HOPE Scale
Overview
The HOPE Scale is an instrument, created at Purdue University, designed to aid in the identification of gifted students. It is currently in its third revision. The Scale itself is a teacher rating instrument meaning it is meant to be completed by a students classroom teacher.
Normative Sample
The HOPE Scale was designed for use with K-5 students. The teachers and students who comprised the normative sample were all from Illinois and Indiana. The third version used a sample of 1700 students from three school districts. The grade-level, racial / ethnic, and income and gender demographics of this sample can be seen in Table X and Table Y.
Structure
The HOPE Scale has two subscales: the academic and social. Scores in either of these categories are indicators of giftedness or high ability in that specific area. The academic subscale items include: 1, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, and the social subscale items include: 2, 3, 4, 5, 8.
Reliability
Subscale reliability: In general, reliability indicates consistency. One measure of reliability is the alpha internal consistency of the items. Alpha has a possible range from 0 to 1, with higher alpha levels representing higher reliability, and indicating that the items in the measured scale tend to be answered similarly. This is preferred within each subscale because the items are all meant to measure the same thing. Using the normative sample, the academic subscale yielded an alpha of 0.96. The same sample yielded an alpha for the social subscale of 0.92. This level of consistency is very high, and considered reasonable for individual and group decisions.
Validity
Observed Bias in original norm group: Analyses of measurement invariance have found that the HOPE Scale when used with the normative sample appeared to have a bias against low-income students. Such a bias is a pervasive problem in many standardized measures used in education. Students who are eligible for the free or reduced lunch program received lower scores on both subscales to the degree of approximately half a point. Because of this, we recommend any test users make within-group comparisons based on local norms. This process is described below.
Scoring and Use
Scoring: Individual items are to be added together within each subscale. Because the subscales are measuring different (though related) constructs, i.e., a student's academic and social indicators of giftedness, subscale scores should each be used in consideration of a student's giftedness. Subscale scores should not be added together to form one overall score. A student's subscale scores should then be referenced against local norms (see below), with lower-income students being compared to their lower-income peers.
Use of scores: The HOPE Scale can be used as one procedure to identify gifted students. While identification procedures may vary across school districts, the use of the HOPE Scale is intended to be one of multiple "alternate pathways" (Renzulli et al., 2002) to identify giftedness, none of which would necessarily guarantee entrance into, or exclusion from, a gifted program. Other indicators may be tests of a student's mental ability (e.g., an IQ test or a test in a more specific domain), evidence of unique talent (e.g., musical ability), and other indications for giftedness in one or more domains. Consult federal, state, and local definitions of giftedness in order to best select identification procedures. The authors of the HOPE Scale recommend against using a set cutoff score on the subscales, partly because of the multiple pathways of identifying giftedness (see above). Instead, the HOPE Scale should be used as a single artifact in a portfolio or other documentation of ability in order for an informed decision to be made. Additionally, administrators should be aware that the number of gifted students in a school will vary from school to school and from year to year, due to various factors. Administrators should establish data collection procedures in order to create local norms (i.e., those observed in a particular district) to better understand the unique scoring patterns of the students in a district at that moment, and for comparison purposes as new students take the HOPE Scale and other measures. These norms can then be used in order to better understand and use the HOPE Scale for local identification purposes.
Local Norms
Although norms were computed based on the sample used in the development of the HOPE Scale, these as well as national norms should not be used for gifted, talented, or high ability program placement due to the fact that they are unlikely to represent local education demographics. Put simply, what is average or gifted for one school is likely to be different from what is average or gifted for your school. For this reason, you should base the programming decisions on a local set of norms for individual schools. When you have collected data using the HOPE Scale or are otherwise ready to establish a set of local norms for your own use, please consult the Creating Local Norms document.
References
Peters, S. J. & Gentry, M. (2013) Additional validity evidence and across-group equivalency of the HOPE teacher rating scale. Gifted Child Quarterly, 57, 85-100.
Peters, S. J. & Gentry, M. (2012). Group specific norms and teacher rating scales: Implications for underrepresentation. Journal of Advanced Academics. 23, 125-144
Peters, S. J., & Gentry, M. (2010). Multi-group construct validity evidence of the HOPE Scale: Instrumentation to identify low-income elementary students for gifted programs. Gifted Child Quarterly, 54, 298-313.
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