Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment group IQ test?

My DD8 has been placed in a "pool of candidates" for the GT program at her school basically starting in 3rd grade. We have gotten form letters home last year and this stating she has been identified as "exceptionally able" supposedly to receive enrichment. Which I have assessed is extra math sheets for "early finishers" and being placed in the highest in class reading group. She took the Terra Nova standardized testing and scored 99th percentile for most areas. She had one score 94th and one 95th percentiles. I had been informed (following my requests for more challenging work for her) that if she scored high enough on Terra Nova, she would receive and IQ test and that would determine her eligibility for GT program starting 3rd Grade. I recently had phone conference with teacher (regular conferences scheduled for whole grade) and she mentioned that DDs IQ was 141 and had been given in group setting so there was some margin for error. Teacher stated that there was yet another test for her then the principal would decide entry to the program. She will not receive an individual IQ test. I did not ask the specific test because I was on breaking up cell phone but the school website indicates they use WISC-IV. How accurate is this in group setting? I have not found mention on line of this test being appropriate for groups. I wonder if I should have her individually tested or this is accurate enough. Thanks for any insight.

I'm not an expert but the Wisc0iv is NOT a group test.

There is NO group IQ test. There are group tests that are used as gifted screeners - but they are not IQ tests!

Regardless, it sounds like she did quite well and should be receiving some differentiation in the classroom.

As the other posters mentioned, IQ tests are not given in a group setting, but there are tests that are considered to be "ability" tests given in group settings (CogAT is one that is commonly used by schools as a gifted program screener). These tests usually measure "learned ability" vs the "innate ability" measured by an IQ test such as the WISC.

One thing you can do is to request a copy of your dd's school records, and that should include a copy of her gifted testing results, which will have the name of the test as well as her scores. Re whether or not you need to do that - as long as your dd is getting enrichment/acceleration/etc as needed at school, there's probably no reason to dig for more info other than to know for certain what that one particular data point is. OTOH, if there are programs outside of school you want to have her apply for, then it's a good idea to at least know what the test and score are in the event you could use it for admission to specific programs.

It sounds overall though like your school is at least proactive in id'ing children for gifted programming - which is great!

Best wishes,

polarbear