Matthew T. McBee

Modeling Outcomes With Floor or Ceiling Effects: An Introduction to the Tobit Model

In gifted education research, it is common for outcome variables to exhibit strong floor or ceiling effects due to insufficient range of measurement of many instruments when used with gifted populations. Common statistical methods (e.g., analysis of variance, linear regression) produce biased estimates when such effects are present. In practice, it is frequent for researchers to ignore ceiling effects and proceed with traditional analysis. However, the problems caused by ceiling effects are not without possible solutions. This Methodological Brief describes a variation of multiple regression, called the Tobit model, which is capable of correct inference when floor or ceiling effects are present. A brief simulation study illustrates the performance of the Tobit model with a dataset exhibiting a ceiling effect.

The Impact of an Undergraduate Honors Program on Gifted University Students

Through a qualitative research design, this study examined the experiences of seven gifted university students in an undergraduate honors program. The findings indicated the students as adolescents experienced a sense of isolation resulting from the differences between their abilities, interests, life goals, religious value systems, and the communities in which they lived. At the university, the participants discovered within the honors program an intellectual and social network with other gifted individuals like them. Together they recognized their strong desire for self-actualization. In advanced-level courses, they found intellectual stimulation and academic challenge. Through several components of the honors program they developed significant psychosocial growth. Throughout their experiences, the honors program director became a mentor and played an important role in facilitating experiences designed to address the diverse needs of these gifted young adults. Implications of the findings are presented along with suggestions for designing appropriate honors program experiences for gifted university students.

Examining the Probability of Identification for Gifted Programs for Students in Georgia Elementary Schools: A Multilevel Path Analysis Study

This study focused on the analysis of a large-scale data set (N = 326,352) collected by the Georgia Department of Education using multilevel path analysis to model the probability that a student would be identified for participation in a gifted program. The model examined individual- and school-level factors that influence the probability that an individual would be identified. The probability of being identified as gifted depended strongly on student race and socioeconomic status and varied strongly across schools. Putting the Research to Use This study provides a comprehensive examination of racial and socioeconomic disparities in gifted program participation in one state mandating gifted education and an identification scheme designed to increase participation among traditionally underrepresented groups of students. In spite of these policies, identification rates still varied widely across race and socioeconomic status. The study found that race still exerted strong effects on the probability of identification even after socioeconomic status was controlled. Furthermore, the study found that schools varied widely in the gifted identification rate even when some student characteristics were controlled. This study suggests that much work remains to be done in terms of ensuring that all students, regardless of background, have access to advanced educational programs.

Combining Scores in Multiple-Criteria Assessment Systems: The Impact of Combination Rule

Best practice in gifted and talented identification procedures involves making decisions on the basis of multiple measures. However, very little research has investigated the impact of different methods of combining multiple measures. This article examines the consequences of the conjunctive (“and”), disjunctive/complementary (“or”), and compensatory (“mean”) models for combining scores from multiple assessments. It considers the impact of rule choice on the size of the student population, the ability heterogeneity of the identified students, and the psychometric performance of such systems. It also uses statistical simulation to examine the performance of the state of Georgia’s mandated and complex multiple-criteria assessment system.

How Are Child Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors Associated with Caregiver Stress over Time? A Parallel Process Multilevel Growth Model.

The impact of raising a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is frequently accompanied by elevated caregiver stress. Examining the variables that predict these elevated rates will help us understand how caregiver stress is impacted by and impacts child behaviors. This study explored how restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) contributed concurrently and longitudinally to caregiver stress in a large sample of preschoolers with ASD using parallel process multilevel growth models. Results indicated that initial rates of and change in RRBs predicted fluctuations in caregiver stress over time. When caregivers reported increased child RRBs, this was mirrored by increases in caregiver stress. Our data support the importance of targeted treatments for RRBs as change in this domain may lead to improvements in caregiver wellbeing.

Effects of Schoolwide Cluster Grouping and within-Class Ability Grouping on Elementary School Students' Academic Achievement Growth.

We evaluated the effects of one year of schoolwide cluster grouping on the academic achievement growth of gifted and non-identified elementary students using a piecewise multilevel growth model. Scores from 186 non-identified and 68 gifted students’ Measures of Academic Progress Reading and Math scores were examined over three school years. In 2008–2009 within-class ability grouping was used. In 2009–2010 schoolwide cluster grouping was implemented. In 2010–2011 students once again were grouped only within classrooms by ability and students identified as gifted were spread across all classrooms at each grade level. Results suggest that schoolwide cluster grouping influenced student performance in the year following its implementation, but only for mathematics and not the area of reading.

The Impact of the Nomination Stage on Gifted Program Identification A Comprehensive Psychometric Analysis

The use of the nomination stage as the first step in the identification process is pervasive across the field of gifted education. In many cases, nominations are used to limit the number of students who will need to be evaluated using costly and time-consuming assessments for the purpose of gifted program identification and placement. This study evaluated the effect of the nomination stage on the overall efficacy of a gifted identification system. Results showed that in nearly all conditions, identification systems that require a nomination before testing result in a large proportion of gifted students being missed. Under commonly implemented conditions, the nomination stage can cause the false negative rate to easily exceed 60%. Changes to identification practices are urgently needed in order to ensure that larger numbers of gifted students receive appropriate educational placement and to maintain the integrity of gifted education services.

Policy Matters An Analysis of District-Level Efforts to Increase the Identification of Underrepresented Learners

Policies delegating control of educational policy to the local level are widespread, yet there has been little examination of the effects of such distributed decision making in the area of advanced education programming. We used propensity score matching to examine the effectiveness of locally developed policies for identifying intellectually gifted children identifying themselves as Black or from low-socioeconomic backgrounds across one large U.S. state (Florida) that has a state-level gifted education mandate. Ongoing underrepresentation of traditionally marginalized groups in gifted education was evident, even among districts with policies specifically designed to ameliorate disproportional representation. However, the presence of such a policy reduced the degree of underrepresentation.

Exploring the motivational trajectories of gifted university students

Through qualitative interviews, the authors examined the experiences of six gifted high‐achieving university students to understand the factors that allowed the students to continue on their paths to success. The participants in this study revealed a number of issues that were central to their motivation upon arriving at the university. These issues included independence from family, fitting into a social network, the desire to overcome challenges in their lives, internal will, and a need to earn recognition. Our findings should help direct the development of special programs by university educators who are dedicated to meeting the needs of gifted college students.

The Effects of Working Memory on Brain-Computer Interface Performance

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the relationship between working memory and BCI performance. METHODS Participants took part in two separate sessions. The first session consisted of three computerized tasks. The List Sorting Working Memory Task was used to measure working memory, the Picture Vocabulary Test was used to measure general intelligence, and the Dimensional Change Card Sort Test was used to measure executive function, specifically cognitive flexibility. The second session consisted of a P300-based BCI copy-spelling task. RESULTS The results indicate that both working memory and general intelligence are significant predictors of BCI performance. CONCLUSIONS This suggests that working memory training could be used to improve performance on a BCI task. SIGNIFICANCE Working memory training may help to reduce a portion of the individual differences that exist in BCI performance allowing for a wider range of users to successfully operate the BCI system as well as increase the BCI performance of current users.