Elementary Student Talent Searches: Establishing Appropriate Guidelines for Qualifying Test Scores

Abstract

Traditionally, talent searches administer college entrance examinations to seventh and eighth graders who score in the top 3-5% on in-grade achievement tests. Research dating back to the 1970s indicates that talent searches effectively provide a specific assessment of ability level in these gifted students. More recently, the talent search model has been applied to third-through sixth-grade gifted students. The Elementary Student Talent Search, for example, uses EXPLORE (a test designed for eighth graders) as an above-level test. Very little research has been conducted on the talent search model as applied to elementary students, however. Our data indicate that talent search participants earn EXPLOR-E scores that are approximately normally distributed and that they compare favorably to eighth-grade norms. EXPLORE scores at or below chance level are rare. Raising the requirements for Talent Search eligibility would increase the number of false negatives more than it would decrease the number of false positives.