Torrance Journal for Applied Creativity

The TTCT also gave educators
a way to identify gifts and talents in
children from underserved populations
because they are not as culturally loaded
as other standardized assessments that
might be used (Torrance, 1971, 1977).
The figural form, which requires very
little language, is especially helpful for
assessing students with limited or no
proficiency in English. Whether for
identification, curriculum development,
or both, the TTCT can provide some
information about students that other
assessments do not readily measure. Because
the items are open-ended, students
are also able to express their interests,
fears, hopes, knowledge about diverse
topics, and emotional states. The TTCT
provide teachers with additional information
about how their students think
through an activity that most children
enjoy.
The Longitudinal Research
In order to determine whether
the tests he developed had predictive
validity for the construct of creativity,
Torrance conducted longitudinal studies
correlating the scores on the tests with
real life creative achievements years
later. However, the bigger question, to
him, was to find out what happened to
students’ creativity as they grew up.
The first such study was
conducted with high school students
seven years after they had been tested.
Torrance knew it was much too soon to
conduct a follow-up, but he was leaving
the University of Minnesota to take on
the role as a department head at the
University of Georgia. He was afraid
that once he left Minnesota, it would be
hard for him to follow-up on many of
the students, so he conducted his first
follow-up before he moved. He then
conducted another follow-up with the
high school students five years later (Torrance,
1969a, 1972a, 1972b).
The major work came from
following up with the students from two
elementary schools 22 years (Torrance,
1980; 1981a; 1981b), 30 years (Torrance,
1993), 40 years (Cramond, Matthews-Morgan,
Bandalos, & Zuo, 2005),
2
and 50 years (Runco, Millar, Acar, &
Cramond, 2010) after they were initially
tested in third grade in 1958. These
studies established the predictive validity
of the Torrance Test by correlating the
students’ test scores with the quality and
quantity of their creative achievements
years later. More importantly to Torrance,
they gave him some insights into
what happens to one’s creativity over the
years, how some individuals hold on to it,
others surrender it, and still others gain
it back after surrendering it (Torrance,
1980; 1993).
Some of the factors that
hindered some students’ creativity were
gender, race, and socio-economic factors.
Given that the students grew up in the
1950s and 1960s, the first two should
not be surprising. Although we could argue
that females and minorities still have
a struggle to achieve according to their
abilities, there were far fewer opportunities
before the Civil Rights Movement
and the Women’s Movement. Poverty,
of course, continues to thwart children’s
development. Torrance found that
females and children from the housing
projects were more likely to have shown
early promise that was later unrealized.
One young woman, given the pseudonym
Tammy by Torrance, fit in both of
those categories and was highlighted in a
report from the 22-year study (Torrance,
1980). Tammy had been one of the
brightest and most creative first graders,
but her teacher and parents dissuaded
some of her more imaginative pursuits.
By third grade her I.Q. and creativity test
scores had fallen into the average range.
She dropped out of school in the tenth
grade to help take care of her younger
siblings and married at 19. She reported
no creative achievements, and felt that
she was not smart.
Yet, some students were able
to maintain their creativity in spite of
poverty, racial and gender biases, lack of
family encouragement, and other difficulties.
Torrance summarized what he
found about those individuals’ struggles
to hold on to or reclaim their creativity in
his Manifesto for Children (Henderson,
Presbury, & Torrance, 1983; Torrance,
2002).
Implications for Educators
The best lesson that teachers can
take away for helping children maintain
their creativity come from the words that
Torrance gave to children in the Manifesto
for Children. The Manifesto is
reproduced here in the form of a bookmark
that you can cut out, laminate, look
at everyday, and give to every student.
Manifesto for Children
Don’t be afraid to fall in
love with something and
pursue it with intensity.
Know, understand, take
pride in, practice, develop,
exploit, and enjoy your
greatest strengths.
Learn to free yourself from
the expectations of others and to
walk away from the games they
impose on you. Free yourself to
play your own game.
Find a great teacher or
mentor who will help you.
Don’t waste energy trying
to be well-rounded.
Do what you love
and can do well.
Learn the skills
of interdependence.
The Manifestos
resulted from over
40 years of study of
creative individuals.
Torrance wrote
them as advice for
retaining creativity.
E. Paul Torrance, 1915-2003