The purpose of this study was to determine if the inferences derived from the Kingore Observation Inventory as a screening device are sufficiently valid for the identification of potentially gifted youngsters. Differences in predicting the WISC-III Full Scale IQ scores and/or percentile ranks using the KOI were assessed. The value of screening procedures to identify potentially gifted youngsters is essential for accurate identification of gifted young students. The Kingore Observation Inventory is a screening procedure administered by educators within the classroom environment over a six-week period that furnishes a percentile rank of overall intellectual functioning. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition is a comprehensive assessment instrument of cognitive abilities that yields a standard score with a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15. The WISC-III is time consuming and is an expensive assessment instrument in terms of professional resources required for administration and interpretation. A less costly and more easily administered instrument that will effectively predict the intellectual functioning of youngsters would be an invaluable tool. As part of a comprehensive assessment procedure to identify young gifted children within a school district in Oregon the KOI was administered to all primary students. A stratified sample that consisted of 89 second grade children previously assessed with the KOI in the first grade were administered the WISC-III. These children varied in age from 6.5 to 8.7 years. The sample included of 42 females and 47 males, of whom 6 were Asian, 1 was Black, 2 were Hispanic, and 80 were Caucasian/Not Hispanic. A correlational analysis, logistic regression analysis, discriminant analysis, and t-tests for paired differences were performed using SAS programs (SAS Institute Inc., 1990), version 6.07. Evidence was shown for the effects of Age on KOI Percentile scores for the target population. The study findings provide clear evidence that the KOI is not an adequate screening tool for the identification of intellectual giftedness for primary-aged students in the school district. This may indicate use of the KOI is not an adequate screening device for other populations as well. / Graduation date: 1994

No description available.

The purpose of the study was to investigate factors influencing the selection of minority and majority school-aged children for gifted and talented programs. Factors explored included abstract thinking ability, achievement test scores, and parental social status (i.e., education, income, occupation) as academic and nonacademic variables that potentially influence the selection and/or placement process. Provided is performance data on 22 black and 23 white gifted children and 21 black and 24 white high achieving children (N=90) relative to their similar as well as unique traits on measures of abstract thinking ability, IQ, and achievement tests.FindingsH1. There are significant differences in abstract thinking ability among placement groups that vary with race.H2. It was found that students from higher social status backgrounds tended to be placed in programs for the gifted more often than were students from lower social status backgrounds.H3. Teachers tended to select (from a hypothetical group) children from higher income families rather than children from lower income families for placement in the gifted program. This finding was also true for children whose profiles indicated parent occupation (e.g., teacher, judge).Conclusions1. The selection of gifted students is influenced by race and social status of the parents.2. Parent education, occupation, and income are social class variables that influence children both in and out of school.3. Abstract thinking ability is not an academic variable that influences the selection of children for gifted program placement in the school corporation selected for this study.4. Numerous other variables (e.g., hi/lo socioeconomic background, values and beliefs, directed/mediated learning experiences, language and historical background) influence a child's capacity to learn and should be always considered.5. Testing instruments are not available in the school system used in this study to accurately assess the skills of minority children. / Department of Special Education

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the various categories of giftedness can be adequately identified in an under-resourced rural area. To supplement the literature, a focus group was held and informal interviews were conducted with people in the area of research. Giftedness was ultimately defined as both potential and product which cannot be separated from the community where the person lives. Apart from causes of underachievement such as poverty, illiteracy, lack of equipment, low motivation and difficult home circumstances, it was found that fear is a powerful hindrance in the actualisation of giftedness, as there is a strong belief that learners who stand out amongst their peers could fall prey to witchcraft. In order to adequately identify giftedness, an identification method which is used by the Faculty of Education at Unisa, was applied to 10 learners. Various talents additional to academic talent were found among the respondents. The identification method was finally evaluated according to certain identification criteria. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

