Academic Talent Search

About

Does your student score at the top of the class on most standardized tests? Earning such high scores feels excellent, but it is also one indicator that your student may have already mastered the curriculum for their grade and needs more challenging material. Just how much more challenging? Above-level testing can help you figure it out.

Every child deserves to learn something new every day, including the ones that ace every test. It's often the case that bright students are ready to learn things beyond the level of the grade they are in -- but how can you tell what level would be more appropriate for a particular student? Talent Search uses above-level testing to uncover information about a student's academic abilities and learning needs, helping parents and teachers discover what that student is ready to learn.

What is Above-Level Testing?

"Above-level testing" is exactly what it sounds like: Give a younger student a test that was developed for older students.

Academically talented students tend to perform extremely well on tests developed for their own age group. They do so well that they get everything (or almost everything) right, and we don’t really know what the extent of their talents might be. Psychologists call this "hitting the ceiling" of the test. An above-level test, one that is developed for older students, raises the ceiling for that talented student and allows them to show the full extent of what they know - and what they don't yet know. In other words, above-level testing reveals what the student is ready to start learning.

How Can It Help?

Knowing how students performed on an above-level test helps us give students, their families, and their educators better advice about the kinds of educational options the students might need. For example, does this student need educational enrichment? Would that student benefit from moving up a grade level or two in math? Would another student benefit from grade-skipping? In just one or two hours of testing, we are able to get important information about the student’s academic abilities, which allows us to make recommendations about the types of educational challenges the student needs.

Above-level testing has other benefits, as well! The results can help parents and teachers advocate for the student, develop a course plan, or differentiate the curriculum in the classroom.