Mary M. Frasier
Scott L. Hunsaker
Jongyeun Lee
Sandra Mitchell
Bonnie Cramond
Sally Krisel
Jaime H. García
Darlene Martin
Elaine Frank
Vernon S. Finley

This paper reviews literature characterizing gifted students from minority and/or economically disadvantaged families and areas and presents a proposal for focusing on the core attributes that underlie the giftedness construct as a more viable way to facilitate their identification and education.

A qualitative content analysis method was used to analyze phrases and sentences in literature on the gifted to determine common features that characterize gifted children from the target population and the gifted population in general. The results of this analysis became the basis for the proposal to use core attributes of giftedness to design more viable procedures of identifying giftedness in target population student groups. Ten core attributes of the giftedness construct were identified: communication skills, creativity/imagination, humor, inquiry, insight, interests, memory, motivation, problem-solving, and reasoning. The paper concludes with implications for using these core attributes to facilitate teachers’ recognition of gifted target population students and to guide the selection and development of assessment measures in identification.

Reference:

Core Attributes of Giftedness: A Foundation for Recognizing the Gifted Potential of Economically Disadvantaged Students
Mary M. Frasier
Scott L. Hunsaker
Jongyeun Lee
Sandra Mitchell
Bonnie Cramond
Sally Krisel
Jaime H. García
Darlene Martin
Elaine Frank
Vernon S. Finley
 

Guidelines

1. A variety of techniques should be used to identify economically disadvantaged gifted students (checklists, rating scales, interviews).
2. Identification of economically disadvantaged gifted students should be based on a list of core attributes that capture the essence of giftedness (communication skills, humor, imagination/creativity, inquiry, insight, interest, memory, motivation, problem-solving, and reasoning). The attributes apply to students in any social class or economic position.
3. Core attributes used to identify economically disadvantaged gifted students should not focus on intellectual abilities alone. Emphasis needs to be given to personality and motivation factors as well.
4. Gifted students from minority populations should not be considered one group to which appropriate identification procedures apply. Each individual has his/her own characteristic strengths which need to be identified and serviced.