Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
EdD Program for Educational Leaders
Advisor
Richard Snyder
Committee Member
Patricia Grimes
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
academically gifted, ability identification, elementary school students, gifted student program, gifted student screening, inservice teacher education, parent meetings, program evaluation, referral process, school guidance counselors, staff development, student evaluation, student identification, teacher referrals, teacher training, underrepresented students
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to increase the numbers of gifted students being identified and served in an elementary school setting. The numbers of students being served in the school’s Gifted Student Program (GSP) had declined steadily from 58 students in 1995 to 21 students in 2001. Factors that contributed to declining enrollment were: (a) a majority (68%) of faculty members had never referred students to the program; (b) referrals were not representative of the demographic profile of the school; (c) the majority of teachers (94%) had not participated in any in-service training to help them recognize gifted characteristics; and (d) the job responsibilities of the GSP teacher did not contribute positively to the identification and referral of potentially gifted students.
Program strategies included the creation of a student qualification rubric that assisted teachers in the referral process, revising the job responsibilities of the GSP teacher, shifting responsibilities for screening and referral to the school guidance counselors, developing a long-range staff development program, and conducting parent meetings.
The results from the program were considered successful. Five out of 6 terminal objectives were met. A total of 147 (14.7%) of 1,135 students were referred for gifted screening; 53 (4.6%) students qualified for IQ testing; and 27 (2.3%) students qualified for GSP services by the end of the applied dissertation program, increasing the total number of students who qualified for the school’s GSP from 21 students during the 2000-2001 school year to 48 students during the 2001-2002 school year.