Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Newcomer trying to figure out which test was used.

I am new to all this, and have spent time reading many other threads in an effort to learn from all of your experiences. In February, my 5yo son was tested by our local school district for consideration in their self-contained AIG classroom (K-8). I had heard great things about it from acquaintances whose children went through the program, but was very unsure of whether he would qualify. I knew he was bright (fluent reader at 4, loves math and seems to understand more advanced concepts intuitively), but at the parent meeting, they were very clear that just being "advanced" doesn't mean a child will qualify. They implied they were looking for some rare combination of genius and creativity. I still thought why not test him to know what all our options are for K. I don't want him to be bored in school.

Well, he totally surprised me by being in the 99th percentile. They mailed results recently, and all it said was:
Nonverbal Cognitive 99
Verbal Cognitive 99
Achievement Reading 99
Achievement Math 99

A percentile of 97 or higher in two areas is the cutoff to qualify, so he got a spot. However, we just found out we will have to relocate across the country this summer! The school district where we are going does not have self-contained gifted programming and does not test for giftedness until the end of second grade. I still thought it would be useful to have his test results as I advocate for his learning needs going forward, so I called the office where he was tested and was completely caught off guard by their reaction. I told them we would have to give up his spot as we are unexpectedly relocating, and asked for a more detailed record of his assessment. She said there is no detailed report, and she could not even disclose the names of the tests they administered to him. She treated me like I was trying to do something sneaky, when all I want to know is what tests my child was given. Am I missing something here? I didn't argue with her, just said thank you and hung up. But now I am feeling overwhelmed. I did not expect to have a child with these kinds of needs. I want to make sure he gets his educational needs met as well as possible, and I am already running into resistance. I am feeling very overwhelmed and would welcome any advice you have or any guesses on what tests they may have given him to get those results. (He was in the testing room for about 45 min. When he came out he said, "that was fun, mom!" So at least no harm was done.)

If he was only in there for 45 minutes, and came out with four area scores, it most likely was a brief/screening assessment, not one of the major comprehensives, which means there probably is not much further detail to be obtained, other than the name of the instrument(s). It is unlikely the testing will compromise any future testing your new district might do, or that you might have done privately in your new community, which would be the primary reason that you might need to know the name.

You do have the letter from the district, which could still be used for advocacy.

Are the test scores part of his educational records at that school? FERPA may be on your side: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/brochures/parents.html

Not sure what test was used, but when you transfer schools, his complete records will be forwarded (or at least should be) to the new school. While the new school might not use the information, they should receive it.

In my district they will give you the raw scores, but nothing else. They will not give you a copy of the test. The raw scores did reveal which test they used. Make sure you give the letter from the district to the new school, they can call if they need more information, but if they don't have a gifted program it probably won't be something that they can use anyway. In our district they don't do testing until the 2nd grade, but they can still test earlier, but you may want to wait until 2nd grade so scores will be more stable. Is the new school an academically advanced school? My kids are both in a school that appears to be working about a year ahead (it's a high achieving school) which helps with my kids. The kids at this school are predominately bright (children of doctors, scientists, etc.) They do not have a gifted program either, although the teachers are told which kids are so that they can work with them where possible. Not ideal, but the kids I know that were identified gifted seem to be doing okay.

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Yes, I was thinking it was just some sort of screening tool that was used due to the short duration. Good to know that it shouldn't interfere with getting an accurate result on any future testing. If we stay in the public school setting, he wouldn't receive any more testing for over 2 years anyway. But if we decide to apply to a different school, he might need some testing sooner (for example, there is one "accelerated curriculum" private school in our new city, but it's pricey, and I don't know much about it yet). I just really wanted to know what instrument they used, because I feel a little silly passing "scores" along to his new school without knowing how they determined these percentiles. I don't know that the information is relevant anyway to Kindergarten in just a regular public school. Only scenario I can think of that might make the scores useful is if I were trying to persuade them to let him go up a grade or two for math and/or reading. But then they would probably determine that need for themselves using their own assessment.
What would you do? Should I just keep the results to myself until/unless it becomes necessary to share? And then staff from his school could call the district here and try to get more information if they need it? And why do you think the lady at the district office here was so suspicious of me on the phone? All I can think of is maybe some parents try to find out what screening tools are used and then prep their children, so they have to fiercely guard that info?

I hope this isn't too off-topic, but have you tried casting a wider net for the area you're moving to? Perhaps there's a neighboring district with a gifted program that starts earlier. You may be able to find a full list of programs available in your new state (e.g. here's the MN list: http://mcgt.net/full-time-gifted-school-programs).

That's a good idea, thank you! I did a search, and there are two public school full-time gifted programs for grades 1-8 in the nearest large city to us, but that's still a 1.5 hr drive one-way. There doesn't appear to be anything closer.

I feel very unsure of what his learning needs will be...he tends to blend in with his peers, and usually doesn't want them to know that he can read, etc. I just want to make sure he isn't overlooked, and he has the appropriate opportunities to be challenged and make progress at school each year.