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The research in this article is based on the author's Ph.D. dissertation. The findings from this investigation were presented in a paper session at the May 2002 convention of the Canadian Psychological Association in Vancouver, Canada. The author wishes to acknowledge The Psychological Corporation for supplying the WISC-III Canadian standardization data that was used for the analysis sample and the Calgary Board of Education for providing the archival WISC-III data that was used for the cross validation sample.
Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Betty A. Reiter, Ph.D., Psychologist, Calgary Board of Education, Parkdale Centre 728 - 32 Street NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 2V9. E-mail: [email protected]
This investigation explored the accuracy of six short forms of the WISC-III in estimating the Full Scale IQ of potentially gifted elementary students in Canada. Data from the WISC-III Canadian standardization study served as the analysis sample (n = 192), while WISC-III archival data obtained from a large urban school division in Western Canada was used for the cross validation sample (n = 1,058). When psychometric soundness and clinical utility were considered together with discriminating power, the Dumont-Faro short form (Information, Vocabulary, Picture Completion, Coding, Block Design) emerged as being the best short form for screening potentially gifted elementary students. The use of this short form would save time and resources without sacrificing accuracy. Recommendations for the practical application of the Dumont-Faro short form in school psychology practice are provided.
Potentially gifted students are often referred to school psychologists to determine whether they are eligible to participate in educational programming for gifted learners (Gallagher, 1996; Piirto, 1999). Individually administered intelligence tests are the most reliable and valid tools available for identifying gifted students (Assouline, 1997; Feldhusen, 1998; Pyryt, 1996; Sparrow & Gurland, 1998). Moreover, these instruments are renowned for representing an objective and well-standardized means of assigning a quantitative value to a student's present abilities and future academic achievement (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997; Harrison, 1997; Reschly, 1997).
The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition (WISC-III; Wechsler, 1991) is the most widely used intelligence test employed by school psychologists in North America (Prifitera, Weiss, & Saklofske, 1998; Reschly, 1997). Furthermore, it is currently the test of choice for identifying potentially gifted students (Sevier, Bain, &...