This research was an investigation of the relationship between the cognitive processes labeled successive, simultaneous, and planning proposed by Luria and Das (Das, Kirby & Jarman, 1979) and the solution of visual metaphors and the achievement of 6th grade elementary age students from metropolitan schools. A battery of information processing tasks based on previous research with the Luria-Das model was administered to 191 6th grade students, approximately half of whom were Anglo and half of whom were Hispanic. In addition, the Metaphoric Triads Task (MTT), a measure of comprehension of visual metaphors, was administered to the same group and achievement data from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills gathered on the same students. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine whether the Luria-Das model or another model fit the data; and how the information processing variables related to each other, to the Metaphoric Triads task, and to the measures of achievement. A three factor solution consistent with previous research was obtained when confirmatory factor analysis was used to fit the Luria-Das model to the data. For the Anglo group, the factor structures of all three factors were consistent with the Luria-Das model of successive, simultaneous, and planning processes. For the Hispanic group, the factor structure of the simultaneous and planning factors was consistent with previous research, but the factor structure of the successive factor was not the same as that obtained in previous research. The relationship between the academic achievement scores for the whole group and the factors was consistent with the results of previous research with the exception of Spelling. Results of the current research indicate that group administration of the battery can produce results consistent with the Luria-Das model, but further research that includes minority populations is needed. The analysis of the performance of the Anglo and Hispanic groups on the Metaphoric Triads Task indicated that the two groups performed approximately the same but may have employed different processes to solve the metaphors. The results of this study provide important data about information processing styles of 6th grade students that can be useful in educational planning.

The objective of this dissertation is to offer a series of analyses that contribute to the validation of the Aurora Battery, a cognitive assessment based on Robert J. Sternberg's theory of Successful Intelligence that is currently under development. Convergent validity will be examined by exploring how objective and subjective measures of the battery converge, through the novel application of the Correlated Trait Correlated Method-1, a specialized confirmatory factor analysis model that allows subjective measures to be compared against an objective measure. The predictive validity of Aurora will be shown by highlighting Aurora's ability to help predict students' school grade point average through latent growth curve models that are extended into path models. Divergent validity will be demonstrated by establishing sensitivity and specificity between the Aurora Battery and the TerraNova tests. Finally, the current state of the field of giftedness and possible future directions will be discussed.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the various categories of giftedness can be adequately identified in an under-resourced rural area. To supplement the literature, a focus group was held and informal interviews were conducted with people in the area of research. Giftedness was ultimately defined as both potential and product which cannot be separated from the community where the person lives. Apart from causes of underachievement such as poverty, illiteracy, lack of equipment, low motivation and difficult home circumstances, it was found that fear is a powerful hindrance in the actualisation of giftedness, as there is a strong belief that learners who stand out amongst their peers could fall prey to witchcraft. In order to adequately identify giftedness, an identification method which is used by the Faculty of Education at Unisa, was applied to 10 learners. Various talents additional to academic talent were found among the respondents. The identification method was finally evaluated according to certain identification criteria. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Special classes for gifted students began in North America in the late 19th century. Since that time, educators have directed much attention towards the special needs of students with gifts and talents. Nevertheless, compared the education of children with disabilities, programs for the education of the gifted have been sprinkled throughout our country on a small scale at best. Funding has always been tenuous and gifted education has been, and is, considered margianl to mainstream education. / vii, 111 leaves ; 29 cm.

No description available.

This study examines whether pairs of same-sex siblings labeled differently (one "gifted", one "not gifted") deidentify more than pairs of same-sex siblings who are labeled the same (both "gifted"). It further investigates patterns of perceived similarity between the siblings and patterns of parent identification to establish how these influence parents' perceptions of their children as "gifted" or "not gifted". / Deidentification did not appear to vary depending on whether children were labeled the same or differently. However, females produced higher measures of deidentification than males--with girls labeled the same producing the highest scores of all. / All parents tended to see siblings as contrasting. They also showed a tendency to split parent identify with their children--each parent identified with a different child. In 39 out of 40 cases if parents perceived themselves as having been gifted students, then the children they identified with were labeled as "gifted". This parental labeling seemed to occur well before any formal identification and was maintained in the face of contrary evidence. / For this group different labeling was not associated with poor sibling interaction. Poor sibling relationships appear to co-occur with poor marital relationships.