Teacher Ratings, Combination Rules, and Local Norms With Young Children: How Reliably Are Students Identified?

• In Event: Identification of Gifted and Talented Populations

Abstract

Traditional approaches to gifted identification frequently result in underidentification of students from rural, low SES, and low education homes, perpetuating existing gaps in opportunity and achievement. As part of an ongoing Javits grant, this study illustrates the consequences of accounting for or ignoring teacher variability in ratings (i.e., adjusted vs. unadjusted ratings) in conjunction with combination rules when identifying students for gifted services in one rural school. Teachers rated 282 first and second grade students on creativity, motivation, mathematics, and science. Results indicated: (a) non-ignorable variation in adjusted vs. unadjusted teacher ratings (b) more students identified with adjusted ratings than unadjusted; and (c) variability of teacher ratings with the highest for science scales and lowest for mathematics scales.

Authors

• Karen E. Rambo-Hernandez, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Carla Brigandi, West Virginia University

• Syahrul Amin, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Cherilyn Porter, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Monica Hernandez Valencia, Texas A&M University - College Station

• Nancy Spillane, West Virginia University