Universal screening is one of the most-common topics and well-accepted best practices within the field of gifted and talented education. There appears to be little disagreement that universally screening all students as part of a gifted and talented identification process results in fewer missed students. But surprisingly, there is little guidance…

This study examined the internal structure of the Scales for Assessing Emotional Disturbance-3 Rating Scale (RS), a teacher-completed RS developed to measure emotional disturbance (ED). As defined in U.S. law and regulations, ED involves five characteristics or patterns of behavioral and emotional maladaptation. RS data obtained on a sample of…

The federal government mandates that school personnel select race and ethnicity identifiers for students who do not provide that information. This process is called "observer identification," and it poses a potential threat to the validity of self-identified race/ethnicity data because (a) evidence from other fields suggests that about…

The Mathematics Fluency and Calculation Tests (MFaCTs) are a series of measures designed to assess for arithmetic calculation skills and calculation fluency in children ages 6 through 18. There are five main purposes of the MFaCTs: (1) identifying students who are behind in basic math fact automaticity; (2) evaluating possible delays in arithmetic…

This article summarizes Renzulli's Revolving Door Identification Model, an approach to the identification of gifted and talented students. It then investigates reasons for its popularity, addresses criticisms leveled against the model, and assesses its validity and utility for identifying and serving gifted students. (Author/JDD)

Instruments used to measure creativity by 418 school districts as part of their identification procedures for gifted programs were studied. Results indicated that districts often select instruments for assessing creativity without attending to the definition of the construct. Creativity is often assessed in ways that may not be valid or reliable.…

This study investigated the reliability and construct validity of a peer nomination form used to identify 670 Hispanic students of outstanding talent from three southwestern school districts. Results indicated adequate reliability, and suggestions are offered for improving the instrument's validity. (DB)

The Test of Mathematical Abilities is used to identify students (ages 8-18) who are above or below age peers in 5 areas (attitude toward math, vocabulary, computation, general information, and story problems). This paper describes the test's administration, summation of data, standardization, reliability, and validity. (JDD)

Performance of 46 gifted and talented elementary students as displayed on the Achievement-Aptitude Profile of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho Educational Battery suggested that the test is useful for identifying and assessing this population. The Woodcock-Johnson and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised appeared to have concurrent…

Investigated the empirical validity of the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale in adolescent male offenders (N=160). Results supported the concurrent validity of the MacAndrew Scale as a measure of alcohol abuse among young at-risk males and was also sensitive to polydrug use among youth who abuse alcohol. (LLL)

This paper reviews the literature on assessment bias issues in special education. While assessment instruments yielding a single IQ score are seen as useful components in a comprehensive multifactored assessment, and are the primary tool of diagnosis for mental retardation, they are found to be irrelevant when applied to students with learning…

The response to a previous article by Mardell-Czednowski and Lessen notes the lack of common criteria for evaluating technical adequacy of assessment instruments used with handicapped children and stresses the need to evaluate instruments with the specific populations to which they are administered. (DB)

A short screening battery, drawn from the Halstead-Reitan Battery, for differential identification of brain-damaged and healthychildren was developed. Results indicate the screening index had an accuracy rate of 92 percent in differentiating the brain-damaged subjects from the controls. When applied to validational groups, an 86 percent accuracy…

The final part of an article on the process of identifying gifted and talented children presents data and discusses implications of the use of the Guidance Institute for Talented Students' Screening Instrument (GIFTS). (For Parts 1 and 2, see EJ 216 146 and EJ 221 686.) (PHR)

The article describes development, testing, and use of a new instrument, Clark's Drawing Abilities Test, and its success in screening and/or identifying artistically gifted students. Significant correlations have been found between results from this test, the Children's Embedded Figures Test, and teachers' ratings of pupils. (Author/PB)