It's too bad school districts rely so much on cut-offs on tests. I think this is esp. problematic in circumstances where there are a limited number of "seats" and kids have to compete for them. When DD bombed the CogAT their response was that DD would have a chance to take it again. Yeah, like her score would go up from 117 to 139 by taking it again--it just wasn't a good test for her! So my choice was either to prep her extensively to try to get her speed up, give up, or try to get them to use other data. I had to go around in circles before they finally agreed she could take another test, but I still didn't think the alternate test would be helpful. (Hence I had her tested privately rather than continue to argue with them about it-- and who knows if they will accept those results).
I agree. Your DD clearly sounds gifted with that GAI and it is shocking that she could STILL be denied gifted programming. If these tests are truly "snapshots," then there has to be a better way than simple single test "cut scores." Perhaps if they could instead, look at the "bigger picture" of all of the data? I understand the fear of subjectivity by the school, but the Wechsler tests are starting to also sound subjective to me with the possibility of a "lack of rapport, etc." I do not know that there is "one perfect test."
