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

Hi,

I was wondering if one of you testing gurus (Dottie?) could explain something to me about the SCAT. We got DS8's scores today and he did pretty well: 453 Verbal and 435 Math. It gives percentiles against 4th graders since DS is in 2nd grade.

My question is how to define a "normative population of 4th graders." Does it mean they gave the SCAT to a regular population of kids to define norms, or is it based on a population of kids who had to qualify to take the test like DS did? I'm would imagine it's regular population, but am curious.

Thanks!

I had a similar question when our DS7 received his scores. Does a "normal" population mean an IQ 100? Or does it mean a random sampling? Or not under the gifted labeling?

Thanks Dottie! That is exactly what I've been wondering for the last month or so. We spent a few hours trying to decipher the graphs that were in the packet! Fun with statistics!

Thanks for the info, Dottie! I actually had a good time looking at those bar charts CTY sent with the SCAT results. It's been a long time since I took statistics in college, and for some reason the consistency with which the data fell into a bell curve distribution (particularly with larger groups) struck me as an interesting point to ponder, just relative to people in general. And in the couple of cases where the results didn't fall into that distribution, it is making me think what that might mean, too.

Don't know why I'm posting this other than I am finding it interesting and if I shared these thoughts with anyone else around here, they'd look at me like I was an idiot, and frankly I've felt like an idiot enough lately.