The identification of gifted minority students is an especially sensitive problem. Currently in America Black students are underrepresented in classrooms for the gifted and overrepresented in classrooms for the mentally and emotionally handicapped. Low referral rates by classroom teachers has been suggested as a factor that may account for the underrepresentation of Black children and other minorities in gifted programs. The present investigation addressed the following questions related to referral bias in teachers' nomination of Black and White children to gifted programs: (1) does race of the teacher and/or the race, sex, or school behavior of students (or possible interaction of these variables) relate to teachers' referral of children for gifted evaluations? and (2) What is the relationship between teachers' racial attitude and referral decision? Participants were 120 (60 Black, 60 White) third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers who taught regular academic classes in a large metropolitan public school district in Florida. Participation was voluntary and all participants were paid $5.00 for completing a questionnaire packet. The results were analysed using a log linear procedure and t-tests. / The results indicated that teachers in this study did not make differential referrals on the basis of sex, race or student behavior. In addition, there was no significant relationship between teachers' racial attitude and referral decision. The implications of these results are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-02, Section: B, page: 1046. / Major Professor: Joyce Lynn Carbonell. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78430 |
| Contributors | Ames-Dennard, Sharon Renee., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 171 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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