Midwest Academic Talent Search

The Midwest Academic Talent Search (MATS) is one of several talent search programs in the United States that uses off-level testing to assess the abilities of academically gifted children. Talent search programs like MATS have a history of 25 years or more and have become a prominent service delivery model in the United States for both assessment and educational programming for gifted children.

MATS is conducted by the Center for Talent Development of the School of Education and Social Policy of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. MATS is an annual program that involves assessment of children in Grades 4 through 9 via above-grade-level tests, including the Explore test, the ACT (American College Test), and the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test).