Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment ERB CTP4 results vs WISC IV

Hi,

We recently received our daughters CTP4 results from school and are confused about how she could be performing so much lower on these tests than she did on the WISC IV a few months ago. On WISC-IV she tested at 150+ (with verbal score higher than perceptual, but both quite high). On the CTP4, she was weak in categorical and logical reasoning and relatively weak in verbal and reading comprehension (compared to WISC-IV scores). Her math scores were lower than we'd expect, but reasonably high. Any insight in to what could explain such weak scores for an otherwise high testing child?
We don't think she is getting her needs met at school (no differentiation/pull-outs) but her teachers tell us she is excelling at the work she is given and she is an avid reader and writer.

Any advice appreciated.

Elise

It is quite common for gifted kids (especially girls) to underperform. Have you seen the papers? Google underachievement, imposter syndrome, gifted girls etc and see what you think.

From what I've read, CTP4 was normalized amongst students from higher performing schools, so odds are scores are off at least a standard deviation fom other scores.

CTP4 results are provided as percentiles or stanine comparisons against select suburban public schools (your zip code), independent schools (select private schools in the US and abroad) and nationally (schools of all types in all areas of the US). When my DS got his CTP4 scores, they provided 2 percentile scores for each subject like math, LA etc - his school uses the suburban and the Independent school norms only for evaluation.
Since his private school is very rigorous (following curriculum ahead of grade level) his scores normed for suburban public schools were 99.9 percentile. His nationally normed scores (private school comparisons) were 96-98 percentiles.
In our experience, the score has always been lesser when Indpenedent School Norms were used.
If your daughter's school used national norms (select private schools) to calculate her CTP4 scores, it is very possible that you might see a small drop in her scores than what you expected because the pool of students being compared against is very select.
Hope this helps.