Identification of gifted children in the United States: The need for pluralistic assessment

The last major wave of concern about education for the gifted occurred during the post‐Sputnik era. During that time, practices perceived to be elitist contributed to the unpopularity of many gifted programs. More recent research, conducted for the National Report on Identification, Assessment and Recommendations for Comprehensive Identification of Gifted and Talented Youth, (1982) revealed a distressing gap between research and its application to equitable identification. Recommendations generated from the Report, prepared /or the U.S. Department of Education, are reported in this article.