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My 7 yo is in a G&T class this year and they are going to do a math assessment soon to determine their math level. The frustrating part is the teacher is just going to use the end of the year 2nd grade math assessment from Everyday Math. I really don't feel this is an accurate way to assess a student's math ability but that is a whole 'nother issue. Also since our school is big on "we don't want gaps" with math the teacher said she will probably have them all on an accelerated 2nd grade math curriculum.

Dd has yet to be accelerated in math. We don't do anything out of school except for maybe the occasional challenge story problem to get her thinking. I do know that in 2nd grade Everyday Math they learn/are expected to know what median, mode, and range are. This is something dd hasn't been exposed to so she would have no clue as to how to answer this.

So my question is should I give her a quick lesson as to what these terms are? Or should we go in completely 'blind' and just see how she does?

Last year dd was bored to death in math and she really needs a challenge this year so I view this 'assessment' as an important piece of her success in the G&T program this year.

I would definitely tell her. DD9 was not accelerated in math last year primarily due to lack of vocabulary, rather than lack of skills or aptitude, and she had a rough year.

I agree with ElizabethN. Just tell her what
they are and then see how she does.
It's not an accurate test of her abilities
if it's asking about concepts she's never
heard of. Especially if the teacher uses
that as an excuse to not accelerate.

Good luck!

Will she forget it the day after you tell her or will she learn it and keep it? Does she understand the idea of a data population and looking at summary information for those?

DS7 is interested in all sorts of math, he's even looked at random bits of calculus. If I redefine derivative for him, he'll retain it for a few days, but he'll forget it because he doesn't quite yet have the context to make it a permanent part of his mathematical thinking.

Oh wait, nevermind all that, the right longitudinal outcome is far more important than the momentary philosophical one.

Oh, definitely take a few minutes to explain what the terms mean in math. It's likely she'll retain it as the terms are actually intuitive in this case.

See if you can come up with a real life example from the paper or something.