Identifying Hispanic gifted children using the Screening Assessment for Gifted Elementary Students

We examined the utility of the Screening Assessment for Gifted Elementary Students (SAGES) for identifying Hispanic gifted students among 162 third through fifth graders, of whom 75% were Anglo-American and 25% Hispanic. Direct discriminant analysis of subscale scores of the SAGES classified 93.2% of the sample as Anglo-American, including 35 of the 41 Hispanic children. This indicated that the subscale scores did not predict group membership. A validation procedure yielded similar results on an independent sample of 25 Anglo-American and 14 Hispanic children. Also, a multivariate profile analysis indicated small score differences between the two groups and reflected similar cognitive processes being assessed. The screening device appears to function fairly within both ethnic groups.