Richardson Study: Largest vs. Smallest School Districts in Iowa.

This study used the questionnaire previously developed and used by the national Richardson Study to survey Iowa school districts concerning the standards, resources, and procedures used in providing special educational services to gifted students. The study focused on comparing the largest and smallest school districts and on comparing districts that offered a large number of 16 possible program types and those that offered a small number of types of gifted programs. The chi-square statistic was used to analyze the comparison. Results indicated that the largest school districts and those that offered a large number of programs were superior to the smaller school districts and those that offered a small number of programs, respectively, in standards, resources, and procedures. The study concluded, however, that even the better school districts offered inadequate programs and all four groups fell short of the principles of excellence. The questionnaire is appended. (Contains 19 references.) (DB)