This article discusses concepts related to character strengths and positive youth development and how these ideas can be applied to improve outcomes among gifted young people. A theory with roots in public health, The Theory of Triadic Influence (TTI), is discussed with examples applied to gifted populations. Practitioners and researchers from…

The paper describes methods of identifying giftedness, instruments for assessing creativity, and the need for a single measure of many different kinds of talent. Development of the Khatena-Morse Multitalent Perception Inventory, which identifies talent in the areas of art, music, leadership, and creativity, is discussed. (JDD)

Strategies are discussed that provide a theoretically sound, valid, and practical framework for evaluating the processes used in identifying gifted/talented students. The strategies stress assessing the relevance of instruments used, their reliability and validity, their limitations, and using a variety of evaluation techniques. (JDD)

This article summarizes Renzulli's Revolving Door Identification Model, an approach to the identification of gifted and talented students. It then investigates reasons for its popularity, addresses criticisms leveled against the model, and assesses its validity and utility for identifying and serving gifted students. (Author/JDD)

A culture-specific approach to identifying artistic talent in African-American students is presented, called Tactuality. Tactuality identifies four characteristics: emotional intensity, flexibility and open-endedness, holistic perception, and tactile sensitivity. A pilot test with 63 fourth graders resulted in statistical problems with validation.…

Forty prototypical descriptions representing 4 aptitude domains and 4 talent fields were rated by 2,343 intermediate-level pupils and their teachers, and indices of interpeer agreement were computed. A majority of the prototypes maintained acceptable interpeer agreement levels. Interpeer agreement depended primarily on the specific aptitude or…

Composite scores for 51 gifted children (ages 3-12) on the Stanford-Binet LM were found to be significantly higher than scores on the Stanford-Binet 4th Edition. Correlations between the LM total and 4th Edition area scores were significant. Results suggest that the 4th Edition composite score cut-off value for assessing giftedness may require…

This packet contains a set of assessment activities to identify gifted and talented children at the kindergarten level, based on Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. The six assessments measure linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, and interpersonal/intrapersonal intelligence. For each assessment,…

This study evaluated the reliability and validity of a battery of instruments based on Multiple Intelligences theory, including teacher checklists and performance-based assessment activities developed for the identification of talent in culturally diverse and/or low-income kindergarten and first-grade students. Acceptable reliability but…