Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment SCAT Question

Hello, just a question out of curiosity. My son had to take the SCAT Math (I think it is referred to as the 'SCAT quantitative portion') to see if he could continue in the accelerated math track in middle school. I was/am seriously thinking of pulling him out since he has had such a poor experience in the accelerated math the past two years, which I think is mostly teacher related. The school admins/teachers (principal, gifted teacher, etc.), however, are saying he should try to continue the accelerated math track if he qualifies because the teacher in middle school will be a better fit for him. So they called me with the results of his SCAT test this past week. he scored an 80% which is what he needed to get in. I am curious about this tests. And I ask here because the school is very reticent about discussing the test because they don't want people prepping their kids. In fact, I am not even supposed to know it was the SCAT. Anyway. He is in 5th grade and allegedly scored 80% on the SCAT. I understand it is an above level test? Is this a "good" score? Is this 5th grade math or one or two grade levels up?

This all seems very odd to me. My son took the SCAT a few years ago so that he could enroll in CTY courses. He had to take it at a Prometric testing center. I don't think schools are allowed to administer it. This page on the CTY site seems to confirm that you have to take it at a Prometric test center. Scores weren't percentages, either. They were in a range like SAT scores (see JHU page).

CTY is very careful to guard that test, as they don't want people to prep for it. Letting random schools administer and grade it themselves would basically undermine all that. Is there another test called SCAT?

My DS took the SCAT at a Prometric testing center because I'm interested in signing him up for one of CTY's online courses.

I'm likewise, confused by the test and what the results mean. The report did include percentages and the number correct. It also said the test norm was 5 which I think means that DS was compared to 5th grade (he's in 3rd).

DS qualified for CTY in math (scored 99%, 49/50 problems correct) but didn't qualify in verbal. I don't know if DS didn't qualify in verbal because he ran out of time (he said he didn't get to answer 10 of the questions) or for some other reason. I was surprised DS didn't do so well on the verbal because that was his strongest area on the WISC. I was likewise somewhat surprised by how high DS scored on the quantitive.

How accurate is this test?

Hmmm it is definitely the SCAT. They do have it listed on district reports regarding the tests given.

Yup this is exactly my confusion. They gave it to the kids in 3rd grade to qualify for the accelerated program in elementary (SCAT as well as another test). My son scored somewhere around "80%" then too according to the school. Then in fifth grade, the kids in the accelerated program are given it again to see if they should continue in the accelerated program in middle school. They say they also consider grades, teacher input, etc. but that they look for at least an 80% on this test as well. They will not let me see the test or anything. They do not give me a report. The test is not even given by our regular math teachers. The admin in charge of curriculum (he keeps the PSSAs and other such tests, etc. as well) comes to the school to oversee the administration of it. I am kind of surprised my kid got 80% he said he ran out of time and had to leave 7 of the questions blank

Okay, well, maybe I will never know what this test says about him except that if we want him to continue in the accelerated math program in our middle school he is technically qualified.

Oh wait.

The SCAT as taken for CTY is an out-of-level test, and when they send scores out, the report says something like, "Little Susie (8th grade) scored 495, which is at the 98th percentile for 10th graders."

I've wondered who JHU norms it against. Maybe they send it out to schools as a grade-level test and use the test taken by lots of regular 7th graders as their screening test for 5th graders.

JHU is very secretive about the test because they don't want people to game it by prepping for it. The schools might have to sign confidentiality agreements with them as a condition of getting the test.

That's interesting speculation. I'll add some more speculation. Maybe the schools don't get norm-referenced scores, and can only report % correct (vs %ile). Not so sure JHU could use school grade-level administration to generate norms, if the schools are also using it as a GT selection test, because then it wouldn't be a representative sampling. Unless the schools try to develop local norms? Or use arbitrary cut scores? Or just pick the top 10% of test-takers?

I have heard of many local private schools administering the SCAT - they get authorization from JHU to be a test center for their students to take SCAT, I think (ETA: license it from JHU). I am also told that these schools in my area use SCAT instead of OLSAT and WJ because it is a time saver and gives them a quick screening test. So, it is possible that your son took the SCAT.

My son took the SCAT at the prometric center and the JHU website has detailed explanation of what the scores mean.

I don't know why I'm expending so much time on this , but fwiw, this page describes the licensing, scoring, and norm-generation services that CTY will provide to schools that wish to use SCAT :

http://cty.jhu.edu/international/services/CapabilitiesandServices.html

There are different levels of the test, and it appears percentages are comparisons to results of students in the higher grades the test was designed to measure. There's this from the CTY website:

CTY uses three levels of the SCAT:

Students in grades 2-3 take the Elementary SCAT designed for students in grades 4-5.
Students in grades 4-5 take the Intermediate SCAT designed for students in grades 6-8.
Students in grades 6 and above take the Advanced SCAT designed for students in grades 9-12.

Because this is an above-grade-level test, after the test, you’ll receive information that shows how your child’s score compares to that of students in the higher grades for whom the test questions were originally designed.