Just wanted to comment, back to the original question: the poster from the other board provided that the school used the WIAT for his son at two levels - 1st grade (his current level) and 4th grade. He tested out in the 98th% on grade level (with some scatter) and then ranged from 9th% to 50th% on 4 th grade level. The dad wants a skip to 2nd for the rest of this year with moving into 3rd next year. I think the achievement scores support that.
My understanding of the IAS is that it isn't to be used as a clear cut pass/fail test. It is meant to be used a as a guide, as a starting point for discussion. The manual, as I recall, points out how a score that does not support whole grade acceleration may in fact still indicate that the child would benefit from subject acceleration. When we had our son tested at U of Iowa, where the IAS was developed, the psychologist (director of the testing center there) told us that we could use the IAS *without* above level testing and just eliminate that score total from the overall total (adjust all the categories for final score down by the points not tallied). I believe that the scale is intended to be flexible in that way.
My understanding about a successful grade skip is in keeping with your thoughts, Dottie. That a successfully accelerated child will still be in the top of their new class. You want challenge, not misery!
Another thought - the Woodcock Johnson is not really a great achievement test for gifted kids. It is designed for the purpose of identifying learning difficulties. It is the one our son was first tested with and one that schools are very familiar with, but not the best when looking for achievement scores in the GT population (from what I've read on hoagies and elsewhere).
After lots of reading on these threads I'm looking forward to having my son do EXPLORE testing during next school year. I hate the thought of too much testing, though. I've written the principal an email requesting a meeting whether the Stanford tests are back or not to discuss differentiation and compacting. It is definitely what my son needs now. Not another grade skip. I've read that most gifted kids advance two years on achievement testing for every year of schooling. Hopefully that will show up now that we've had test/re-test for my son. If the school can see that his achievement moves faster than their curriculum perhaps they will let him move ahead more quickly.
