Pearson Announces New Edition of Nonverbal Assessment at 2015 National Association for Gifted Children Conference
Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) November 12, 2015 -- Today at the 2015 National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Conference, Pearson announced the next generation of the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT), the widely used measure to identify gifted and talented K-4 students. The NNAT3 features new content, updated normative data, and a new and user-friendly online interface that is optimized for administering the assessment with a tablet.
Used by gifted and talented educators, testing coordinators, special education teachers, school psychologists and bilingual educators, the NNAT is a nationally normed, reliable nonverbal test, that provided a consistent way to screen all students without language or culture being a barrier. This provides a nonverbal, culturally neutral assessment of general ability that is ideal for use with diverse student populations.
According to NAGC, academically gifted and talented students in this country make up approximately six to 10 percent of the total population—three to five million students.
A major challenge facing many school districts is finding an equitable way to identify gifted and talented students. When career educator, Debbie Roby became the supervisor of gifted education at Lewisville Independent School District (LISD) in Flower Mound, Texas, she discovered that out of the district’s diverse population of more than 50,000 students, speaking approximately 75 different languages and dialects, there were “zero” formally identified bilingual students in the gifted and talented program.
“Traditional assessment tools were being used without simultaneous conversations regarding the language and cultural biases present within those assessments and how student performance was affected,” said Roby. “Finding ways to equitably identify gifted and talented students became a passion for me and a group of my colleagues. The NNAT allows us to identify those with gifted and talented potential and provide educational services for students who previously may have flown under the radar.”
After using the NNAT for five years in a universal screening process for kindergarten, third- and sixth-graders, campuses across LISD now have gifted and talented populations that better represent their individual demographic diversity, and many more culturally and linguistically diverse students are receiving formal gifted and talented services.
“Educators around the country, like Debbie, trust the NNAT as a tool for ensuring the equitable identification of students for gifted and talented educational services,” said Alistair Van Moere, Ph.D., head of Pearson’s assessment product solutions. “Now with the third edition, they will be able to leverage the power of the tablet environment when administering this assessment, making it easier to score and creating a more engaging experience for students.”
NNAT author, Jack A. Naglieri, Ph.D., is a research professor at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, senior research scientist at the Devereux Center for Resilient Children and emeritus professor of psychology at George Mason University. He is the author of more than 300 publications, focusing most recently on cognitive assessment, cognitive intervention, specific learning disability determination and measurement of psychopathology and resilience.
For more information, visit http://www.PearsonAssessments.com/NNAT3.
About Pearson
Pearson is the world’s leading learning company, with 40,000 employees in more than 80 countries working to help people of all ages to make measurable progress in their lives through learning. For more information about Pearson, visit http://www.pearson.com.
Media Contact: Scott Overland, scott.overland(at)pearson(dot)com, 202-909-4528
Scott Overland, Pearson, http://www.pearson.com, +1 (800) 745-8489, [email protected]
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