Book Review: National Report on Identification: Assessment and Recommendations for Comprehensive Identification of Gifted and Talented Youth

From its incisive analysis of current identification practices to its comprehensive three-stage model, this report fulfills its promise of penetrating the quagmire of conflicting methods used to identify the gifted and, talented. A must for district coordinators, this rather cumbersome-looking manual is guaranteed both to enlighten and to discomfort the reader. Richert confronts the inconsistency between our idealistic philosophies and our operational procedures, armed with facts, figures, solid research, expert judgment, and articulate clarity. The National Report on Identification emerges from a national study of identification practices and a national conference of experts on various categories of giftedness, both of which were sponsored by a federal contract. The book highlights uses and abuses of assessment instruments, and the neglect of certain populations. One of its main features is a section on resources for identification describing 65 instruments selected as appropriate for identifying several types of talent. The summaries for each instrument include author, publisher’s address, cost, age and grade levels, group or individual administration, time involved, administrative training required, purpose, measures obtained, scoring method, population on which the test was standardized, reliability and validity data, category of giftedness addressed, intended populations, the stage of the identification process in which it should be used, and comments and cautions from the panel of experts. This section alone is worth the cost of the book. The most salient concept in the report is that identification should be based upon NEED. Many children are accepted into gifted programs because they achieve well in school, not because they are most in need of special programming. Since determining which children have the greatest need can be highly subjective, many administrators prefer instead to tally an objective-sounding number of points on different dimensions in order to select children for programs. Although this may seem more defensible, it may in fact preclude from admission underachievers, minority members, bilingual students, females, and other students who are environmentally disadvantaged. Richert has developed a sound technique for determining degree of need and matching need to program options. As a bonus, the author also includes concrete ideas for programming and evaluation. Another key concept in the book is that availability of resources cannot be used to determine who is gifted. Richert suggests low-cost means