Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Kaufman test of academic achievement scoring?

Does anybody know anything about how KTAE is scored? After 3 months of war with my DD's teacher and principal, they finally gave her an achievement test (KTAE). They informed me that she scored between 70 and 95% for all kinds of subtests (math, reading, spelling, etc), 75% overall, scored for 8 years and 2 months (she is 6 years and 2 months). Why in the whole world would they score it for an age that has nothing to do with her age? In the stupid report (10 line long) we got, it was mentioned that she will be asigned extra homework (at the REQUEST of parents), and that she needs to learn to connect sentences (that's straight from her idiot teacher's mouth), therefore she needs to stay in first grade. Hello -- it does not add up. Independent testing shows she's better than 75% of third graders and you tell me she needs to connect sentences and needs to stay in first grade? I am ready to bite the bullet and pay for compreehnsive testing- whatever much it would cost, but I am questioning how useful that would be for the dear school system. Has anybody used any of the people on this list?
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/professionals.htm
We happen to live within 10 miles of one of them...

Gracias...

Darn-- I don't know. The "report" is really lousy, I think I have 3 scores (math- 77%, reading 81% and spelling some 75%), and an overall score of 75%. Plus an age . The explicit term AE does not appear in the report. I can give you the exact wording of the e-mail later- but the e-mail was written by the school principal (not the person administering the test), so it is highly likely that the fine details that you are pointing me to got lost in translation.. Can you give me the 2 scenarios? Without any knowledge of the test, and after you point me to this detail, my guess is that only the AE would make any sense.. Why would you score a kid for an age that has nothing to do with his/her age..

Thanks bunches.

Thanks. I will post the exact e-mail I got from the principal once I get access to it from home later today. I am pretty sure that that level of detail was not available in the e-mail, but I might be wrong. I can ask the school tester, but I have already left 4 voice mails in her answering machine asking for clarifications, and she has returned none of my calls.

Basically I am pretty sure that my DD is not a genius :), but I have a relatively poor baseline. I have not met too many geniuses at the age of 6, and she's my first kid, so I have nobody to reference against . I know she adds/subtracts/divides and reads pretty much anything. She is being fed coloring assignments by her school. I do not care about her being labeled as gifted, I care about her being challenged in school to her level, and bringing her back from lala land. She respects authority to the extreme and does not complain, but lives in hee separate world at school. Since the gifted program at her school is inexistent, I feel like the potential solution for her to be challenged in school is for her to skip a grade. But I am not sure this is best for her, and hope that all this testing can somehow help me answer this...

Thanks. I thought I had the right to this information when I initially requested it 2 weeks ago, but thew 4 line e-mail report is all I got. I'll keep on trying :), but will post the 4 liner later today .

OK, Dottie, here is the e-mail . I took out the names, but left things unchanged.

"Mrs. xx gave DD the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement. She scored the test results for a student that is 8yrs and 2months-3rd grade: Mathematics 77%, Reading 81%, spelling 77% and a composite score of 75% Below are Mrs. Sugarman's comments

The KTEA test indicated a higher level of math functioning with logarithms. Another test would need to be administered to ascertain levels of performance with concepts and problem solving/application. Observations of the classroom work in the area of writing indicate a repetitive nature of sentence development appropriate to first grade. She needs to work on developing details and using transition words. When working in the classroom with other children, she is quiet and does not show much affect. One on one with me, she was smiling and engaged.

See if you can make more sense than me
Thanks

Thanks Dottie. Questions.. I have asked by the hundreds. Answers.. I have gotten pretty much none. Although I am sick and tired of how many meetings I had with the teacher, principal and school psychologist (they all have the mantra that "a child has to be a child", which is a good justification for them doing absolutely nothing and promoting under-achievement). I was hoping that I could take these test results and stop by superintendent's office, but what I have right now is garbage (ie 4 lines with results from a test that was improperly scored..). Maybe I'll stop by anyways for lack of a better idea . I really need a good examination from a psychologist to tell me if she's slightly above average or way above average. In case one, I'll put her back in private school (she was in a Montessori evironment for 3 years prior to joining the public school), as the public school definitely sucks at this grade level. They are not challenging her nearly enough- she's gone through most of their library in these 3 months of school (after doing a lousy job at her coloring assignments), and she's gotten as good as doing her regular school homework in .. 23 seconds . In case two, I am tempted to fight the public school to move her up a grade, in that case, she will definitely be a litlle more challenged... I found a link on the web with psychologists who seem very qualified to assess gifted children, and one of them is in our city-- I wonder if this website is remotely reliable regarding recommendations..
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/professionals.htm

Thanks again.

Yup, very reliable. I personally recommended a tester. The only way they get up there is if parents who have used the psych liked the person.

BTW, about the "let the kid be a kid" comment--which always grinds my gears!--some here have had luck with calmly responding something to this effect: "I agree completely that we must let kids be themselves, since they're all unique individuals. MY unique child needs more challenge to be happy. Now, what can we do to serve her needs?"

Something like that...

Hang in there! It sounds like they're throwing up loads of roadblocks.

Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas. I went to pick up my daughter from school, and bumped into the pricipal. She kind of had to give me the scoring sheet from KTEA. I figured out why they did not give me the results scored for my DD6's age. They acually scored her that way, too, but they kind of ran out of range (she was 99.9% in math, 99.9% in spelling, and a measly 98% in reading). So they scored teh test assuming that my daughter was 2 years higher than her age and provided me with those (more --apparently-- earthly) results. And I also bumped into my DD's teacher today, who promised that she will try to start enrichment in math in January. I will make sure I will go to the dentist to make sure that my fillings are properly attached, they might fall off when this is happening . Oh, well, at least I have some piece of paper which is less than garbage and tells me I am not completely insane. I might take it with me when I visit the superintendent

Is there a school of creative data interpretation they're sending principals to now?
Maybe my principal can give your principal the bogus preliminary norms for the MAP test. Then they can tell you her scores are 81% and 77% when the actual scores are 99% and 98%.

Word to the wise: If you get a handwritten MAP score, ask for the printout with the NWEA logo at the top. Trust but verify!

I hope you have better luck getting this addressed than I did. I got a letter back from the district assessment coordinator that "the choices that schools make regarding which reports to use is a school decision." I guess it's only pushy parents who care whether the data is accurate or not.

That is dirty and underhanded. I hope you don't let it sit....

tsk, tsk, tsk.


That's priceless, save that letter.....