In the Commonwealth of Virginia, gifted education plans are submitted to the state every five years for state approval. The plans must indicate the use of a minimum of four criteria out of the eight criteria provided by the Commonwealth in the identification process. The concept of using multiple criteria stems from research. Research has shown that the criteria used in the identification of gifted students affect the number of identified students as well as the proportions of the underrepresented (Donovan & Cross, 2002). Research has also shown that the use of multiple criteria leads to a higher proportion of underrepresented students identified (Callahan, Hunsaker, Adams, Moore, and Bland, 1995). The purpose of this study was to compare the gifted identification criteria used within the Commonwealth of Virginia's public school divisions and analyze the effects of the criteria on the percentages of underrepresented gifted within the divisions. In this study, the researcher analyzed the numbers of each minority in the total populations against the total gifted minority populations to identify those divisions that were proportional for traditionally underrepresented minorities. All aspects of the gifted identification process for each division were then analyzed. The aspects were then used to compare the proportional divisions to the non-proportional divisions for commonalities in the identification process. Findings revealed that there were no divisions with reported minorities that were proportional in all traditionally underrepresented ethnicities. In addition, no one specific standardized measure was successfully used in identifying non-traditionally gifted minorities in all ethnic groups. The implication that can be drawn from this research is that despite all attempts to put research into practice by using multiple criteria in the identification of the gifted, there is no one criterion that ensures the proportional identification of underrepresented minorities. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the identification methods that achieve parity for students underrepresented in Gifted and Talented (GT) Programs in Virginia. There are underrepresented gifted and talented students (GT) throughout the United States of America, including the Commonwealth of Virginia. Students of every ethnicity and socioeconomic status can need GT services. There is a need to increase equity in GT programs to show a representation of students that mimics the total representation in the school division. Data were collected from all 132 school divisions in Virginia and the school divisions that were not underrepresented for Black, Hispanic, and two or more-race students (Non-Hispanic) (NH) were studied further. There were 12 out of the 132 school divisions that were not underrepresented for Blacks, 16 out of 132 for Hispanics and 42 out of 132 for two or more-race students (NH). In those 70 school divisions, GT plan reports were researched for identification methods used to be accepted into the GT program. Identification methods included: which of the four area of giftedness they were admitted into, which of the seven multiple criteria were used, and which standardized test/s were taken. In this study, the identification process used in GT programs in Virginia to ascertain favorable practices to achieve parity in minority representation was researched. This updated research study was as close as possible to the Palmer (2009) study. There was an increase for all three chosen racial groups since 2009. The increase could only be one standardized test. All other results were inconclusive. / Doctor of Philosophy / This study on the identification methods used for a student's admission into Gifted and Talented (GT) programs was conducted to see if the methods used to qualify them for services had anything to do with the underrepresentation of Black, Hispanic, and two or more-race students (Non-Hispanic). There is a problem with the overrepresentation of Whites and Asians and an underrepresentation of these minority races in GT education and it needs to end. There are GT students that require GT programs to enrich or advance these students learning. The school divisions with equity for these races were studied to see what they were doing right to achieve this goal. Researched were the seven multiple criteria used to identify GT students, what area of giftedness they were placed in, and the standardized test taken. These measures were checked for similarities in the school divisions in Virginia that may give us information on what made them equitable. The results included 28 school divisions with equity for Blacks and Hispanics and 42 for two or more- race students (NH). There are still an abundance of Black and Hispanic students not qualifying for GT services. Two or more-race students have equity now. None of the criteria could be attributed to this underrepresentation.