Invisible Bias in Nominating and Selecting Gifted Students

Abstract

One objective of gifted education is to provide fair opportunities for all children, including access to the nomination and selection procedures for gifted programs and services. This study aims to identify invisible biases in the nomination of gifted students in the National Gifted Identification Project (Mawhiba Test) during the periods of 2014, 2015, and 2017. The participants were limited to students nominated in Al Ahsa, in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, which includes students from rural, urban, and settlement schools. There was a total sample of 74,199 male students and 74,097 female students. The study followed the descriptive approach, and the Chi-square test was used to measure whether the location variable (i.e., the school’s location) was independent of the number of candidates. The results showed a significant correlation between the location and the number of male and female candidates. Additionally, the results indicated a significant decrease in the percentage of male and female students in settlement schools, which requires the relevant authorities to reconsider the procedures followed in nomination and selection, especially in remote areas and settlements. KEYWORDS Gifted students, disadvantaged students, rural, urban, settlement schools, Mawhiba Test, underrepresentation