The study evaluated the identification process for programs for the gifted and talented in the District of Columbia public schools. The authors (McBeath, Blackshear, and Smart) used the Baldwin Identification Matrix (which includes an informal creative thinking test, reading and mathematics tests, grades, and nominations) as a data management system. The 205 students identified were compared with a random sampling of 205 students not selected for the program. Results of the first discriminant analysis indicated that the highest contributor to identification was total nominations (peer, parent, and teacher). The next three contributing variables in descending order were peer nominations, mathematics, and parent nominations. When socioeconomic status was added as a variable, there was no change in the top discrimination coefficient suggesting that socioeconomic status did not play a very important part in the selection process though it did influence the structure of the discrimination function. When students who stayed in the program were compared with students who did not, total nominations was still the predictor variable contributing most to the function, followed, however, by reading, creative thinking, and mathematics. When socioeconomic status was considered, the variable contributing most to identification of students who stayed in the program from those who didn't was creative thinking, followed by parent nominations, socioeconomic status, and reading. (DB)