Exploring self‐concept and locus of control of students in two recognized approaches to elementary school gifted education

An examination was made to determine whether self‐concept and locus of control were potential nontraditional measures for the identification of gifted students. Three groups of subjects were selected, two groups representing two professionally recognized gifted education approaches and the third serving as a control group. No significant differences were found across the three groups with respect to self‐concept. In terms of locus of control, significant differences were found across the three groups. The data also presented no evidence that self‐concept is sufficiently sensitive for identifying gifted students, whereas locus of control might be utilized as a method for identifying gifted youngsters because of its discriminating potential.