Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment What's the top scaled score on the SCAT?

It all confuses me. The only thing I do know is that my DS hates math and thinks he's no good at it, all evidence to the contrary. Sigh.

The bottom line, IMHO, is that the SCAT reporting seems to be confusing, if not misleading, and the percentiles that they give are probably of very limited value.

The main reason to take the test is to qualify for CTY offerings. Other than that, I suppose you could use them to mark progress from year to year, but with such a short test it's probably better to use the EXPLORE (or something else).

While waiting for my son to finish the SCAT, I met a mother whose 3rd grade son was also taking the SCAT, as well as another father there with his 4th grade daughter.

The boy is the same age as ours -- within days -- but because his school has a robust GT program, he's in a self-contained classroom with similarly bright 3rd graders. They are working, however, on 4th thru 6th grade material, based on individual student abilities. The girl attended the same school as this other boy, and like him, was the typical age for her grade, enrolled in a 4th grade GT classroom.

My son, in contrast, is in a regular 5th grade classroom (after a mid-year skip) because our district has no GT program to offer due to lack of funding.

The other boy registered with CTY as a 3rd grader, while my son (same age) had to register as a 4th grader (CTY looks at grade enrollment as of September).

Multiply this across the country and I don't see how the report can make any sense at all if they are comparing grade-level results.

Hocus-pocus, indeed.

Hopefully he will qualify for the summer program -- he looked through last year's course selection and saw a few items of interest.

I agree that there is a certain unfairness in testing by grade level, and it works to the disadvantage of kids who have been grade skipped.

However, while it seems unfair to those kids, it does make sense. It's the kids in the same grade level (and NOT the kids of the same age) whom they are going to be compared to when they apply to college. Unfortunately, that's one of the disadvantages of grade skipping. By doing so, you are acknowledging that from then on your child will compete with, and be compared to, the children in their new grade.

Excellent point, NJMom. I'd never before considered the
effect of skipping in terms of testing for college. That almost makes too much sense.

I'll try not worry about age v. grade comparisons any more. At least until the Explore!

Thx,

Dandy

Actually, I think it's fair to test at grade level, as it's an out of grade level test. If a child is two years accelerated taking the SCAT at the typical age appropriate grade, the SCAT won't be an out of level test. Right? Again, I see the SCAT just as a means to qualify for CTY programs (and I'm not at all sure why they even require it other than as a revenue generator). I see the whole system as a bit of a rip-off. For example, I understand having to pay the test center for another test a year later or whenever, but why does CTY charge another full registration fee for kids already in the system?

So I suppose I should quit worrying so much... he qualified for the summer program (our goal) and will receive a certificate (bonus).

The scores were posted this afternoon:
Grade 4 - Form IY1 - Norm 6S
Verbal | Raw:39 | SS:457 | PR:91
Quant. | Raw:37 | SS:474 | PR:95

FYI:
I called CTY/JHU this morning and received the myCTY login info over the phone... and was able to access the site to receive his scores. No waiting. That was a plus.

Congrats Dandy. Hope he enjoys CTY.

Do you have certain classes inmind yet?

What is a certificate?

Would you like to share why you choose CTY/JHU. My DS is probally going to do Northwesterns GLL this summer.

Nope. The course catalog just got posted at CTY, so we'll be looking through them with DS this week.


1.) Locations for Summer Program. They have residential programs at a couple of universities within driving distance. [We can put a man on the moon, but I can't convince my wife to let him fly unaccompanied. (Apparently thousands of children are lost by the airlines every year, but we never hear about it. Or something like that.)]

2.) Distance Learning. CTY has a more robust course offering than EPGY for K-6.
http://cty.jhu.edu/ctyonline/courseskt4.html

Thanks, kcab. I had thought he did well b/c he was actually one year up in math by the time he took the test, so it wasn't that much of an out of level test for him. If the SCAT is accurate, I guess I should be more patient for the math interest to kick in ... And I guess in general where he messes up in math is with computation - sloppy errors, refusal to write things down, going too fast (to get it over with), etc. I guess I'll get a better picture of his math abilities as time goes on. I was rather surprised by his SCAT scores, as all I hear are complaints about how he hates math and how he's not gifted in math.