Access Type

Open Access Dissertation

Date of Award

January 2016

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Special Education

First Advisor

Marshall F. Zumberg

Abstract

A great debate has been occurring in the field of gifted education regarding the validity of the identification procedures. Many scholars have called to change the current criteria that has been used to identify gifted students based on their intellectual abilities. The new trend in the field is calling to adopt comprehensive evaluation procedures that start with screening all students especially at an early age.

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of using a Jordanian Arabic version of the Cognitive Abilities Screening Test (CogAT) Form Seven in identifying gifted and talented children between the ages of five and eight years. This study has three main Procedures: a) the translation of the CogAT test, b) the quantitative producer, which includes the reliability and validity indictors’ extraction, and c) the qualitative producer, which includes the focus group interview to examine the effectiveness of using the Arabic version of CogAT in indentifying gifted students in Jordan.

A sample of 280 students was randomly chosen from public and private elementary schools and kindergartens in the city of Amman, the capital city of Jordan, and used teachers' nomination for gifted students. Moreover, six teachers were also randomly chosen to conduct a focus group interview. Those teachers participated in either reviewing the test, administering the test, or nominating gifted children. Teachers attended a focus group discussion, and they were asked to discuss four open-end questions.

The results indicated significant and high reliability correlations for the total score of the two-time administration (r = .927) and highly significant internal consistency reliability correlations where Alpha coefficients were .941 for the subtest scores and .962 for the total score and split-half reliability was .904 for the subtest scores and .927 for the total score. Furthermore, the content validity results demonstrated unanimous agreement among reviewers (6 experts and 10 teachers) about the translation match of the original test, suitability to Jordanian culture, and extracting and interpreting the results. One the other hand, the criterion validity results showed that there were no significant correlations (r = .434) between the Arabic version of CogAT Screening Test results and teachers' nomination of gifted students.

Finally, the focus group discussion results indicated strong agreement by teachers of the effectiveness of using the Arabic Jordanian version of CogAT Screening Test. Specifically, teachers expressed their satisfaction about the test items and guidelines. Moreover, they unanimously agreed that the test is appropriate to use in Jordan. Also, many positive comments and feedback were provided by teachers about the ability of this test in identifying young gifted children.

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