Language-reduced (nonverbal) ability tests are the primary talent identification tools for ELL children. The appropriate use of such tests with low-SES and minority children is more nuanced. Whenever language-reduced tests are used for talent identification, nonverbal tests that measure more than figural reasoning abilities should be employed. For…

Effective talent-identification procedures minimize the proportion of students whose subsequent performance indicates that they were mistakenly included in or excluded from the program. Classification errors occur when students who were predicted to excel subsequently do not excel or when students who were not predicted to excel do. Using a…

In this study, the authors compare the validity of three nonverbal tests for the purpose of identifying academically gifted English-language learners (ELLs). Participants were 1,198 elementary children (approximately 40% ELLs). All were administered the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (Raven), the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT), and…

The first goal of this article is to discuss the role of nonverbal ability tests in the identification of academically gifted children. I note that most nonverbal tests measure verbally mediated cognitive processes, that they are neither "culture flee" nor "culture fair," and that we have known these facts for a very long time. I show that…

In a recent article in this journal, Naglieri and Ford (2003) claimed that Black and Hispanic students are as likely to earn high scores on the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT; Naglieri, 1997a) as White students. However, the sample that Naglieri and Ford used was not representative of the U.S. school population as a whole and was quite…