To increase the proportion of elementary minority students identified as gifted, the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPAj was employed with minority disadvantaged children in a large urban school district. A group of African-American students in second through fifth grades became eligible for gifted programming when their IQ scores were adjusted using SOMPA procedures. The performance of these SOMPA students on the Ross Test of Higher Cognitive Processes and other measures did not differ from that of a group of African-American gifted students who were identified on the basis of traditional criteria. There were also no significant differences between the groups in Ross subtest scores seven months later. The SOMPA procedures used to identify these gifted students may provide an alternative method to increase the proportion of minority students in gifted programs; particularly in states that use IQ cut-off scores for placement decisions.

we were speechless. We knew these grants primarily went to the "big names" in the field of gifted education, and we had written our grant without assistance from outside the school district. We had done it on our own. Pittsburgh's K-3 gifted project addresses two needs of great significance to both the city of Pittsburgh and our nation as a whole: • The need to develop and implement appropriate measures to increase the representation of economically disadvantaged and culturally diverse children in programs for the gifted; and • The need to develop and implement appropriate programming and support services that meet the cognitive and affective needs of these gifted children once they have been identified. Our district has been attempting to address these issues with limited success for several years. Our difficulties are compounded because Pennsylvania is a state in which gifted comes under special education and our state definition has an IQ requirement. surrounding screening, identification, and programming for gifted students from culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged populations.