The Role of Norms in Gifted Identification

By utilizing both local and national norms, we compare students to their peers at the same age or grade level on a broader scale. These norms are essential for providing a clear measure of a student's abilities, playing a crucial role in identifying gifted individuals and supporting their educational journey.

A national norm is established using a large sample of students who match the country’s demographics, including age, gender, race, ethnicity, region, and socioeconomic status. These norms are used and research demonstrates their effectiveness in schools that reflect national diversity. 

Use national norms when...

• Your district represents the national demographic. 
• You successfully identify the top percent of the students in your school who need specialized services. 
• You are testing students using a universal testing program. 
• Or, a student is new to the school or district and was unable to be tested with their grade peers as part of a local norm sample.

Local norms calibrate a student’s performance to their fellow students within the same building or district. This method ensures scores are derived from a comparison group closely aligned with the local community's demographics. It's proven effective in identifying underrepresented students in gifted education. 

Use local norms...

• In school settings that are not representative of the US population
• When universal testing of all students in a particular grade level in the district is conducted
• When norming by the school building, (i.e. all students in a school or particular grade level) is desired.
• When norming by a specific group  (i.e. students are from a specific demographic) is desired.