Subjective outcome evaluation of a gifted education program : the Project GIFT in Hong Kong

Abstract

Background: As a pioneer gifted education program in Hong Kong, the Project GIFT in Hong Kong included intervention designed to promote psychosocial competences of the students in general (Level 1 Program) and students with high abilities (Level 2 Program). While objective outcome evaluation of the program has indicated its beneficial impact on students such as enhancement in academic performance and learning autonomy, students’ perception of the program such as program’s quality and instructors’ performance has not been examined. The present study examined primary and secondary students’ subjective perception of the programs, instructors in addition to the benefits of the Project GIFT using the client satisfaction approach. Methods: A total of 3,971 Grade 3 to Grade 9 students responded to a subjective outcome evaluation measure after program completion. In this study, we examined validity and reliability of the assessment tool as well as the response profiles of the participants using structural equation modeling and Mann-Whitney tests. Results: The findings supported the factorial, convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validities of the assessment tool in the Level 1 and Level 2 programs. Regarding perceptions of the participants, the present results showed that students had favorable perception of the quality and benefits of the programs as well as the performance of implementers. In line with our expectation, students participating in Level 2 programs held more favorable perception of the program than did students who attended Level 1 programs. Conclusions: Consistent with our previous findings illustrating the beneficial effects of the Project GIFT on students, the present findings revealed favorable perception of students on the quality of the program and the instructors. This further underscores the effectiveness of the Project GIFT for talent development.