ABSTRACT
Identification of gifted students remains one of the most controversial aspects of gifted programming. This chapter provides a non-technical discussion of the uses and misuses of matrices and to offer guidance on appropriate practices that can be applied in a school setting. Issues that arise not only with the use of matrices but in the process of identification in general are the potential biases that exist in rating scales or checklists completed by teachers and/or parents and the lack of high-quality norms with standardized assessments. The intentions of those who adopt matrices for identifying gifted students is to reflect multiple measures of student performance and potential in order to obtain a comprehensive set of quantitative and qualitative information regarding a candidate for gifted services. Accurate and valid information about that student's status and needs should be derived from a variety of assessments and procedures.
