Data Collection Sources

Data Collection Sources - To Support Educational Planning

Key Research Summary Points

Educational planning for students with advanced learning needs can be complex because of the wide range of abilities and high academic potential. Services and strategies need to be agreed upon by both parents and school personnel. Therefore, successful educational planning requires ongoing positive collaboration between the parents and the teachers.

It is important to look at the whole child when determining appropriate research based strategies that best support the instructional needs of the student in order to match the curriculum with the individual academic abilities.

Students with advanced learning needs each have different kinds of potential and different levels of performance abilities. In order to appropriately deliver and modify school curriculum for those students, it is important to collect information about both potential and current performance that is measurable and observable.

Collection of this type of information will help identify areas in which the student excels cognitively and consequently, has the greatest need for educational development. It sets the foundation and rationale for developing a relevant and effective education plan.

● ● ●

SUPPORTING
RESOURCES/TOOLS

Click on a link
● ● ●

Consider the following data sources that can provide support in the educational planning process:

Administrators: A Educators: E Families: F

A E  F
Cognitive Functioning
~ Intelligence
~ Objective Information - formal, testing
~ Problem Solving Style
~ Rate of Learning
~ Subjective Information - informal, observation

E  F
Learning Preferences
~Learning Profiles & Learning Styles
~ Learning Style Inventory

E  F
Learning Strengths
~ Group & Individual Standardized

Achievement Tests

E F
Personal Interests
~ Wide Ranging vs Narraw & Focused Surveys
~ Interest Inventory

E F
Personality Characteristics & Traits
~ Learning Strengths
~ Personality Characteristics Relevant to Learning
~ Level of Confidence
~ Need for Independence
~ Persistence
~ Sensitivity to Others
~ Perceptiveness
~ Interests and Attitudes

*Data Collection Sources: Cognitive Functioning*
Title/URL *Click on a link for more information*	Implementation/Content Description
A Quick Guide to Using the WISC-IV to Identify Gifted Children PDF	The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) is a popular choice for children ages 6 through 15 (use the adult test at 16); however, there are important scoring guidelines to observe for gifted assessment that were not included in the original test manual released in 2003. Schools and parents planning to assess children on the WISC-IV should make sure gifted programs and testers follow the guidelines.
An Inventory of Tests Hoagies Website	Commonly administered in the process of evaluating a gifted child, with various links to additional information on each test.

Common Myths About Gifted Students (ERIC Fact Sheet) Hoagies Website	The most common myths, and the facts to match! about gifted children...
Note the Difference Janice Szabos, Challenge Magazine, 1989, Issue 34	Bright Child or Gifted Learner
Testing and Assessment Power Point ©2003-2009 Carolyn Kottmeyer	What Do Tests Really Tell Us?
Use of the WISC-IV for Gifted Identification NAGC Position Statement	20 recommendations for using IQ tests in the identification of gifted students, along with research references for each recommendation.

Who Are the Gifted Using the WISC-IV? by Linda Kreger Silverman, PH.D., Barbara "Bobbie" J. Gilman, M.S. and R. Frank Falk, Ph.D.	A Full Scale IQ score that averages gifted reasoning and average processing skills fails to identify either the giftedness or the relative weaknesses.

Back to Resources/Tools

Data Collection Sources: Learning Preferences
Title/URL Click on a link for more information	Implementation/Content Description
Learning Profiles & Learning Styles ppt	Includes modalities, multiple intelligences, triarchic intelligences, expressive and communication styles, and learning preferences
Learning Styles by R. M. Felder	When mismatches exist between learning styles of most students in a class and the teaching style of the professor, the students may become bored and inattentive in class, do poorly on tests, get discouraged about the courses, the curriculum, and themselves (includes examples and comparison of various learning styles)

Back to Resources/Tools

Data Collection Sources: Learning Strengths - Group & Individual Achievement Tests

Title/URL
Click on a link for more information Implementation/Content Description

ACT® The test assesses high school students' general educational development and their ability to complete college-level work.

EXPLORE Many gifted students score in the top percentiles of traditional grade level tests. Taking a higher level test such as EXPLORE offers an opportunity to challenge these students, and the results provide additional information to help parents and schools plan appropriate educational programming.

Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)
Computer-based academic tests, commonly given in school. Testing continues while child gets questions correct, so can become out-of-level testing for gifted kids. Published by Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA)

Peabody Individual Achievement Test-Revised-Normative Update (PIAT-R/NU)

Comprehensive achievement information useful for Pre-K to 2nd grade (gifted).

