Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment SCAT as acceleration argument

What kind of support does SCAT testing results lend to an argument for subject acceleration? We have the (46) raw and scaled scores, but how can I best use them?

Which SCAT score - V or M? And I'm assuming this is the CTY SCAT.

Unfortunately, I doubt it can be used on it's own. It's a proprietary test, given only to a specific subset of the population by one specific organization. I know CTY provides percentile ratings against higher grade levels, but I've never seen any evidence that this is regularly normed/evaluated/updated since JH bought the test many years ago.

Without your child's grade level it's difficult to comment, and the scaled score, somewhere in the 400-500+ range, is more commonly used for SCAT.

That's really good score.

Most people do not know SCAT. But if you explain this is from JHU and the test is 2 grades above level testing, it's easier to understand. You may send info with the link, references, etc...
Here's one. http://cty.jhu.edu/talent/docs/Webinar%20Presentions/2015AfterTestingWebinar.pdf

I advocated with my DD's SCAT result. The administration agreed and tried to help but they simply did not have resources and we ended up moving to a different school district.

The other test EXPLORE and new PSAT is well known and you won't need explaining to do. But for 2nd and 3rd graders (most states), SCAT is the only available test.

Yes, the CTY SCAT elementary as a 3rd grader. Math scaled 463

This was our experience... however... with a high SCAT score, you have data to support a request to test using district or classroom grade-level achievement tests, which is what worked best in our elementary schools to advocate for math acceleration. These were tests that showed mastery of grade level curriculum. It also would be helpful to try to find out what your school or school district policy are re acceleration.

Best wishes,

polarbear

If you haven't already found it, in the Test Scores section on MyCTY, you'll find the 2015 scoring report. That shows your child in the upper 80's percentile range among gifted students that typically take the SCAT. The score report will also show the percentile against above-grade students. This data should at least be usable to convince the school to investigate/provide additional testing.

Be persistent. My DD12 who recently qualified for DYS, CTY SET, etc., was turned down on our initial application to our school's gifted program in K. We had to pay for an independent IQ test to get her in.

We were able to use our son's SCAT math score for subject acceleration advocacy (along with the data the school already had). But we live near JHU and our school's gifted teachers are very familiar with CTY (and many gifted students here attend CTY), so that probably helped. It doesn't hurt to try. I would bring CTY's explanation of the test and percentile comparisons.

How is that percentile different from the Quant Percentile they otherwise provide?

Going from memory, but... The Verb- and Quant-Percentile on the score report, and on the MyCTY Test Scores table, are the percentiles against the Comparison Group. For my DD12, how she scored vs. the above-peer comparison group (9th graders in her case). In the linked Score pdf, you can see performance against the other test takers through CTY. (other 6th graders)

(the peer percentile I posted above is based on previous year data, assuming it's consistent year-to-year, which appears to be accurate from the data I've looked at)