Who is Gifted? The Stability of Scores on the DISCOVER Assessment and the Raven’s Progressive Matrices in Diné Gifted Children

• Main Authors: Abdulnasser A. Alhusaini, C. June Maker
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Turkish Journal of Giftedness and Education 2018-12-01
• Series: Turkish Journal of Giftedness and Education
• Subjects: discover; rpm; identifying gifted students; diné children
• Online Access: http://talentjournal.net/publications/cilt8/2/tuzed_2018_8_2_alhusaini%20&%20maker.pdf

The purpose of this study was to investigate the stability of the Discovering Intellectual Strengths and Capabilities through Observation while allowing for Varied Ethic Responses (DISCOVER) assessment, when used across time, to identify 74 Diné gifted children, and the Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM), when used across time, to identify 52 Diné gifted children. Students were tested when they were in the second, third, and fourth grades. An analysis of the data using three methods (viz., calculating the change differences on each student’s scores, obtaining correlation coefficients, and applying a linear single regression analysis across the three testing periods) provides evidence of the stability of three of the five DISCOVER activities—Spatial Analytical, Spatial Artistic, and Oral Linguistic, as well as the overall score. The overall DISCOVER score provides greater evidence of stability than do students’ scores from the RPM, which varied from year to year. Based on the results of this study, the authors concluded that the DISCOVER assessment is a culturally fair instrument, and is more appropriate when used to identify Diné gifted children than traditional tests. Future researchers may consider conducting a long and large-scale longitudinal investigation into the same research problem, as well as designing a mixed-method study to investigate how Diné children understand the RPM problems to highlight any potential cultural components.