Factors That Influence In-Service and Preservice Teachers' Nominations of Students for Gifted and Talented Programs

Abstract

A classroom teacher's unique perspective is valuable when considering students for gifted and talented programs. We developed a series of 11 student profiles to measure 290 preservice and 95 in-service teachers' attitudes and asked them to indicate how strongly they believed the students in the profiles should or should not be recommended for their district's gifted program. We found students' interests, SES, and areas of academic strength influenced teachers' perceptions of students as gifted. In-service teachers were more likely than preservice teachers to view the students in the profiles as gifted. In-service teachers also were influenced by whether previous children in the family had been identified as gifted and talented.