The recent popularity of Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory corresponds with current efforts to move away from the use of standardized measures of achievement and ability to more authentic assessment techniques, including portfolio and performance-based assessment. Gardner and his colleagues have strongly encouraged the application of MI theory to performance-based assessment. This study investigates the reliability and validity of a battery of instruments based on MI theory, including teacher checklists and performance-based assessment activities. The purpose in developing the instruments was the identification of talent in culturally diverse and/or low income kindergarten and first grade students. Results suggest acceptable evidence of reliability but raise questions about the validity of the assessments. This study has implications for both future research efforts and the application of MIbased, performance measures to the assessment and identification of talent.

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Preservice teachers face formidable tasks of planning and management as they enter the classroom for the first time as professionals. They also bring with them mental imprints of what teaching and leaming are like, images gained not from their professional preparation programs, but from their years as students. Once in the role of teacher, those views may be reinforced by the circumstances of their apprenticeship. This qualitative study reports five themes in the preservice teaching experience of 10 preservice teachers which may reinforce traditional views of schooling and discourage understanding and addressing unique learning needs of academically diverse learners such as gifted, remedial, and special education learners.

Increasingly, general classroom teachers are expected to be primary service providers for a full range of learners in inclusive classrooms. Research indicates that many veteran teachers are reluctant or unable to differentiate instruction for academically diverse learners in heterogeneous settings. This qualitative study examined the preservice experiences of 70 novice teachers at six university sites to determine conditions that may inhibit or facilitate their progress toward differentiation for academically diverse learners. Themes emerging from this investigation provide important guidelines for assisting beginning teachers in differentiating instruction in inclusive classrooms.

The use of the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQ), in its various forms, is recommended for use with gifted students, yet little psychometric data exist with respect to the use of these subscales with this population. The SDQ-II was administered to adolescents attending a summer residential program for academically gifted students (N = 459). Estimates of internal consistency for scores on the 11 subscales are large enough to warrant group interpretation and research uses (mean alpha= .89) and possibly individual uses for older gifted students. Confirmatory factor analysis provides limited evidence of construct validity using data from this sample of gifted students. The relatively poor fit of the tested models may be due to the extreme negative skewness of item score distributions.