EVALUATION
The state department of Education’s Special
Education regulations outline requirements for evaluation to determine
if a student is eligible as gifted. Students must meet criteria on the
intellectual ability and one other area listed below unless factors are
present that need to be considered. There are four main categories to
consider in the evaluation process.
I. Intellectual Ability
Student must score in the very superior
range as defined by the test author on an individually administered intelligence
measure.
II. Subject Matter Aptitude/Achievement
Student must score superior academic performance
on a total subject area score on a standardized measure, OR as documented
by information from other sources.
III. Creativity/Divergent
Thinking
Student must score outstanding performance
on a test of creative/divergent thinking, OR as documented by information
from other sources.
IV. Problem Solving
Student must score outstanding performance
on a test of problem solving, OR as documented by information from other
sources.
Other sources of documentation include:
·
Collections of work.
·
Audio/visual tapes.
·
Judgement of work by qualified individuals knowledgeable about the child’s
performance (e.g. artists, musicians, historians, scientists, etc.).
·
Interviews
·
Observations
·
See pp. 44-45 under screening for other ideas.
Factors to consider in selecting and interpreting
evaluation information include:
· Cultural background
· Linguistic background
· Socioeconomic status
· Disabling condition
These factors need to be considered with
other sources of documentation when determining very superior intellectual
ability.
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