ABSTRACT
The literature strongly advocates that using multiple criteria for identification is a desirable practice in general and is especially useful to overcome the underrepresentation of minority students in gifted and talented programs. The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT) commissioned a thorough examination of the underrepresentation of minorities in gifted and talented programs. The real need is to increase the selection pool of minority children, and this is not accomplished by the use of tests to filter out and label those who already demonstrate potential or accomplishment. A critical problem is the attractiveness of data like IQ scores or other quantitative data because they can averaged, summarized, and otherwise easily manipulated. A committee reviews all files, the pool is regularly reexamined, and parents are involved in the nominations and as classroom volunteers.
