I�m feeling less cynical today, so I have to admit I sort of understand why our school doesn�t want to test kids before 2nd grade. They use a variety of group tests. Some are achievement-based and some are more like IQ tests. From what I�ve read, the group tests are a lot less accurate for young children. Once the tests are given, the school won�t retest for 2 years to prevent parents who want kids in gifted programs for status reasons from training their kids to improve their scores with each retake. As a result, an inaccurate test can deny services for 2 years. Given that the tests become more accurate after about age 7, they discourage parents from testing younger children.
I think the school needs to administer tests designed specifically for younger students. In practice, I don�t know what that means. Would they need to move to individually administered exams? I suspect that part of the problem is money � more expensive testing for younger kids and requiring more services as more K-1 students are identified.
Does anyone have experience with these types of group tests? How do they compare to a more traditional IQ test, which is done individually? More to the point, what type of test is truly useful when working with a 4 or 5 year old?
The school will test my son next fall. He will be 7 later this summer, so he is at the point where most of the tests are reasonably accurate. My daughter, on the other hand, is 4 and I think that this time around we need to get the information up front instead of waiting as we did with out son. I�ve pulled her out of preschool because she complains constantly that they don�t read and she is tired of �baby math� and wants to subtract. (She�s only going a total of 8 hours a week, but apparently even that is too much. I just wanted a little break!) She�s not old enough for kindergarten this fall, so I am going to keep her home this coming year and let her explore her interests.
My daughter is less compliant than her brother, and a lot less tolerant of busy work. (He tunes out and contemplates his latest interests when bored.) This time around I want to know enough to make a better decision for her than we did for her brother. For him, I�m hoping that having a TAG-trained teacher next year will help him re-engage in school. For her, I�m really hoping that we don�t have to get to that point.
PS Speaking of eyes bugging out... My daughter was an early talker and I nursed her for a long time � 2 years. When she was about 16 months old (still bald and looking like a baby) she would pop out from under my shirt and say �I switch sides now�.
