1. Scales for Identifying Gifted Students
Teacher Survey

2. What is it?
Norm-referenced rating scale designed to assist in the identification of students as gifted.

3. SIGS Components
Technical Manual- how to administer, score, and interpret (norm) the SIGS
School Rating Scales (SRS)- assesses talent in seven areas with 12 items rated using a Likert scale
Home Rating Scales (HRS)- we won’t use this tool
Summary form- place to aggregate information from the SRS- we won’t use this tool

4. Assesses Seven Areas: General Intellectual Ability Language Arts
Mathematics
Science
Social Studies
Creativity
Leadership

5. General Intellectual Ability Characteristics
Reaches conclusions based on sound inferences
Deals with novel tasks quickly
Recognizes relevant elements of a problem
Relates new information to old information
Has an accelerated pace of thought process

6. Has advanced comprehension
Has strong desire for knowledge
Reasons rapidly
Has a wide range of general information
Is an insightful and keen observer
Is curious
Asks many high level questions
Is an effective problem solver and finder
Has an excellent retentive memory
Is willing to explore intellectually

7. Language Arts Characteristics
Has advanced vocabulary
Writes using sophisticated syntax
Exhibits playfulness with language
Reads critically
Discusses literature at an interpretive level
Uses mature themes and vocabulary in writing

8. Communicates effectively with a wide variety of audiences for different purposes
Reads often
Reads advanced level books
Has an enhanced capacity to engage in inquiry
Enjoys discussing reading
* The SIGS items can be rated in terms of spoken or written language.

9. Mathematics Characteristics
Uses variety of strategies to find solutions to mathematical problems
Makes good conjectures (discovery oriented)
Uses effective mathematical communication
Exhibits persistence in finding a solution to problems

10. Generalizes ideas and principles from one mathematical situation to another
Sees mathematical patterns and relationships
Acquires formal operations earlier than age peers
Solves problems in diverse ways
Has strong intuition concerning mathematics (perceptive, sees relationships)

11. Science Characteristics
Enjoys experimenting
Pursues inquiries beyond allotted time span
Engages in independent science or laboratory work
Has excellent deductive reasoning skills
Pays careful attention to detail
Generates potential research questions or hypotheses

12. Carries out inquiry from beginning to end result
Pursues experimental work
Has good organizational skills for inquiry
Relates scientific events or findings to one another
Understands cause and effect relationships

13. Social Studies Characteristics
Has understanding and acceptance of world cultures
Uses advanced levels of moral and ethical judgment
Exhibits keen interest in developing solutions to social and environmental problems
Makes connections from past to present or from one culture to another

14. Attempts to understand other points of view
Uses sound methods to conduct historical investigations (ex: uses trustworthy sources)
Reads extensively about social studies topics
Shows passion for a particular period of history

15. Creativity Characteristics
Is open to new experiences
Is passionate about own work
Generates original ideas and solutions
Takes risks
Is attracted to complexity
Is aware of own creativity
Is energetic
Seeks solitude for reverie

16. Likes to improvise
Is persistent
Is tolerant of ambiguity
Exhibits talent in art, poetry, creative writing, handicrafts, music, dancing, computer programming, or science
Does not conform to societal stereotypes
Is excellent problem finder

17. Leadership Characteristics
Influences others
Plans change
Is highly sensitive
Promotes harmony among others
Is effective decision maker
Is self-sufficient
Shows empathy
Has high level of social sensitivity

18. Is goal oriented
Is skilled in team building and working collaboratively
Self-regulates
Inspires others to do their best
Is emotionally mature
Holds high ideals

19. Administration, Scoring, and Interpreting Guidelines
Only first 5 areas will be completed
If courses are departmentalized, make a copy and give one to each area teacher for independent completion
All copies returned to you for compilation
Each section should take minutes to complete

20. Who completes the non-specific core areas?
A teacher who has had the most opportunity to observe the characteristics in the areas of General Intellectual Ability, Creativity, and Leadership should be the first considered to complete these sections.
For example, a teacher who uses instructional strategies that require students to think critically might be the best choice to rate the student in GIA.

21. Kindergarten Only
Kindergarten teachers will complete the General Intellectual Ability, Language Arts, Math, Creativity, and Leadership sections only.

22. A teacher who has had the opportunity to observe the student in a leadership role, such as a sponsor for a club to which the student belongs, might be a good choice to rate the student in the area of Leadership.
Have teacher check which area he/she is rating.
Use your best judgment, talk to your teachers about the students, and get the best insight into our nominees!

23. Directions to Teachers
Check the area being evaluated
Read each item carefully
Rate the student in each item by comparing the student to OTHER AGE PEERS and circling the appropriate frequency of occurrence on the Likert scale

24. Ask teacher to add up each column and place total in appropriate box and total all columns and record to the left
If there are six or more items marked with a “4” the teacher must provide example(s) of the student’s behavior

26. It all comes back to you…
Once you have received the form(s) for a nominated student, complete a “Master” Form (green copy) for each student
Transfer Raw Scores from each teacher’s scale to the “master”

27. Norming We will be using General Norms (not Gifted Norms)
Locate the appropriate age table- either
Ages 5-13 (Table A.1) or
Ages (Table A.2)
Locate the Raw Score for each area in the left hand column

28. Norming (con’t)
Go across to locate the appropriate Scale Standard Score for EACH area and record on the Summary Form
Go to the Converting Standard Scores to Percentile Ranks for the General Norm Sample (Table B.1)
Locate Standard Score for EACH area in left hand column

29. Norming (con’t)
Go across to locate the appropriate Percentile Rank for each area and record on Master Form

30. Let’s do one together….
Jacob, age 10, has a raw score of 41 in the GIA area.
Using Table A.1, Jacob’s GIA Standard Score would be 125.
Using Table B.1, Jacob’s GIA Percentile Rank would be 95.
Now find his Standard Score and Percentile Rank for Mathematics

32. Interpretation Guidelines When General Norm Sample is Used
> 130
Very Likely
Likely
Somewhat Likely
90-109
Average
80-89
Somewhat Unlikely
70-79
Not Likely
< 70
Very Unlikely

33. How to record on the matrix
Place all percentile ranks in the appropriate spaces
Identify the highest percentile
Assign the appropriate point value