Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Who should pay for IQ testing

Good morning! I posted recently about moving with a grade accelerated child. We will be moving to two different states. I called and spoke with the administration for the second state and my husband spoke with the administration for the first state. My husband was given incorrect information and I just found out that the first state will not allow my DD to go into second grade since there was no formal acceleration plan and we do not have an IQ score, just achievement testing.

My question is should we have to pay for the IQ testing, or should this be on the school? I will pay for it if need be, but in my opinion her grades and achievement scores should be more then sufficient to warrant her continuing on to second grade.

My daughter is reading and comprehending on a 3rd grade level, and is at a 2nd grade level for math. Placing her in first grade for a second time would be extremely detrimental in my opinion.

Also, does anyone here have experience with the interstate compact on educational opportunities for military children? My husband and I are both active duty and I think I may be able to push the issue using the compact to get her into second grade, but I am not sure if this falls directly under that or not.

Thank you so much!

I can't find your other post, so I'm sorry if I'm missing details you already shared. Are you saying that your daughter is completing first grade in her current school, yet a new school wants to put her back in first grade in the fall?

Reason(s) for the school to pay for IQ testing:

-- to determine placement

-- parents prefer not to pay for it themselves

(ask yourself how likely they are to want a high-cost alternative to achievement testing, and then ask yourself what impetus they have to seek accurate information if everyone suspects that the child might be HG+, maybe even way beyond HG.)


Reasons for YOU to pay for it instead:

-- YOU control who sees the information

-- YOU get the full report

-- YOU choose who does the assessment

-- YOU choose what tool the evaluator will use


--------------------------

Honestly, those are pretty compelling reasons for outside evaluation. Assuming that you need it to begin with, of course.

Connecting Dots: Yes, they are saying that despite completing first grade in her current school she would have to go back to first grade because the way she was accelerated does not fall within the new state's law on acceleration. They said if I have an IQ test done and she scores over 130 she will be okay to move into second. I think it comes down to how they are funded. If she is not accelerated according to their laws, they do not receive funding for her.

HK: They said that achievement testing is not enough. The state requires an IQ over 130 or to see an acceleration plan from her current school, which was never done. I feel that if this is a state requirement they should pay for it, but I am leaning toward paying for it myself this summer because of some of the reasons you listed.

Have the present school write an acceleration plan.

Geofizz: I called the principal today, so hopefully we can get something in writing. The new school didn't tell me how extensive it has to be. I think as long as I get her current school to say her testing shows she should be accelerated and that the district administration agrees we should be okay.

I think I may just bite the bullet and get her tested this summer. It is something that I have really been thinking about doing for awhile, but now it seems like it may be a necessity with us constantly moving.

My state board of ed has model acceleration plans on their website. Send one to the current principal.

HK made some excellent points about allowing the school to pay for testing or having it done privately. Since we went through this recently, a couple of points to add:

School testing:

-May utilize a test that is otherwise useless elsewhere (requiring retesting of child later with another test if child needs a school change, etc.)

-May utilize a test that offers a poor estimate of your child's abilities

- May utilize a test with ceilings that are too low for your child (resulting in a score that is an underestimate of the child's true abilities)

Many of these problems can be avoided with private testing.

So they won't accept completion of a grade level at another school? I know you must be banging your head on the table, as this seems completely illogical. If a parent hadn't said she had been accelerated, how would they even know?

We elected for private testing last summer primarily due to wanting to know whether DS was gifted or just suffering from behavioral issues. However, we also appreciated the fact that in changing schools, whether locally (as we did) or because of likely later moves, we would have evidence of his ability.

Have you seen this in writing at the State's Dept of Ed website or elsewhere? It just sounds odd to me. When we looked into early entry for our ds, we found out that in our state there is a hard and fast barrier to early entry acceleration but that once a student has completed first grade that age-requirement is eliminated. I can't recall if this is a state law here or a school district policy but it was put in place because of the difference in timing of kindergarten cut-offs in different states. Our cutoff is in early fall, but some states don't put the 5 year old cutoff effective for kindy until December or January 1 - so if the district was carrying over the no-acceleration policy, there would be quite a few families every single year caught in a big loophole of having to send their child to first grade for the second time.

Sooo... one thing you might think of doing is calling in to the school district that you are looking at anonymously and tell them you are transferring in with an incoming second grader who's birthdate is one month past the kindy-entry date in the school district and ask them if she needs to provide any extra paperwork for entering 2nd grade in the fall.

Another thought - it's so danged easy to register for school here. Have you thought of just showing up at registration and registering her, taking along a copy of her report cards from the previous school and telling the folks at registration she's a second grader? I don't think any of the volunteers at our schools' registration would be on the ball enough to double check an incoming 2nd-graders birthdate - seriously. They are all over making sure you have immunization forms and fees, but that's about it. Then once she's registered and in class... fight the battle if it's in question. Truthfully, I wouldn't do this, I'd try to take care of it up front, but in reality I'm not sure it wouldn't be completely do-able, at least in our area.

Best wishes,

polarbear

I am going to look into it further. I think it seems crazy too. I would like to try just showing up, but it is such a rural community they will know it is us. There are only 10 kids in the entire first grade, and that is for the the entire county.

I would second calling the state DOE and asking for transfer policies between districts, based on differences in cut-off dates. Generally speaking, if the district mandates an assessment as a criterion for eligibility to a program, they have to provide it. They don't have to pay for it if they have a qualified person and you choose to have it done elsewhere.

Oh, and in most states that I know of, if you have completed first grade, there are no more minimum age requirements for promotion. On the other hand, in some districts, promotion is the decision of the school alone.

And the interstate compact for military families is referenced in a number of state DOE websites about age of entry. I just checked a semi-random sampling.

Thank you so much everyone for your advice. I was able to talk to the state's point of contact for the compact. I was told that my daughter is eligible under it, and will be allowed to move to second grade regardless of a formal plan or testing. I wasn't positive previously due to the wording of the compact.

She is going to call the superintendent of the district and let them know. She told me that she understood why they told me what they did. It would be a funding issue if one of those two items is not in place, and my daughter didn't fall under the compact.

I think I will still see if my DD's current school will write up a plan just so I have that in my back pocket.

Thank you again everyone!!

That's great news!