The Impact of the Nomination Stage on Gifted Program Identification

Abstract

The use of the nomination stage as the first step in the identification process is pervasive across the field of gifted education. In many cases, nominations are used to limit the number of students who will need to be evaluated using costly and time-consuming assessments for the purpose of gifted program identification and placement. This study evaluated the effect of the nomination stage on the overall efficacy of a gifted identification system. Results showed that in nearly all conditions, identification systems that require a nomination before testing result in a large proportion of gifted students being missed. Under commonly implemented conditions, the nomination stage can cause the false negative rate to easily exceed 60%. Changes to identification practices are urgently needed in order to ensure that larger numbers of gifted students receive appropriate educational placement and to maintain the integrity of gifted education services.

The Relationship of Gifted Program Enrollment to Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and SES.

“…Use of Occam's Razor suggests the first (i.e., Gf construct). Gf is the most commonly used construct used to identify giftedness in U.S children (McBee, Peters, & Miller, 2016). As such, the construct produces a foundational template and shapes all related gifted programming.…”

Disproportionalities in Gifted and Talented Education Enrollment: An Analysis of the U.S. Civil Rights Data Collection Series

“…Occam's Razor suggests the fourth explanation (i.e., Gf as culture-bound) is responsible for driving the disproportionality rates for students of color. Although there are various types of intelligence, Gf is the one used most commonly to identify giftedness in children (McBee, Peters, & Miller, 2016). In essence, Cattell (1963) describes Gf as the ability to solve problems and develop adaptive skills to new situations; where culture plays no advantage.…”

Working toward equitable gifted programming: The school psychologist's role

“…Teacher nomination serves as a threshold that must be passed for most students to be considered for formal testing. The reliance on teacher nomination as a requirement for further consideration for formal gifted identification perpetuates inequitable access to gifted programming (McBee, Peters, & Miller, 2016) largely because it is heavily impacted by bias which leads to disproportionately inaccurate referrals for African‐American and Latinx students (McBee, 2006).…”