The Mismatch Between Age-Based Identification and Grade-Based Programming

• In Event: Leveraging Nonempirical Quantitative Analysis for Theory Development and Exploration: A New Paradigm for Giftedness Research

Abstract

Most standardized tests of cognitive ability are age-normed. Students’ performance is compared to the performance of other students their age. However, students are generally referred for gifted programming based on their performance as compared to other students in their grade. Moreover, gifted programming is generally delivered in schools which are organized by grade level. When a student’s age and grade level are closely aligned, then this distinction is inconsequential. However, when a student’s age and grade level are very divergent, then the mismatch between the age based identification criteria and the grade based nomination and programming criteria could have major consequences on whether a child is identified as gifted or not. In such a scenario, relatively older students are more likely to be nominated and screened but less likely to be identified. In contrast, relatively younger students are less likely to be screened, more likely to be identified, and less likely to differentiated services. Consider an extreme example- a student who has been grade accelerated is likely to have high ability scores when compared to students his/her own age but achievement scores that are closer to the mean for students in his/her grade. Therefore, the accelerated student, though he or she has high cognitive ability, may not appear to need gifted services, when compared to his or her older classmates.

The current study examines the effect of this mismatch on the identification, placement, and services for gifted students. Using simulation techniques, we assess the probability that students of different relative ages will be referred for screening, based on their grade normed achievement, and then identified as gifted based on their performance on an age-normed cognitive test. Manipulated factors include students’ relative age, their “true” cognitive ability, their “true” achievement level, the correlation between ability and achievement, and the degree of measurement error within the assessments of ability and achievement. We can also compute the average degree of dyssynchrony between age based cognitive performance and grade based achievement for students of different relative ages. This dyssynchrony can be seen as a measure of a students’ need for differentiated programming. Using our model, we will examine effect of being relatively young or old within a grade level on nomination, screening, identification, and need for the program. We will also discuss the implications of these findings for parents, teachers, and administrators.

Author

• D. Betsy Mccoach, University of Connecticut