A kid who does well on the CogAT is probably gifted.
I'll have to admit that this is just my own personal opinion based upon experience and talking with GT coordinators locally, but I don't necessarily agree that kids who do well on the CogAT are likely gifted. That, to me, is similar to assuming that all convergent thinking kids who read well or have high achievement scores are likely gifted. I realize that the CogAT is not an achievement test, but here's what I base my opinion on:
* What is "doing well?" Many schools will consider a high score (95th percentile and up on any one piece) to be gifted. Most psychologists wouldn't consider a child who came out on any one piece of an IQ test (processing speed, working memory, one part of the verbal or perceptual reasoning subtest) at the 95th percentile to be gifted if none of the other scores were in that range.
* Prepping is very, very common. There are a lot of workbooks out there to prep for the CogAT and kids who are pulled out for enrichment in the early 1st-3rd grade years due to high achievement or good reading skills are often "enriched" with critical thinking worksheets and games that help prep them for doing well on a test like the CogAT when it is administered.
* The CogAT tests convergent thinking ability. The ability to see what the typical person would see and to see it very well isn't necessarily gifted to me. The child who can think outside of the box and create new ways to do things is, at least in my mind, likely more intelligent than the child who can learn the typical approach and regurgitate it well.
* I, personally, know of two children who were ided as gifted based on 95th percentile CogAT scores in one area whose parents later had them retested on the WISC. Neither one was even close to gifted on the WISC. Both had higher than average (75th percentile+) WMI and/or PSI scores, but both also had VCI and PRI scores around the 50th percentile. One of these kids was tested twice two years apart b/c the parents were uncertain on the first WISC scores. The second testing came out a tad lower than the first, but at around the same spot. These kids had the 95th scores on the verbal or quantitative part of the CogAT.
* Locally, about 15-30% of the kids who take the CogAT score at or above the 95th percentile on at least one part. I don't believe that we have that many gifted kids locally. We might have a somewhat higher than typical rate, but being generous I'd say maybe 7-10% are in the top 5%.
