Examination assessments undertaken by educational institutions are pivotal since it is one of the fundamental steps to determining students' understanding and achievements for a distinct subject or course. Questions must be framed on the topics to meet the learning objectives and assess the student's capability in a particular subject. The…

Teacher rating scales (TRS) are often used to make service eligibility decisions for exceptional learners. Although TRS are regularly used to identify student exceptionalism either as part of an informal nomination process or through behavioral rating scales, there is little research documenting the between-teacher variance in teacher ratings or…

Institutions of higher education are searching for successful strategies to increase student persistence, retention, and degree completion rates. One prominent strategy currently employed at some colleges and universities is implementing personal strengths identification and development for new undergraduate students. Research has indicated an…

Basic motor competencies (in German: Motorische Basiskompetenzen; MOBAK) are performance dispositions empowering children to participate in the movement culture. For the diagnosis of basic motor competencies, a test instrument consisting of 15 test items for assessing third graders' basic motor competencies was developed (MOBAK-LUX-3) and…

School-based practitioners are often called upon to provide assessment and recommendations for struggling students. These assessments often open doors to specialised services or interventions and provide opportunities for students to build competencies in areas of need. However, these assessments often fail to highlight the abilities of these…

More than 7.4 million U.S. children ages 5 and under live in a household where a language other than English is spoken by a parent or caregiver. But despite the size and growth of this Dual Language Learner (DLL) population, and these children's distinct linguistic assets and learning needs, standardized policies for identifying them and…

Nationwide, one-third of children ages 5 and under have at least one parent who speaks a language other than English. These Dual Language Learners (DLLs) are an incredibly diverse and growing group of young children, and with the right support these preschoolers have the potential to develop as multilingual and multiliterate individuals. Yet…

English learners (ELs) require access to appropriate instructional services that match their strengths and needs to have an equal opportunity to achieve the same academic standards as other students. If ELs are not properly identified and classified, they may be excluded from services that would better help them meet high academic standards, and…

Although creativity is considered one of the key "twenty-first-century skills", this ability is still often misunderstood. Persistent conceptual and methodological barriers have limited educational implications. This article reviews and discusses the three critical issues of "nature", "measure", and…

The current need to think globally over the long term has necessarily altered perspectives in education. Expectations for educational outcomes have increased over the last century for all students and, in many societies, diverse educational programs are available for those who are deemed to be particularly gifted. However, many children are likely…

Education has seen its share of trends and movements that either help or hinder the optimal development of the gifted child. In 2001, Congress passed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in a concerted effort to reach children who were not meeting minimal standardized goals of achievement. Response to Intervention (RtI) is yet another approach to ensure…

In the context of increasing interest and support for a developmental conception of giftedness, there is perhaps an ever-greater need for off-level testing for students with high potential. Off-level testing is no longer merely a single-use tool that helps administrators identify students for gifted programs, but provides essential information…

Best practice in gifted and talented identification procedures involves making decisions on the basis of multiple measures. However, very little research has investigated the impact of different methods of combining multiple measures. This article examines the consequences of the conjunctive ("and"), disjunctive/complementary…

The gifted remain an often misunderstood and underserved population. In this interview, Dr. Pfeiffer discusses these concerns and provides practitioners with timely information on who exactly the gifted are and the various ways in which they are unique. In this reflective conversation, Dr. Pfeiffer, a noted authority on gifted and talented…

This article discusses the role of assessment in a response-to-intervention model. Although assessment represents only 1 component in a response-to-intervention model, a well-articulated assessment system is critical in providing teachers with reliable data that are easily interpreted and used to make instructional decisions. Three components of…