RELATIVE EFFICACY OF THE LEITER INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE SCALE AND THE WECHSLER PRESCHOOL AND PRIMARY SCALE OF INTELLIGENCE IN DETERMINING GIFTEDNESS IN BLACK CHILDREN AND WHITE CHILDREN

Purpose. This dissertation was designed to study the relative efficacy of the 1948 standardization of the Leiter International Performance Scale, the 1975 standardization of the Leiter International Performance Scale, and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence for placing children in the gifted range of intellectual functioning. In addition, this dissertation addressed the relationship of a preschool screening instrument, the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning with the 1948 standardization of the Leiter International Performance Scale, the 1975 standardization of the Leiter International Performance Scale, and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Results. The results indicated that there was a significant difference in the number of white children and black children placed into gifted classes, based upon the WPPSI and LIPS. Inspite of the fact that both white children and black children scored both higher and lower on the LIPS than the WPPSI statistically, based upon observed and predicted frequencies, the WPPSI did favor the white children in terms of gifted placement. There was no significant difference between the number of white children and black children placed in gifted classes based upon the LIPS. Discriminant root analysis corroborated these findings by statistically indicating the discriminant roots inherent in the WPPSI for the black children in this study. These discriminant roots were the following six subtests: Information; Vocabulary; Arithmetic; Comprehension; Mazes and Block Design. In addition, a multiple regression analysis corroborated that the 1948 LIPS is statistically nondiscriminatory by revealing that race was not a significant predictor of the 1948 LIPS IQ score.