Using Judgment Analysis in the Identification of Gifted and Talented Children

Abstract

When multiple criteria are used to identify gifted and talented students personnel responsible for identification are often unaware of the weighting scheme they have chosen to use. If some kind of weighting scheme is chosen in order to reflect relative importance of criteria, the statistical properties of the combination of criteria and weights can lead to rankings of students which do not reflect the philosophy ofthose creating the weighting system. The method of Judgment Analysis (JAN) can be used to determine a weighting system which reflects an identification philosophy accurately.