yeah, I think it's a balance in reaching kids early enough and accuracy in identification. My son's scores went up 30 points from first grade to third grade testing. Obviously I can't prove which is more accurate, but given his abilities, I would say the third grade test is closer. I recognize that his huge leap in scores is not typical, but smaller, yet significant changes probably are common. Some kids are going to do well at any age, but I think maturity makes a difference for some kids. I don't know what to say about kids who initially test gifted and then go the other direction when tested later, but I'm sure that happens too. The format of the cogat test changes in third grade so that causes some of the differences.
We also have a two tier gifted program, "regular" GT is cluster grouping with differentiation (that we never saw any of other than spelling words) and 1.5 hours/week of pullout enrichment. There is also a highly gifted program that is a self contained magnet class for the district with acceleration and added depth of instruction. Testing for the highly gifted program is only done on current GT kids in the third grade (program starts in fourth).
