2012-02-16
Project TALENT Data (Baseline)
Project Talent is a nationally representative longitudinal study of men and women who were in high school in 1960. Project Talent began as a major national effort to assess the aspirations and abilities of America's young men and women and to assess the critical period of adjustment to adult life beginning in high school and continuing past age 30, when participants are well-launched into their chosen careers. In 1960, roughly 5 percent of American high school students participated in the Project Talent study. Approximately 440,000 students from 1,353 schools in the United States were selected to represent all 9th through 12th graders throughout the country. Project Talent participants were administered an extensive battery of tests and questions that examined students' competencies in subjects such as mathematics, science, and reading comprehension. In addition, students were asked to complete three separate questionnaires that asked about family background, personal and educational experiences, aspirations for future education and vocation, and interests in various occupations and activities.
NACDA is currently working with the study PIs at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in Washington, DC to develop secondary data resources from the first 30 years of data and to build an archival distribution system for the proposed 50 year follow-up. AIR is providing limited access through NACDA to the baseline data for the study as they prepare for a 50 year follow-up.
Project TALENT data can be obtained from the NACDA Program on Aging by completing the Unilateral NDA (Restricted Data Use Agreement) – See link above. Please send the signed originals to NACDA at: The National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging, 330 Packard Street, Ann Arbor MI 48104.
N.B. Students interested in the data will need to obtain the signature of a faculty mentor in order to obtain the data.
