Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment EXPLORE question

Our local talent search does not use the EXPLORE test, but I am interested in having my DD take the EXPLORE next year. It looks as though we can take it through BESTS (Belin-Blank) and I also read of someone out of the usual geographic area taking it through CTD's NUMATS program.

For those of you who have tested through Belin-Blank or CTD/NUMATS is there any reason to test through one or the other? I'm assuming that the statistical data that you receive is from only the particular talent search that you test through. Is that correct? If so, then it would seem to me that the data would be better for whichever program has the most participants. Anyone with any knowledge or thoughts on this?

Thanks to all.

My kids have tested through Belin-Blank and NUMATS on alternate years.

Belin-Blank requires you send in or fax qualifying grade level achievement results (for the first year, at least) while NUMATS just takes your word for it (along with credit card info).

I also like the interactive Belin-Blank results web-site better than the paper version from NUMATS. Lastly, my son qualified for the awards with Belin-Blank for the Explore, but I don�t think he would have made the cut for NUMATS.

I've always said that NUMATS has two questions... can you fog a mirror? can you write a check? Okay you're in! (And they take your word for the mirror one... LOL)

Basically I like my instant gratification in the registration process at least, so we went with NUMATS, but I agree about the Belin Blank website - much nicer than the CTD mailing. I've never looked at the awards levels, now that you mention it... DS missed NUMATS awards level this year, but I think part of that was our having skipped him up a couple grades (and how close the awards levels are to the hard ceiling of the test... He's doing the ACT this summer and we'll see if anything goes up!) Now I'm curious....

That was dd's experience this year as well. She made the awards last year through RMATS (Colorado), but having been a 9 y/o 6th grader taking the SAT this year did place her scores below the top 25%. My understanding re the awards levels, at least with our local talent search, is that they give awards to the top 10% and the top 25% in their region. So, if you have a broader group of kids taking the test in your region (like those who can fog a mirror and pay - lol, not just the top achievers in a specific grade), I'd imagine that the chances of placing highly in comparison to that group would be increased.

Ah -- NUMATS awards are the top 1-2% percent (composite) for Explore. eek! Ten percent he would have made it... But we'd have to fly up to Chicago or something... so I don't mind missing it. I think if we were in one of their states there might have been state awards at that level, but not here!

Hmmm. Well now it's getting even more complicated. If the pool of students is quite different, then the percentiles will obviously be different too.

Is there any database or info that will give you the stats and percentiles for ALL underage kids who took the EXPLORE throughout the country? Or is there some way to figure that out from the actual scores that you receive? Since we aren't in either of those talent search areas, the percentiles may not be that meaningful unless they come from a pretty large pool of students.

Does anyone know the actual number of talent search students taking the EXPLORE through NUMATS or BESTS? Or even nationally?

According to the statistical summary NUMATS put out, they use scores from more than one year in order to have a larger sample size. The pool included in the summary this year was:
Explore:
3rd grade: 1,098
4th grade: 2,965
5th grade: 4,545
6th grade: 3,625


6th grade: ACT: 3,040 SAT: 2,482
7th grade: ACT: 7,617 SAT: 7,651
8th grade: ACT: 6,956 SAT: 10,554
9th grade: ACT: 3,760 SAT: 444

I don't have the pool size for the Belin-Blank search, but I can tell you that I ran my dd9's scores through their interactive site and then had the NUMATS summary by mail. Her percentile's were higher in Belin-Blank by a significant amount(within the 4th grade pool), which leads me to believe that the NUMATS pool is more competitive.

71.1N vs 83bb; 87.6N vs.95bb; 100n vs. 99bb; 74N vs. 81bb; 93N vs. 97bb.

I think the NUMATS scores are probably a more accurate reflection of where she is at right now, much as I would like to claim the higher Belin-Blank rankings

Yes! Send your reports to me! LOL

Having typed in every single line of the NUMATS distributions so I could make myself a nice histogram, I would say even though they don't look too closely at their pool of students, they don't come out remarkably low or anything. I've misplaced my Belin Blank link, but a google search turns up someone's 2005 report, and the composite medians are very similar between Belin Blank and this year's NUMATS... I don't think very many people actually take advantage of the easy entry. Actually, I've found a ton of people here (NC) who don't take advantage of Duke or NUMATS or any of them... we're the only ones in our homeschool group, even though I know there several other kids who would qualify! I guess not everyone is as data-obsessed as I am.

Oh and total numbers for NUMATS this year: 3rd grade 1097, 4th grade 2962, 5th grade 4543 and 6th grade 3624. There are also 6th grade ACT/SAT takers, so I expect the little drop in Explore numbers there is probably a side effect of that option.

Nevermind! I should just say ditto to what Tamany said! LOL (and oops - I only included the numbers under "composite" -- looks like a couple kids didn't make it through the test....)

Ooh and I found my link and did the same thing Tamany did... and DS's percentiles went up quite a bit too! So I don't think NUMATS is full of slouches or anything