Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Discrepancies in Test Results

My daughter is 6. We�ve been working hard to get her identified. She was enrolled at a private school. Last November, we had her evaluated by a licensed psychologist (who administered the full WISC-V as well as the Kaufman test in some areas). Testing took several hours. It was determined that her full IQ was 141.

Since then, we have decided to enroll her at a public school that has a gifted program. We had stopped in the central office for an orientation program and met the special education director who then shuffled her to an educational diagnostician. He then took her for a gifted screening test (I believe it was the CoGaT). The test took about 25 minutes. The diagnostician came back and said her score was in the mid-120s.

I�m just confused as to why such different numbers? Did her IQ really go down that much?

I�m new to all of this, so thanks for being patient.

I'm not really and expert, but from what I've read on these forums and elsewhere is that CogAT is an ability test and not an IQ test. In other words the two tests measure different things so the scores will naturally be different.

Thank you! I�m clearly new at all of this! I was concerned that maybe her score went down because we were caught off guard and really weren�t expecting any screening that day. I know she was a bit nervous when he took her away.

I think it should be a CoGAT screener since it took less time to complete. CoGAT all batteries should take more than 25 minutes to complete.

Thanks so much. I am so uneducated about all of this.

Yes to PPs. A 25-minute CogAT is definitely a screener (probably the 3-subtest version). Actually, it's expected to take 39 minutes, but maybe she worked more quickly. And yes, students not unusually score differently on the WISC-V and the CogAT, even when it's the comprehensive CogAT. Young students in particular can generate unstable scores. Was it the computer-administered CogAT? Sometimes that affects young students negatively, especially those who haven't previously had much standardized testing experience.

I honestly have no clue! It�s what the psychologist used.

I debated testing her at all this young, but it was actually suggested for us look into
testing her when she was 2 by a child therapist who ran a Mother�s Day out program. She knew she was different. We put it off. I didn�t want to label her. It became more apparent when she started a pre-k program. We still waited. It wasn�t until were into the second quarter of first grade that went went ahead and had her evaluated.
She was at a private school, and we were basically paying for her to socialize. She would come home and want more (because she wasn�t learning much, if anything). She was reading at 3 and is still well above level in both reading and math. Most of it she�s learned on her own at home.
We are trying to move her to public school and getting her into a gifted program.
Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated. I have no idea what I�m doing, and I�m trying to educate myself as much as possible.

Thank you all for your responses!