Is just one score at the 95th percentile enough to qualify a student for BESTS Testing?
• Yes. Notifying a family of their child’s eligibility to participate in the talent search in no way means a school is identifying the child for gifted services, since the qualifying ITBS score is only one piece of data and identification for gifted services requires multiple data source criteria. • Not notifying parents intentionally excludes a child from a talent search opportunity and likely eliminates the opportunity for a student with potential to develop a latent talent in a specific area. The point of a talent search is to intentionally cast a wide net. According to Dr. Susan Assouline, Associate Director of the Belin-Blank Center, the majority of students who participate in a talent search are not identified for gifted and talented services.
