Would it be possible to appeal the decision to not let her into the GT program and have her tested with a different test by the school district? Our district also uses the CogAT to screen for our gifted program, and our ds only scored around the 80th percentile on the CogAT which is completely out of line with his WISC-IV and WJ-III Cognitive Abilities scores. When we got his CogAT results I was stunned (because I already knew his IQ from the other testing), so I googled around and most of what I've found points to the CogAT not being a reliable test of ability for kids who are HG and above. Plus any one test is only one data point on one day at one point in time - a lot of things might have impacted your dd's score, so I wouldn't take that one test score to mean much of anything since it seems to not fall in line with what you see in your dd.

If the school isn't willing to listen to an appeal, then I'd consider private testing if you think your dd is bored in school. OTOH, before you pay for testing you might also want to look into what the school's gifted program really is - sometimes it's not worth paying for the testing to try to get in, other times the programs are wonderful.

In the meantime, definitely get in there and advocate for challenges in reading for your dd, and for anything else you feel she needs a challenge in - you don't have to wait for a gifted program invitation to advocate for "more" for her in her regular classroom.

I would also dig more into the reasons she feels she doesn't want to share her ideas in class. It could be a highly gifted child talking... but it could be a child who has other reasons for thinking her ideas are radically different and not wanting to share. Regardless of her level of giftedness, I'd want to dig deeper and really understand what is up there, and why she doesn't participate more in class discussions.

Re the gifted teacher - she probably doesn't want to talk to you (I'm just guessing here!), and it's not a reflection on you or your dd. There really are a *lot* of parents who think their children are gifted - I can't believe how many parents I talked to in early elementary who were convinced their children were gifted. There's no way all those kids can statistically be gifted smile But that *doesn't* mean that your child *isn't* gifted! So stand strong when advocating for your dd. If you want to have a meaningful conversation with the gifted coordinator, I think what you need is data - data that you understand and that supports your intuition. (Some of that data may already exist - if you don't have a copy of her gifted screening request it - the things like teacher recs etc).

Best wishes,

polarbear