Comparison of traditional and problem solving assessment criteria

Identifying students who are gifted has been grounded traditionally in crit eria emphasizing unitary measures of intellectual ability, which has caused great concern for educators interested in identifying academic talent and potential in culturally and linguistically diverse students. Recently, mult iple intelligences (MI) theory has been examined as an alternative perspect ive with promise for addressing concerns evident in groups identified using traditional methods. To date, research on the effectiveness of assessment practices grounded in MI theory has been sparse. The purpose of this resear ch was to describe the performance of elementary school children on an alte rnative screening measure designed for use in identifying students who are gifted. The Problem Solving Assessment procedure represented an application of MI theory, and decisions made using it were compared to those that woul d be made using a more traditional, unitary approach to identification. Pos itive relations were evident among scores for different types of intelligen ces and between them and the traditional measure. More importantly, differe nt groups of students were identified using each approach, with a more dive rse population generated with the Problem Solving Assessment procedure. The results are discussed with regard to ongoing practices and future directio ns in gifted education.