Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment School system doesn't use WISC-IV or SB-V...help?

So. I have no doubt that my younger son is gifted. But our school system doesn't use the WISC-IV or the SB-V to qualify for gifted. I just got back from his eligibility meeting and the psychologist said in all of her working there she has never seen a score as high as his. But dang I will still have to go and get private testing if I want to apply to DYS because they use a test that they don't take. So I was wondering if it was even worth it or if the Kauffman Assessment Battery for Children-2nd edition (KBAC-II) is even close to being similar to a WISC-IV or a SB-V???

His standard score for what they call Fluid-Crystalized Index or FCI (which I guess would be full scale index) was 149 or 99.9 percentile relative to children his age (which at that time was almost 8). Obviously, the school placed him and wrote an education plan. His teachers just were gushing about him and how quickly he learns and that all the information in the report wasn't news to them it just validated what they see. And I know that he is a handful to keep mentally stimulated so it wasn't news to me.

Does anyone know if the Kauffman over inflates scores or isn't reliable or valid and that is why DYS doesn't take it? I don't want to spend $2000.00 on additional testing if it does. (Their achievement testing wouldn't meet DYS qualifications either).

Well, darn, I was going to suggest that you just apply to DYS using a portfolio and achievement scores until I read the last paragraph. My understanding of the KABC is that it was designed more as a brief assessment than as a complete IQ measure and that it was also designed more with looking at LDs than giftedness in general. There are some populations where the composite score on the KABC generally runs a good deal higher than it does on tests like the WISC (usually low SES and minority kids and it is about .5 SD+ over the WISC).

All of this is not saying that your ds isn't HG+, just that this test alone may not be the best test to show it if you are looking at something like applying to DYS. What achievement test did they use?

FAIR (Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading) and it is a croc as far as being accurate...because his probability of reading success (PRS) was 88% in May and 96% (I think that is what it was) in the Fall...there is no reason why someone reading at a 6th grade level in 2nd grade and has racked up 480 AR points reading 4th-6th grade books since September (which means he is getting the comprehension questions correct) wouldn't have 100% probability of reading success. The kid would blow you away with his reading.

And they used the SAT-10.

We are not minority although his school is very high minority (like my son being not a minority is in the minority in his school). And we are low SES depends entirely if I am working or not. I am working right now so we are not low SES but for the the longest time I was not. But both of us are college graduates and I have a graduate degree.

I understand where you are coming from! Our DD was also given the KABC-II when we had her privately tested at the age of 7 and well before we knew anything about DYS or anything else about giftedness. The test was great to get her a GIEP and into our school's gifted program where she gets a 1 hour pull-out twice a week, but that is it.

We have signed her up to take the Explore test next month through NUMATS in the hopes she will do well enough to use her scores towards an application to DYS. The testing is relatively inexpensive so we thought we would start there.

The portfolio seems so daunting to me for some reason, but if the Explore test results don't cut it I guess I'll start gathering up things for a portfolio.

Sweetie, in looking at your prior posts (http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....hool_eligibility_meeting.html#Post115758), it looks like your younger ds was assessed on some other measure back around 2011.

Or, is this "little brother" a different child than the one you are posting about here?

If not, what did they use when he was tested last and does it give you any clue as to how he might test on a different test/how likely he is to be DYS material? You might want to do what the pp is trying and do some less expensive testing like the Explore for now to see if he qualifies on that.

Okay there are two boys.

One was tested when he was in 5th grade and placed.

This is the little brother who was screened in K (missed screening cut off), rescreened in 1st (because I asked) but I was only told with 9 days of school left that he qualified on the second screen...I asked for the rescreening right after Christmas Break. So he was tested within 60 days of the 2nd grade school year (near the end of the 60 day window) and just now found eligible about a year after I asked for the rescreen. The wheels of gifted testing appear to move very slow.

Oh...I didn't answer your question...the screening test is the KBIT (completed by the guidance counselor at each school)just to see if they should fully test by a psychologist.

The KBIT is a screener but the KABC is a full ability (IQ) test that is actually well-regarded and most similar to the WISC. There is also a Kaufmann Achievement Test, which is also well-regarded by testing professionals.

My DD and DS were both tested on this and it has seemed to both correlate with earlier WPPSI testing and with real life. My DD, like your DS, scored 149, and she has been early entranced, grade skipped, and is currently further subject accelerated, so the testing has proven accurate for her over time.

Unfortunately, I think there are only a couple other people here on this board whose kids have been tested using the KABC. There is limited information available about it for a layperson, but you should be able to search the boards for previous posts. Like I said, I was told by a educational psychologist who does testing (and occasionally contributes here) that it's actually a really well-designed test and that the scores were most comparable to the WISC. Unfortunately DYS does not accept this test, but I'm guessing it is only because not many people take it, not because it isn't a reliable test. Maybe you could ask about submitting it, qualifying achievement testing, and a portfolio?

I found this small study from a student thesis that compares the WISC-IV to the KABC-II.


http://www.marshall.edu/etd/masters/oliver-nancy-2010.pdf