Gifted Identification Inventory for Teacher Awareness: Development, Validation, and Measurement Invariance

The purpose of this study is to develop a self-awareness tool for teachers to help them in identification, and support the gifted and talented students in educational settings via more accurate nominations by educators. The Gifted Identification Inventory for Teacher Awareness (GIIFTA) was developed via fourth stages of writing essay (n = 5), Delphi method (n = 10), the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (n = 273), and the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (as a different group from EFA, n = 286). The construct of GIIFTA consists of 22 items in three dimensions with a 5-point Likert scale. The three dimensions of the inventory are: Noticing the Gifted Students, Distinguishing Cognitive Traits, and Distinguishing Emotional Social Traits. The fit index values of the CFA analysis were calculated (chi 2/SD = 2.65; GFI = 0.86; CFI = 0.92; IFI = 0.86; NFI = 0.88; NNFI = 0.91; SRMR = 0.05 and RMSEA = 0.07). In addition, convergent and divergent validity were also examined and found to be within acceptable limits. The measurement invariance of the emerging dimensions was also examined in terms of gender variable and it was found that the structure did not change. The item-total correlation values of the items in the measurement tool ranged from 0.51 to 077. Its structure does not change by gender. The reliability coefficients for the entire scale were calculated to range from 0.88 to 0.95. These results indicate that GIIFTA has good psychometric properties to assess teachers' awareness of gifted students in their classrooms.