Identifying artistically talented students in four rural communities in the United States

Project ARTS was designed as a research and development project to identify high-ability, artistically talented third graders from four different ethn ic backgrounds in seven rural schools and to implement differentiated arts programs for them. Locally designed identification measures, developed by t eachers and community members, were found to be appropriate by teachers and staff if several different measures were used. In research about identific ation of students for Project ARTS, scores on the Torrance Tests of Creativ ity, Clark's Drawing Abilities Test, and state achievement tests were found to be correlated. Except at one site, gender was not found to be a signifi cant variable on these tests. It was recommended that local measures, the C DAT, and achievement tests be used to identify artistically talented studen ts in rural communities with populations similar to those in Project ARTS.