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History And Development Of Above-Level Testing Of The Gifted, Russell Warne

Russell T Warne

Above-level testing (also called out-of-level testing, off-grade testing, and off-level testing) is the practice of administering a test level that was designed for and normed on an older population to a gifted child. This comprehensive literature review traces the practice of above-level testing from the earliest days of gifted education through the present. It was found that there were five reasons frequently given for above-level testing: raising the test ceiling, increasing score variability and discrimination, improving reliability, the sound interpretations of above-level test data, and reducing regression toward the mean. Although all of these reasons were theoretically supported, the strength …