Innovation in Language Learning

Educational systems seeking to identify gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) students typically rely on imported cognitive-ability instruments that were neither designed nor normed for their national context. This gap leaves several European systems, Greece among them, without a standardised identification pathway (Baccassino & Pinnelli, 2023). This paper offers a comparative critique of widely used instruments (including WISC-V, Raven's Progressive Matrices, CogAT, and others) across three recurring limitations. First, composite-score fragmentation: single overall scores often obscure uneven ability profiles (Gilman et al., 2026), while interpreting "jagged" profiles from subtest scatter remains statistically unsupported (de Jong, 2023). Second, ceiling effects reduce discriminative power at the upper end of the distribution, precisely where identification matters most. Third, 2e-blindness: linear, composite-based scoring is structurally ill-suited to detect ability–disability masking (Al-Hroub, 2021; Foley-Nicpon et al., 2011), leaving high-potential students with co-occurring difficulties unidentified and at risk of underachievement when support does not follow ability (Preckel et al., 2020). To address these challenges, the paper outlines the rationale and design principles for a nationally standardised, digital, adaptive assessment battery currently in development for the Greek educational context. Grounded in Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) theory, the battery examines multiple broad cognitive domains — verbal, fluid, and quantitative reasoning, alongside working memory and visual memory — allowing these abilities to be reported separately rather than collapsed into a single composite, directly addressing the fragmentation problem raised above; its adaptive format is likewise designed to remove the ceiling effects that limit fixed-difficulty instruments. As Greece currently lacks dedicated national infrastructure for gifted education, a pattern shared with other Mediterranean countries, the paper concludes by discussing the implications of this tool for building a robust, evidence-based identification framework.

 

Keywords: giftedness identification; twice-exceptionality; cognitive assessment; CHC theory; test critique; identification scale. 

 

REFERENCES

 

[1] Al-Hroub, A. (2021). The utility of psychometric and dynamic assessments for identifying cognitive characteristics of twice-exceptional students exhibiting mathematical giftedness and learning disabilities. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 747872. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.747872

[2] Baccassino, F., & Pinnelli, S. (2023). Giftedness and gifted education: A systematic literature review. Frontiers in Education, 7, 1073007. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.1073007

[3] de Jong, P. F. (2023). The Validity of WISC-V Profiles of Strengths and Weaknesses. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 41(4), 363-379. https://doi.org/10.1177/07342829221150868

[4] Foley-Nicpon, M., Allmon, A., Sieck, B., & Stinson, R. D. (2011). Empirical investigation of twice-exceptionality: Where have we been and where are we going? Gifted Child Quarterly, 55, 3–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986210382575 

[5] Gilman, B. J., Peters, D. B., Silverman, L. K., Lovecky, D. V., Kearney, K., Rogers, K. B., Amend, E. R., & Rimm, S. B. (2026). Use of the WISC-V for Gifted and Twice-Exceptional Identification: Strength-Based Indexes. SAGE Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241285041

[6] Preckel, F., Golle, J., Grabner, R., Jarvin, L., Kozbelt, A., Müllensiefen, D., Olszewski-Kubilius, P., Subotnik, R., Schneider, W., Vock, M., & Worrell, F. C. (2020). Talent development in achievement domains: A psychological framework for within and cross-domain research. Perspectives on Psychological Science,15, 691-722. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619895030