Factors Related to the Identification of Minority Gifted Students.

Middle schools throughout New York State were surveyed regarding the recruitment of gifted students. Data from 199 schools revealed that most middle schools in New York do not have programs for the gifted and when they do, minority students are underrepresented. A multivariate analysis of variance demonstrated that none of the identification procedures commonly used were useful for identifying minority gifted students. Commonly used identification procedures included grades, standardized test scores, teacher referral, parent referral, and self-referral. Regardless of which identification procedures were used, or the number of identification procedures available, gifted minorities were not identified. The one factor that emerged related to minority identification was that teacher training (e.g., workshops, inservice, etc.) facilitated the identification of minority gifted students. However, the data suggested that teacher training does not affect the identification of all ethnic minority groups. African-Americans were more likely to be identified as a result of teacher training, whereas the training did not affect the identification of Latino-Americans. (Contains 36 references.) (Author/DB) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** Factors Related to the Identification of Minority Gifted Students