Who Gets Identified? The Consequences of Variability in Teacher Ratings and Combination Rules for Determining Eligibility for Gifted Services for Young Children

Abstract

This study illustrates the consequences of accounting for or ignoring teacher variability in student ratings in conjunction with combination rules when identifying students for gifted services in one rural primary school. Teachers (n = 16) rated 282 first-- and second grade students on creativity, motivation, mathematics, and science. Results indicated the most variability in how teachers used the science scale and the least variability in the mathematics scales. Further, teachers rated female students higher than male students in motivation, but not on any other scale. More students were identified if the top students were identified in each class versus the top students in each grade level, and largely, the students who were identified within their classrooms were not the same students who were identified within their grade level. And as expected, OR rules resulted in the highest number of students identified. Implications and recommendations are discussed.