The article discusses the need to control for fluency (the number of test items completed) in originality scores from the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. (Author/DLS)

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.…

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)

Although divergent-thinking tests were once the most common creativity measure in psychological and educational research, their popularity among researchers is waning because of serious questions concerning validity. Recent research suggests that divergent-thinking test scores fail to predict real-world creativity. A task-specific approach may…

Four dimensions (Contact, Consciousness, Interest, and Fantasy) of the Creativity Classification System (CCS) have demonstrated high validity in identifying fourth- to sixth-grade students for an enrichment program. An identification procedure for use at the high school level is explained in relation to CCS. (Author/DB)

An observation guide for the identification of intellectually advanced preschool children was developed by adapting characteristics illustrated in the literature for older children. The 46 descriptive characteristics included in the guide were categorized in terms of three general sets: general ability, task commitment, and creativity. Teachers…

The article traces the construction, validation, and revision of 24 biographical inventories resulting in the Form U Biographical Inventory, which yields four scores (academic performance, creativity, leadership, and artistic potential) to identify gifted and talented elementary and secondary students as defined by the U. S. Department of…

To gather data on the implications of the proposition that intellectual ability should be conceived as multidimensional, 19 different measures, all of which have been employed as selection criteria for programs for the gifted, were used as a basis for selecting 5 students from 2 fifth-grade classes (N=49) for inclusion in a hypothetical program…

Development of the Student Product Assessment Form to evaluate formally the products of students in gifted and talented education programs is described. Results from content validation procedures, reliability tests, scoring, and interrater agreement indicate that the assessment tool is both reliable and valid. (Author/JDD)

In this journal issue, articles examine various aspects of testing intelligence, creativity, and psychopathology. Featured articles include: (1) "Monglottosis: What's Wrong with the Idea of IQ Meritocracy and Its Racy Cousins?" (Johan W. Oller, Jr.), which shows empirically and theoretically that even nonverbal IQ tests mainly measure powers of…

Research on the validity and reliability of four tests (Group Inventory for Finding Creative Talent, Group Inventory for Finding Interests I and II, and Preschool Interest Descriptor) which use the characteristics approach in screening elementary/secondary students for programs for the creatively gifted is summarized. (CL)

THIS MANUAL DESCRIBES PROPOSED SCORING PROCEDURES FOR THE MINNESOTA TEST OF CREATIVE THINKING AND WRITING. TEST FORMS FOR SIX VERBAL TASKS AND THREE NONVERBAL TASKS ARE PRESENTED. FOR MOST TASKS, THIS SCORING MANUAL HAS EXTRACTED FROM THE TEST PROTOCOLS FOUR SCORES TO REPRESENT FOUR ABILITIES OF CREATIVE THINKING-- FLUENCY, FLEXIBILITY,…

A questionnaire of out-of-school activities was developed to assess mathematical creative ability at four levels using a three-stage circular technique. Israeli high school students (n=139) reported whether they had performed the activities. Resulting data provided evidence of the construct validity of a 12-item scale for assessing creative…