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S5.6.2 Performance Based Assessments to Identify Gifted and Talented Students

Performance based assessments often are overlooked as methods for identifying gifted and talented students because they are perceived as being less valid or reliable measures of ability. However, certain performance assessments have been found to be more reliable and valid measures of ability, especially for students from underserved and underrepresented groups such as children whose primary language is not English, those from cultures other than the dominant one, those with difficulties, and those from low-income groups (Romanoff, Algozzine, & Nielson, 2009; Sarouphim, 2001; 2002; 2004; 2009; Sarouphim & Maker, 2010). For instance, when one performance assessment was compared with a well-known non-verbal test of intelligence, the performance assessment administered at the beginning of grade 2 was a significant predictor of Native American students’ achievement at the end of grade 3. The non-verbal test also was a significant predictor, but the performance assessment explained 4x% of the variance in students’ achievement while the non-verbal IQ test explained only 19% of the variance (Tan and Maker, 2015; Erdimez and Maker, 2015). In another study, researchers found that when the performance assessment was administered in kindergarten, it was a significant predictor of grades and achievement in grade 6 (Sak & Maker, 2003). In a unique study of stability of scores, one researcher found that the results of the performance assessment were more stable across several years than the scores of a well-known IQ test and a test of creativity (Alhusaini & Maker, 2018). Four researchers and practitioners who have developed and studied performance assessments, their usefulness, and their results for the dual purposes of identifying gifted students and identifying the strengths of all children for over 20 years will present examples of performance assessments of 10 different abilities. These include STEM, other academic areas such as oral and written language (administered bilingually in children’s home language and English), leadership (social, emotional, and ethical), and the creative arts (visual, bodily, and auditory). They also include assessments children and youth from ages 3 to young adult (high school and college). Other experiences will include the use of these assessments in diverse international contexts such as the UAE, Lebanon, Chile, France, and the USA (Native American, Hispanic, and Black). The presenters will include results of their research on the reliability, validity, and stability of scores across several years. They will present cross-cultural comparisons of strengths of students assessed. References

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