Avery, L.D., Van Tassel-Baska, J. (1997) Making evaluation work: One school district's experience. Gifted Child Quarterly, 41 (4), 124-132.

'Given the paucity of evaluation studies of gifted programs in the literature, this article shares the experiences of the Greenwich Public Schools in sponsoring an external evaluation of their K-8 program for gifted and talented youngsters. The article explains the methodology used in the evaluation, discusses findings and recommendations, and describes how the results were translated into program improvement efforts. Also addressed are the evaluators' observations about lessons learned in the process of the evaluation; these lessons reflect on the utility of information gathered.' (p.124)

 

Burke, K. (Ed.) (1993) Authentic Assessment: A Collection. Melbourne: Hawker Brownlow Education. (371.260973/A939)

Includes a chapter by Mara Krechevsky on 'Project Spectrum: An innovative assessment alternative' (relating to Gardner's multiple intelligences), and sections on 'Alternatives to testing', 'Journals and portfolios', and 'Significant outcomes', including Arthur Costa on 'Thinking: How do we know students are getting better at it?'

 

Ganapole, S.J. (1989) Designing an integrated curriculum for gifted learners: An organizational framework. Roeper Review, 12 (2), 81-86.

"Contemporary theory and research on learning and language development suggest profound changes in educational practice in general and in the language arts curriculum in particular. This article describes the nature of the changes and their implications for gifted learners, and provides an organizational framework, along with specific examples, to assist teachers in implementing some of the key ideas into classroom practice." (p. 81)

 

Grant, J. (1985) Organising the regular classroom to meet the needs of the gifted child. The Primary Journal, 1, 7-11.

"In essence ... it is important that teachers consider the level of content, the level of questions or tasks, the kinds of themes which appear, the degree of flexibility, and the degree that divergent thinking is encouraged, when selecting curriculum materials for the gifted child." (p.11)

 

Hertzog, N.B. & Fowler, S.A. (1999) Perspectives: Evaluating an early childhood gifted education program. Roeper Review, 21 (3), 222-227.

'The authors address the issues faced when evaluating an early childhood gifted education program from two fields of study representing different perspectives: early childhood and gifted education. This article describes the evaluation process as well as the resulting impact of the evaluation on the constituents and stakeholders of Oakwood Laboratory School. The questions raised from the evaluation process lead to a critical examination of what is meant by best practices in both fields. In addition, the process of evaluation may serve as a prototype for other programs which serve similar populations of students.' (p.222)

 

Hickey, M.G. (1990) Classroom teachers' concerns and recommendations for improvement of gifted programs. Roeper Review, 12 (4), 265-267.

"Twenty-seven members of a graduate class in elementary school administration, all practising classroom teachers, identified major problems associated with gifted programs. These concerns dealt with instructional programs, disrupted routines, lack of communication or collaboration, and the students' social or emotional development. Recommendations for improvement fell into the same four categories." (p. 265)

 

Kingore, B. (1995) Portfolios for young children. Understanding Our Gifted, 7 (3), 1, 10-13.

Discusses the purposes portfolios serve, child-centred organisation and management of portfolios, and what products to select for inclusion in them. Portfolios can "serve as a transitional tool in the passing from one year to the next. At the end of one year, a few products may be selected from each portfolio to be passed on to next year's teacher." (p.10)

 

Maker, C.J. (1994) Authentic assessment of problem solving and giftedness in secondary school students. Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 6 (1), 19-29.

"The author establishes a conceptual framework by defining key terms (problem, solving, authentic, assessment, gifted) and presents criteria for evaluating assessment. Using a continuum of problem types and the described criteria, assessment procedures have been developed by the author and her colleagues. These are discussed as examples of the assessments others can design and implement to achieve more authentic, true-to-life assessments of problem solving inmsecondary school students." (p.19)

 

Schack, G.D. (1994) Authentic assessment procedures for secondary students' original research. Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 6 (1), 38-43.

"This article briefly describes original research and authentic assessment, then outlines methods for developing rubrics, which are one way to provide a more authentic approach to assessment. It presents a rubric for assessing secondary students' original research, along with benchmarks showing examples of work for each criterion at each level of accomplishment. Finally, it discusses the use of rubrics with students and offers several methods for translating rubric assessment into grades." (p.38)

©TalentEd is located at the School of Education, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.

This page updated: 23 January 2006 Webmaker: Howard Smith. hsmith4@une.edu.au