Suggested for administration by school and clinical psychologists, counselors, and learning specialists.

Published by PsychCorp

PSAT/NMSQT The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) is a program cosponsored by the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). It's a standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT®. It also gives you a chance to enter NMSC scholarship programs and gain access to college and career planning tools.

SAT® The test tells students how well they use the skills and knowledge they have attained in and outside of the classroom—including how they think, solve problems, and communicate. The SAT is an important resource for colleges. It's also one of the best predictors of how well students will do in college.

Sequential Tests of Educational Progress (STEP) The STEP can provide information about a student’s ability and achievement levels relative to same-age or older peers. Either in-grade-level or above-grade-level testing can be chosen.

School and College Ability Test (SCAT) The SCAT measures specific abilities in the verbal and quantitative areas. This test provides information essential for making general decisions concerning level and pace of instruction. Because its focus is on aptitude, the SCAT should not be used in isolation to make decisions about specific educational objectives. Either in-grade-level or above-grade-level testing can be chosen.

Woodcock-Johnson III
(WJ-III), ages 2-90+

Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities

Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement
Assessment of cognitive abilities and/or achievement, for use with children and adults. The WJ-III Achievement Test is probably the most often recommended individual achievement test for gifted children, thanks to its high ceilings (past high school levels). Published by Riverside Publishing Company

Back to Resources/Tools

Data Collection Sources: Personal Interests
Title/URL Click on a link for more information	Implementation/Content Description
Career Exploration Webquest Springfield Township HS Virtual Library, PA	Seminar self-analysis to explore talents, personal preferences and maybe even discover a career never before considered.
Career-Intelligence.com	One of the many helpful tools you can find is a nice article and worksheet designed to help you list your skills. Scroll down the page to the section titled "skills". Free registration is required to access this article and the accompanying worksheet.

Explore Career Options	Advice on careers, career planning, and career management
Skills Center	Anyone can use the tools listed here, especially the Skills Profiler. The particular tool allows you to build a list of skills, then identify occupations that require your skills, and identify gaps in your skills and/or education for each occupation so you can get any necessary training to be most successful. Great for persons entering the workforce, students considering potential careers, or persons considering a jump from one occupational field or industry to another.
Value Questionnaire	This questionnaire from the University of Minnesota at Morris Career Center offers you an easy way to think about what is most important to you and what you might do to change things that you don't like. Values inventories are personal examinations of what motivates you and is important to you. These are not as well-defined tools as the Interest Inventories since they are so personal to you.

Back to Resources/Tools

Data Collection Sources: Personality Characteristics & Traits
Title/URL Click on a link for more information	Implementation/Content Description
Paragon Learning Style Inventory Dr. John Shindler at California State University, Los Angeles and Dr. Harrison Yang at State University of New York at Oswego	A self-administered survey that provides a very reliable indication of learning style and cognitive preference. It uses the four Jungian dimensions , but can be self-scored (for ages 9-adult).
A Synthesis of Research on Psychological Types of Gifted Adolescents by Ugur Sak From the Journal of Secondary Gifted Education. 2004 15(2) 70-79.	Results of studies about personality types of gifted adolescents. Gifted adolescents were higher on the Introversion, Intuition, Thinking, and Perceiving dimensions of the personality scales of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) when compared to general high school students. Also, gifted adolescents differed within the group by gender and by ability. Based on the findings, Sak discusses teaching practices for gifted students according to their personality preferences...
Personality and Cognitive Learning Styles of Academically Talented Youth ©The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland. 1999	Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY) have studied the personality and cognitive learning styles of academically talented students since 1983 and have accumulated the largest database of information in the world on this topic...
GATES - Complete Kit: Gifted and Talented Evaluation Scales Authors: James E. Gilliam, Ph.D., Betsy O. Carpenter, Ph.D., Janis R. Christensen, Ph.D.	The Gifted and Talented Evaluation Scale (GATES) offers an innovative, quick approach for identifying gifted students ages 5–18. Based on the most current federal and state definitions, the GATES satisfies the critical national need for a norm-referenced instrument that assesses the characteristics, skills, and talents of gifted students.

Back to Resources/Tools

Page Questions

Kansas Effective Practices Instructional Toolkit

Key Research Summary Points