Scales for Identifying Gifted Students

1. Scales for Identifying Gifted Students Teacher Survey

2. What is it? • Norm-referenced rating scale designed to assist in the identification of students as gifted.

3. SIGS Components • Technical Manual- how to administer, score, and interpret (norm) the SIGS • School Rating Scales (SRS)- assesses talent in seven areas with 12 items rated using a Likert scale • Home Rating Scales (HRS)- we won’t use this tool • Summary form- place to aggregate information from the SRS- we won’t use this tool

4. Assesses Seven Areas: • General Intellectual Ability • Language Arts • Mathematics • Science • Social Studies • Creativity • Leadership

5. General Intellectual Ability Characteristics • Reaches conclusions based on sound inferences • Deals with novel tasks quickly • Recognizes relevant elements of a problem • Relates new information to old information • Has an accelerated pace of thought process

6. Has advanced comprehension • Has strong desire for knowledge • Reasons rapidly • Has a wide range of general information • Is an insightful and keen observer • Is curious • Asks many high level questions • Is an effective problem solver and finder • Has an excellent retentive memory • Is willing to explore intellectually

7. Language Arts Characteristics • Has advanced vocabulary • Writes using sophisticated syntax • Exhibits playfulness with language • Reads critically • Discusses literature at an interpretive level • Uses mature themes and vocabulary in writing

8. Communicates effectively with a wide variety of audiences for different purposes • Reads often • Reads advanced level books • Has an enhanced capacity to engage in inquiry • Enjoys discussing reading * The SIGS items can be rated in terms of spoken or written language.

9. Mathematics Characteristics • Uses variety of strategies to find solutions to mathematical problems • Makes good conjectures (discovery oriented) • Uses effective mathematical communication • Exhibits persistence in finding a solution to problems

10. Generalizes ideas and principles from one mathematical situation to another • Sees mathematical patterns and relationships • Acquires formal operations earlier than age peers • Solves problems in diverse ways • Has strong intuition concerning mathematics (perceptive, sees relationships)

11. Science Characteristics • Enjoys experimenting • Pursues inquiries beyond allotted time span • Engages in independent science or laboratory work • Has excellent deductive reasoning skills • Pays careful attention to detail • Generates potential research questions or hypotheses

12. Carries out inquiry from beginning to end result • Pursues experimental work • Has good organizational skills for inquiry • Relates scientific events or findings to one another • Understands cause and effect relationships

13. Social Studies Characteristics • Has understanding and acceptance of world cultures • Uses advanced levels of moral and ethical judgment • Exhibits keen interest in developing solutions to social and environmental problems • Makes connections from past to present or from one culture to another

14. Attempts to understand other points of view • Uses sound methods to conduct historical investigations (ex: uses trustworthy sources) • Reads extensively about social studies topics • Shows passion for a particular period of history

15. Creativity Characteristics • Is open to new experiences • Is passionate about own work • Generates original ideas and solutions • Takes risks • Is attracted to complexity • Is aware of own creativity • Is energetic • Seeks solitude for reverie

16. Likes to improvise • Is persistent • Is tolerant of ambiguity • Exhibits talent in art, poetry, creative writing, handicrafts, music, dancing, computer programming, or science • Does not conform to societal stereotypes • Is excellent problem finder

17. Leadership Characteristics • Influences others • Plans change • Is highly sensitive • Promotes harmony among others • Is effective decision maker • Is self-sufficient • Shows empathy • Has high level of social sensitivity

18. Is goal oriented • Is skilled in team building and working collaboratively • Self-regulates • Inspires others to do their best • Is emotionally mature • Holds high ideals

19. Administration, Scoring, and Interpreting Guidelines • Administration • Only first 5 areas will be completed • If courses are departmentalized, make a copy and give one to each area teacher for independent completion • All copies returned to you for compilation • Each section should take 10-15 minutes to complete

20. Who completes the non-specific core areas? A teacher who has had the most opportunity to observe the characteristics in the areas of General Intellectual Ability, Creativity, and Leadership should be the first considered to complete these sections. For example, a teacher who uses instructional strategies that require students to think critically might be the best choice to rate the student in GIA.

21. Kindergarten Only • Kindergarten teachers will complete the General Intellectual Ability, Language Arts, Math, Creativity, and Leadership sections only.

22. A teacher who has had the opportunity to observe the student in a leadership role, such as a sponsor for a club to which the student belongs, might be a good choice to rate the student in the area of Leadership. Have teacher check which area he/she is rating. Use your best judgment, talk to your teachers about the students, and get the best insight into our nominees!

23. Directions to Teachers • Check the area being evaluated • Read each item carefully • Rate the student in each item by comparing the student to OTHER AGE PEERS and circling the appropriate frequency of occurrence on the Likert scale

24. Ask teacher to add up each column and place total in appropriate box and total all columns and record to the left • If there are six or more items marked with a “4” the teacher must provide example(s) of the student’s behavior

26. It all comes back to you… • Once you have received the form(s) for a nominated student, complete a “Master” Form (green copy) for each student • Transfer Raw Scores from each teacher’s scale to the “master”

27. Norming • We will be using General Norms (not Gifted Norms) • Locate the appropriate age table- either • Ages 5-13 (Table A.1) or • Ages 14-18 (Table A.2) • Locate the Raw Score for each area in the left hand column

28. Norming (con’t) • Go across to locate the appropriate Scale Standard Score for EACH area and record on the Summary Form • Go to the Converting Standard Scores to Percentile Ranks for the General Norm Sample (Table B.1) • Locate Standard Score for EACH area in left hand column

29. Norming (con’t) • Go across to locate the appropriate Percentile Rank for each area and record on Master Form

30. Let’s do one together…. • Jacob, age 10, has a raw score of 41 in the GIA area. • Using Table A.1, Jacob’s GIA Standard Score would be 125. • Using Table B.1, Jacob’s GIA Percentile Rank would be 95. • Now find his Standard Score and Percentile Rank for Mathematics

32. Interpretation Guidelines When General Norm Sample is Used

33. How to record on the matrix • Place all percentile ranks in the appropriate spaces • Identify the highest percentile • Assign the appropriate point value