Making Decisions About Placement

Schools may also choose to develop a three-phase process: nomination, screening/identification, and selection/placement. At each of these phases, decisions might be made to determine which children progress to the next phase of assessment or placement. It is important in a three-phase process that multiple assessments are used at each phase to avoid weighting a single source or instrument. School districts may want to consider placing ads in local newspapers and sending flyers home in multiple languages that advertise the program and describe the identification process to parents. The placement of students in special education programs or with certain teachers who may or may not believe in gifted education should not preclude their inclusion in the nomination group. If each assessment has equal reliability and validity for identifying gifted and talented students, then each should have equal value in the decision-making process.