Recruiting and Retaining Culturally Different Students in Gifted Education by Donna Y. Ford

Author:Donna Y. Ford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Testing and Assessment: Nondiscriminatory Practices and Standards

There is a legacy of research and theories, as well as opinions that are critical of the practice of using traditional intelligence tests with both linguistically and culturally different populations. Yet few states, as previously noted, require nondiscriminatory assessment in gifted education.

In the debates, particularly of those who oppose the use of tests with CD groups, the central focus is on the issue of fairness and the discriminatory or disparate impact of standardized tests of intelligence. In 2008, the National Association for Gifted Children published an important position on the role of assessments in the identification of gifted children, which is reprinted here in Appendix A. In 2011, the organization became more specific regarding cultural considerations in a second position paper entitled “Identifying and Serving Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Gifted Students,” reprinted here in Appendix B.

Criticisms of Traditional Intelligence Tests

The following criticisms have been expressed regarding traditional intelligence tests (Flanagan & Ortiz, 2001; Flanagan et al., 2007; Groth-Marnat, 2003; Hilliard, 1995; Kaufman, 2009; The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, 2012; Sternberg, 2004, 2007b). Intelligence tests:

» have an inherent bias toward emphasizing convergent, analytical, and scientific modes of thought/thinking;

» measure a limited range of cognitive abilities and do not (cannot) measure the entire range of abilities that make up intelligence;

» do not adequately measure many cognitive abilities that contemporary theories and research specify as important in understanding learning and problem solving, particularly for non-White students/groups;

» are limited in their ability to make long-term and life-changing predictions; correlations are not perfect predictors; rather, they give us limited guidelines and considerations;

» are not measures of innate and fixed ability, and their use in classifying students without other information is highly questionable and potentially discriminatory for Black and Hispanic students;

» may not be appropriate to use with culturally different students; and

» may not be appropriate to use with linguistically different students (ELL/ESL/LEP/BE/AAEV).

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