Policies and procedures for identifying and certifying Black gifted children
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to collect, evaluate, and describe the current methods used by the state departments of education and the District of Columbia to identify and certify Black gifted children. In addition, school psychologists in the southeastern United States were surveyed to determine their practices in identifying and certifying Black gifted children. Findings indicated most of the state departments of education had attempted to define giftedness as superior abilities and high academic performance; they also recognized diversity in the existence for creative and productive thinking abilities, leadership abilities, abilities in the visual and performing arts, and psychomotor abilities. The subjects in Part 2 included school psychologists who held membership in the National Association of School Psychologists in the southeastern United States, excluding Puerto Rico. A computer-generated random sample was employed to select 258 subjects from a population of 2,161. The instrument was a one-page survey form consisting of 19 items. The procedure included mailing a cover letter; a survey form; and a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Descriptive statistics of frequencies, percentages, and the chi-square test of independence analyzed the relationship of age, race, educational level, years of experience, and work setting of the school psychologist to the certification of Black gifted. There were 122 psychologists who responded. Findings indicated Black and White psychologists' age, educational level, and years of experience had no relationship to the number of Black children certified gifted. The urban psychologist certified a larger percentage of both Black and White children gifted as compared to the rural and inner-city psychologist. A greater percentage of the psychologists used an individualized intelligence test to certify gifted than group intelligence tests. The team approach was used by most Black and White psychologists when certifying Black children gifted and enrichment programs were the most often recommended placement for the Black gifted.
Subject Area
Academic guidance counseling|Educational psychology|African Americans
Recommended Citation
V. Dennis Tramel,
"Policies and procedures for identifying and certifying Black gifted children"
(1989).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI9023940.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI9023940