Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Duke TIP Explore scores for 4th grader

Hi all,

I just received the scores for my 10yo, he is not a Davidson scholar but is moderately gifted (FSIQ 135) with WJIII scores from 1.5y ago being in the 92-99.8 percentiles, math being his strongest.

I know how to interpret the scores, I'm at a bit of a loss to understand the meaning in relation to how his school is handling him. He receives the typical "strong" recognition and is pulled out 2x/week for 45 min each LA and math, all other differentiation simply means he's in the top reading and math groups in class but little else. He is not a school kid, would much prefer to be running plays in football, soccer or climbing anything! He is not very focused but gets the job done albeit grudgingly and with little interest. He gets good grades, especially in math but his writing is like pulling teeth. No 2E issues, just no interest. Here are his scores:

Eng 13 (7/7)
Math 15
Reading 16
Science 18
Composite 16

Avg. 8th grader 15.5 composite score

I can't find any data on 4th graders from last year, only 5th and 6th where he seems to be on par except in English which I find funny b/c he's actually quite good gramatically. I am not sure what to thing about the math score. It's almost as though the areas where he does receive challenge in school (reading/sci), he scored better whereas his math score seems depressed and I know it's his easiest subject.

Thoughts? And, really, are these scores any good? I have a hard time knowing b/c my younger son is a DYS and can pretty much score this way in 2nd grade. Not a pretty comparison but it's all I have until you guys chime in!

thanks!

Shannon L.

It's been quite a while since either of my kids took the EXPLORE through talent search, but as I recall, the two scores that are probably least dependent on exposure are science and maybe English. Science doesn't test so much scientific knowledge as problem solving capability. I believe that was one of the highest scores for both of my kids as well, even the one who doesn't adore science.

I don't know what to make of the English and math scores not being where you'd expect, though.

While I'd rather the English be higher, it is what it is and time will help with that. His composite of 16 is 64th percetile for 8th graders so I am proud of that score. My question more lies with what the scores means for how his school is helping him. Thx!

I think those are good scores! You have every right to be proud. He just misses the DYS qualifying composite and math score by 1 point, and he hits it in Science. (He needs to hit a minimum composite, plus two subjects.)

DYS Qualifying score on EXPLORE
English: 19
Math: 16
Reading: 18
Science Reasoning 18
Composite: 17

Thanks for those scores, I forgot Davidson used them too. Does anyone know what age those scores are targeted to? He's 10 in 4th grade (just turned 10), I'm sure his scores will go up with another year under his belt in 5th grade.

Those are the 4th grade qualifying scores. For a 5th grader, they are

English: 22
Math: 18
Reading: 21
Science Reasoning: 20
Composite: 20

thx, just found it

You can see the Explore Results Summary for last year at Duke TIP here: http://www.tip.duke.edu/node/246 Column on right, bottom entry. It'll show last year's data, but you can see what percentage each test score corresponds to for 5th or 6th graders.

Probably not a lot of 4th graders taking it and it doesn't make sense to put percentile on small sample. I saw NUMATS award level score for 4th grader ( the summed score>83) which is higher than DYS level.

About 3,000 fourth graders took Explore at NUMATS last year. That is not small sample. They awarded 28 kids with sum score over 85.