Coolabah Dynamic Assessment: Achieving the Visibility of Very High Learning Potential

The on-going use of the Coolabah Dynamic Assessment (CDA; Chaffey, 2002) protocol to identify students with high learning potential is explored, with a particular emphasis on students from communities that are often underrepresented in opportunities for high potential and gifted learners (i.e., students from culturally, linguistically and religiously diverse communities and/or communities experiencing low socio educational advantage). Recent data from the CDA are discussed and compared to earlier published results, to demonstrate the efficacy of the CDA to achieve post-test outcomes that more closely represent students’ underlying learning potential. Practices that form the basis of the CDA intervention, both cognitive and psycho-social, are analysed to identify those critical for optimising the posttest outcomes of students who underachieved on the pre-test component of the CDA. These findings have implications not only for identifying high potential students from diverse communities and enabling fairer access to programs for high potential and gifted students, but also for identifying and responding to underachievement in the classroom.