Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Reynolds test

Does anyone have experience with the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS)? It's one of two tests (along with the CoGAT) that our school administers for placement in the GT program. My 6 yr old scored at 99.83% on the RIAS and in the 80% range on the CoGAT. The discrepancy struck the GT teacher and counselor and I'm curious about the differences between these tests and how to interpret the disparate scores. Thanks!

No specific experience - just that it sounds like the difference between IQ and achievement. IQ tests can get good responses by having interesting question types. Achievement tests may be seen as boring and not worth the effort if they are too easy and too far below a child's level.

Have you checked hoagies to see what they have to say about it?

Our district is phasing out the use of the CogAT, as it apparently has a very high false negative rate, particularly at the younger ages. This could be the case for your child and could explain the discrepancy.

Have you seen how the CogAT is administered? In our case 2nd graders have the test read to them, and then have to fill in bubble sheets. Both of these are odd expereinces for an advanced child, especially one with auditory issues.

I'm no expert on the testing topic, but I can speak on what I've experienced. The CoGat is a group administered test vs. the RIAS, which is individual. This can make a HUGE difference in results, especially at that age. My son did not perform well on the CoGat, but showed possible gifted on a gifted screener (KBIT). We are actually waiting on RIAS results at this time. I have heard that highly gifted kids do not perform well on the Cogat, this is most likely the case with your child as they appear to be in the Highly gifted range! If you want more details, I would suggest calling the CoGat test administer to find out what your child's answers looked like. I found that my son had a "slow and accurate" response style on the Cogat. He did not complete any subtests (except the verbal) but answered nearly all correctly that he attempted. Unanswered questions bring the score down. The time limit at older age group can hinder the scores. I'm not sure if there is a time limit at age 6 or not. My DS was 9 when he took it. Hope this helps!

The RIAS is a generally good indicator whose margin of error tends to UNDERestimation, due to low discontinue thresholds. So for a 99.83% result, that has to be taken very seriously.

I can't speak to the CogAT.

My son got a >99.9% on the RIAS. I have read that is tends to score higher than on other IQ tests although some posters on this site have said they didn't see that. MENSA accepted his scores but our local G/T program didn't.

DS has taken RIAS and WISC IV and SBLM. RIAS was his lowest score, but I have a feeling it was more the tester interaction/knowledge, than the test itself.