (1983) Learning-Disabled Gifted Children:
Identification and Programming. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
Kaufman, A. (1994) Intelligent Testing with the WISC-III. New York: John Wiley
& Sons.
Robinson, N. (1992) Which Binet for the Brightest? Stanford-Binet IV, Of
Course! Time Marches On! Roeper Review, 151, 32-34
Silverman, L. & Kearney, K (1992) Dont Throw Away the Old Binet. Roeper
Review, 1591, 32- 34.

Annotation:
This article by Julia Osborn distinguishes between "testing" and
"assessment." The author then focuses on some of the important and unique
issues involved when assessing gifted children's cognitive, academic, and
social/emotional functioning. This short article is one of the definitive articles
in the field on the assessment of gifted children.

Vocabulary

Shalisa Gee Literature Review Reflection 4

Identification and Assessment of Gifted

Standardized test- is any form of test that (1) requires all test takers to
answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of
questions, in the same way, and that (2) is scored in a standard or
consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative
performance of individual students or groups of students.
Testing- take measures to check the quality, performance, or reliability of
(something), especially before putting it into widespread use or practice:
Assessment- the evaluation or estimation of the nature, quality, or ability of
someone or something
WISC-III- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Third Addition
SB: IV- Stanford-Binet: Fourth Edition
SB: LM- Stanford-Binet: Form L-M
Non-verbal communication- is the process of communication through sending
and receiving wordless cues between people
Test ceiling- is the upper limit of an intelligence or achievement test
Preparatory techniques- techniques that parents use to prepare students for
testing
Intonation- the rise and fall of the voice in speaking
Cognitive- is the set of all mental abilities and processes related to
knowledge: attention, memory and working memory, judgment and
evaluation, reasoning and "computation", problem solving and decision
making, comprehension and production of language,
Intellectual ability- means involving a person's ability to think and to
understand ideas and information.
Aptitude- An aptitude is a component of a competency to do a certain kind of
work at a certain level, which can also be considered "talent".
Name Dropping
J. Osborn
B.S. Bloom
A. W. Gottfried
K. Bathurst
D. W. Guerin
M. Gross

Shalisa Gee Literature Review Reflection 4

Identification and Assessment of Gifted

B. Hart
T.D. Risley
W. C. Roedell
N.E. Jackson
H. B. Robinson
L. H. Fox
L. Brody
D. Tobin
A. Kaufman
N. Robinson
Reflection
In this article it explains that it is different when you are testing gifted
populations that those students need support and sometimes it is believed
that they dont. Parents who feel that their child is gifted should make sure
that they are working with someone who has experience with working with
gifted populations and also is knowledgeable with the practices. In looking at
this process and taking this class I really feel that it is important to know
what the process is. The article also goes in to talking about the differences
between Testing and Assessment. The author states that testing and
assessment are very different however they are criticized in the same way.
She states testing means presenting test items according to very specific
pre-set directions and following an exact verbal script. The results are usually
reported as numbers. This is a limited activity and the information that it
provides is similarly limited. Assessment, on the other hand, includes
standardized test administration but goes well beyond it, meaning the
testing is more personalized. (Osborn 1998). In ways I disagree. When we
are providing assessments or test; which I truly believe there isnt a
difference, then we have to look at the reasons to why we are testing and
what outcomes we are looking for. When we are testing gifted students we
are looking at their thought process and they solve problems. The process of
testing would be geared more to what her definition of what assessment is.
Gifted children will accomplish a variety of things earlier than other children
or will accomplish them at a higher level than their age peers will. (Osborn
1998) at times when we are testing students we test them on content that
age appropriate, but when you look at the gifted child who thinks beyond
their age we must make sure that we create standardized test that will test
them beyond their years. We must make adaptations and that the two

Shalisa Gee Literature Review Reflection 4

Identification and Assessment of Gifted

strategies to help with these adaptations includes: provide test that are for
older kids and look of behaviors that you would see in older children as well.
In the article she states that any child that is being test or who is eligible for
testing parents should be interviewed. When interviewing parents you can
get a history of students, social interactions, general development, health,
and other criteria. In Fulton I really dont think that we do parent interviews
with students who are eligible for TAG; however, I think that it is really vital,
more so vital to those parents who think that their child is gifted. Posing the
question why do you think that your child is gifted? In the article she goes
further to talk about how she uses three types of test WISC-III, SB: IV, and
SB: LM she also states that these scores cant be converted and arent
interchangeable. She states that she uses these test based on some of the
characteristics she may use the WISC-III if she feel that the student is twice
exceptional. I really think that it is great in testing students based on their
characteristics, just like when we use various criterion to determine eligibility
like mental ability, motivation, creativity, and Achievement. The talent
searches, which are available for 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders are very
important tools in documenting highly developed math and verbal aptitude.
For elementary children in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades, a good assessment
practice is the use of individual tests that go up to a 12th grade level of
difficulty. By using such tests, there is no pre-conceived ceiling that is
imposed on a child by the nature of the test construction (Osborn 1998).
Based on this I truly believe that it isnt the test construction that causes
ceiling; however, I do believe also that it may be that the student could be
anxious or that the child can be over thinking. Just like in one of my other
articles that talks about How can I prepare my child for the test? We know
that you can prepare your child for a Mental Abilities test because we are
testing a child on their thought processes and not content that has been
taught we must focus on preparing those students with test taking skills so
that they wont be anxious and will be prepared for those test. Just like we
talked in class about getting those elementary students prepared for testing
when we the TAG contact can come in do a brief introduction and get the
students familiar with the testing environment that is key. Yes in the article
to me test administration is very vital because testing and assessment is yet
something that we are doing observations and looking for particular results;
however, how we administer the test can also play a part as well.