Chapter II: The Gifted

Abstract

This chapter is designed to cover research on the gifted from the last REVIEW in this area (February 1963) to June 1965. Identification and DefinitionMeasuring instruments tend to play two distinct roles in the identification of gifted students: (a) the identification of gifted children as a first step to the initiation of some special program, and (b) the extension of the definition of giftedness. In the former instance, measuring instruments are viewed in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency with which they can identify those youngsters who fit the criteria for the special program. These criteria usually consist of an individual IQ test and achievement tests.The younger the child is, the less effective are identification procedures. Baldwin (1962) reported the results of screening experiments on 100 children selected from 22 different kindergarten classes in California taught by 12 kindergarten teachers with two or more years of experience. The teachers rated, after a six-week and then after a seven-month period, those children in their classes whom they believed to be gifted. No defi nition of giftedness was presented to them. A group intelligence test, the California Test of Mental Maturity (CTMM), was also administered to all children in the 22 different classes. All those judged gifted by their teacher or who obtained an IQ of 125+ on the CTMM were given the 1960 StanforďBinet.Of those students obtaining a rating of gifted on this test only 38 percent were identified through teacher ratings and only 39 per cent through the group tests. The teachers' performance could possibly be improved by having them rank the students rather than simply make a dichotomous judgment of gifted or not gifted. Such studies rarely report the variations between teachers in their success in identifying gifted students.Blosser (1963) tested the relative usefulness of the Otis, the Henmon-Nelson and the Differential Aptitude Test for identifying gifted students at the ninth-grade level. These group tests were administered to 294 ninth graders, and the 1960 Stanford-Binet intelligence test was given to 187 of these students. The Henmon-Nelson IQ score of 125 had the highest effi ciency rating (the ratio of gifted identified by the total number selected by screening methods), but all of the measures fell far short of complete * The authors wish to express their appreciation to Joseph Kempf and John Paraskevopoulos, who did the initial research of the literature.