Sophie Lee

Literature Reviews

The on-going dilemma of effective identification practices in gifted

education.
VanTassel-Baska , J. (2000). The On-going Dilemma of Effective Identification Practices in
Gifted Education. The Communicator, 31.

This article discusses problems that schools continue to face in

identifying gifted students, as well as the difficulty in developing the most
appropriate programs and services. The author points out that schools
continue to face challenges pertaining to the assessment of
underrepresented groups. Despite the use of multiple criteria to identify
gifted students, VanTassel-Baska argues that an approach comprising a more
varied and authentic assessment as opposed to just intelligence and
achievement test scores could better identify gifted students. The author
also points out that some schools have difficulty identifying the varied levels
of giftedness in their gifted population. Some students may be highly gifted
in Math, yet may be placed in a gifted programs where the concentration is
on Verbal reasoning. Instead of adequately servicing to the needs of these
students, mismatch programs will limit their growing capabilities.
I have learned that some schools allocate more funding in researching
resources to improve the identification and testing process rather than
implementing and modifying present gifted programs. I believe both factors,
identification and the actual implementation of the program should be
equally considered for improvement. Schools should review student data and
eligibility decisions to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their gifted
population in order to provide the most effective instructional development.

Question:
We discussed and identified that even in the gifted classes, there is a need
for differentiation to better facilitate our students and their specific needs.
How can we better plan and differentiate the spectrum of gifted students
within a class? How can one teacher plan to challenge mathematically gifted
students vs. verbally gifted students when our TAG classes are grouped
heterogeneously by grade-levels?
Sophie Lee

Identifying and Nurturing Talent in the Visual Arts.

Kay, S. (2006). Identifying and Nurturing Talent in the Visual Arts. Duke University Talent
Identification Program.

This article details ways to identify artistically gifted characteristics in

children and further discusses methods that parents can implement to help
nurture and enhance development in those abilities. The author introduces a
distinct six-year-old child who is artistically gifted and demonstrates typical
characteristics of high levels of self-motivation and enthusiasm. However,
the author emphasizes that without proper guidance and support, such
students gifted ability may be limited from advancing to their full potential.

The author also cautiously advises that, creative children are

sometimes extremely cautious when confronting new problems; they may
exhibit behaviors antithetical to those associated with creativity to protect
themselves from ridicule or embarrassment. Therefore parents and
professionals must evaluate the social emotional stages of their gifted child
to prevent them from limiting themselves due to fear of failure.
Overall, the author asserts that it is the duty and the responsibility of
the parents to identify the giftedness of their child and to become their
biggest advocates by means of finding the professional support they need.
By doing such, parents can optimally nurture and develop their children's
giftedness.
I learned that even though many schools use multiple criteria for
identifying gifted students, they still heavily rely on intelligence and
achievement test scores for identification. Authentic assessments and/or
review of portfolios are highly recommended to identifying artistically and
musically gifted students. it is also important for schools to consider the best
practice in supporting domain specific areas of study. However, many
schools currently have difficulty meeting the guidelines to support such
talented individuals through regular music/art classes or in their TAG classes.

Question: It is critical to consider artistically gifted students who are

underprivileged and of low socio-economic status, as most have limited
access to resources that may help nurture their areas of giftedness. How can
these students be supported when schools have no means to provide these
musically and or visually talented students?
Sophie Lee

DISCOVER: Concurrent Validity, Gender Differences, and

Identification of Minority Students
Sarouphim, K. M. (2001). DISCOVER: Concurrent Validity, Gender Differences, and
Identification of Minority Students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 45(2), 130-138.
doi:10.1177/001698620104500206

In this article, the author states that this research was conducted
because a substantial number of minority students are being denied access
to programs for the gifted because the tests used for identification are
inappropriate for use with culturally diverse groups. Because Educators
were voicing the need of a culturally bias-free standardized instrument to
better assess and identify gifted minorities, this study aimed to examine
whether DISCOVER, a performance-based assessment, has concurrent
validity with Ravan Progressive Matrices, which is a tool used to identify
gifted minorities. Through this research, they have found that DISCOVER
assessment provided some evidence for concurrent validity, however, more
minority students were identified as gifted. No significant gender differences
were found with identification.
I have learned that DISCOVER assessment is currently being used in
some of the states to better identify gifted minorities. What I found
interesting about DISCOVER is that it is a performance based assessment
unlike the standardized assessments we use in our schools. Due to the
nature of its components, I can infer that the administration as well as
evaluation will be more difficult due to time constraints. Although the results
of this study found to be positive, there is definitely concerns regarding the
efficiency and practicality of the DISCOVER assessment tool.

Question: What are your thoughts on using a performance-based

assessment such as DISCOVER to identify more gifted minorities in our
schools?
Sophie Lee

Socioeconomic Status Effects on Using the Nagliery Nonverbal

Ability Test (NNAT) to identify the Gifted/Talented
Carman, C., & Taylor, D. (2010). Socioeconomic Status Effects on Using the Nagliery
Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) to identify the Gifted/Talented. Gifted Child Quarterly,
54(2).

In this article, the authors recognizes the issue of identifying gifted

students from culturally diverse groups of different socioeconomic families
for gifted programs. Many educators argue that the underrepresentation of
these students reside in the inherent cultural bias of administered
standardized tests. The importance of selecting the most fair test to identify
these ethnic minorities was considered in this study.
The authors states, The Nagliery Nonverbal Ability test to be is said to
be culturally neutral measure of ability that assess both majority and
minority students equally. They argued that it was assumed that the test
that is supposed to be fair to students from different cultures would also be
fair for students from different social classes of the same culture. With that
said, these researchers chose to further examine Nagliery(NNAT) with the
belief that there is a relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and
NNAT performance.
Through their study, I learned that students from average to high SES
families were twice as likely to be identified as gifted than those from low-
SES families. Although many believed that using a non-verbal test levels
the field for for all students, the research does not support this belief.
Therefore, the result of this study recommends that NNAT should not be
used as the sole determining factors for eligibility. Although NNAT is a
popular non-verbal assessment, schools should continue to use multiple
criteria process for identifying gifted students.

Question: Why do you feel the students from the lower SES families were
distinctly less identified as gifted than the students from higher SES families?