An Evaluation of Alternative Screening Procedures

Abstract

Disproportional minority membership in special programs has become a major issue in gifted education programs. Identifying students who are gifted has traditionally been grounded in criteria emphasizing unitary measures of intellectual ability. An alternative perspective with promise for addressing concerns related to disproportion and bias in placement practices has emerged from the theory of multiple intelligences (MI; Gardner, 1983, 1993). While perspectives and opinions regarding multiple intelligences are plentiful, research on the effectiveness of assessment and instructional practices grounded in MI theory has been sparse. This research was designed to shed light on the problem-solving assessment (PSA) procedure, an application of MI theory focused on identification of students for gifted education programs. Scores and decisions grounded in PSA and more traditional criteria were described, compared, and analyzed. As in previous research, positive correlations were evident among scores for different types of intelligences and applications of another identification criterion. More important, different groups of students were identified when using each approach; a more diverse population was identified with the problem-solving-assessment procedure.