Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Achievement testing questions

I have a few questions about achievement testing. My DS 6 is entering first grade in September. We recently moved back to the US after living two years in Sydney. DS began Kindergarten in AU knowing only letters. His teacher advised us as school was ending that she did some informal testing in class and his reading is at a 3rd grade level (AU), however she did not supply anything in writing. I would like to apply for DYS, his WPPSI scores should be fine and we keep a portfolio, but no actual achievement testing. I know of psychologists in our area who can do testing but the price is fairly high, and we are not in position to pay for it at this time. DS seems to be reading above grade level, but I'm not sure he is advanced enough to be considered for DYS. Are there any informal tests that I can do on our own to verify he is qualified, before laying out the $$ for professionally administered testing? On another note, his portfolio is not academic. It consists of hand drawn mazes, video of him playing guitar, pottery, artwork and science experiments he thought up on his own (he made a submarine out of a 2 litre bottle and coke cans and a mythbusters inspired boat out of construction paper, sponges and duct tape). Is a "non academic" portfolio acceptable? Thanks for any suggestions!

Hi there Venture! I got my DD5 tested for the Northwestern University Academic Program for K-9th graders. Here is the website. http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/

They have various locations you can go to for testing. We tested in Glen Ellyn. They did testing for reading, math, as well as verbal and nonverbal skill testing. I couldn't afford a full blown IQ test either as they run around $500. This will run you $110 which is much easier to swallow.

I hope this helps! The best of luck to you!

Azuil

Hi, so if I am reading this correctly he already had WPPSI done and some of his scores are >150?

To get an idea of his decoding level you can look online for http://rrf.org.uk/burtinstructions.htmlhttp://rrf.org.uk/burtinstructions.html
or http://www.readingkey.com/tests/readinglevel/readingtest.html


I "knew" that my dd would have no problem with at least the reading part of the achievement test since she was reading (for pleasure) books that were 6+ years ahead of her grade level.

If you already have the WPPSI, you could apply with that and the portfolio. If they need something else, they would let you know.

Good luck!

Thanks for the link Azuil, I'll check that out.

Hi Mam, I couldn't get either link to open, do I need a membership for one? DS was given the WPSSI and scored 147 Verbal and 148 performance. His processing speed was 116 which brought his FS to 147. The psych calculated FS without processing and it came to 153 (I know that prorating isn't official like the WISC). Davidson has raised the requirement for WPPSI test scores, so alone it doesn't look like these scores are acceptable. He has a strong portfolio showing that he thinks independently and creatively, but no formal academic testing scores so we are on the fence as to whether we should apply or not. I know that he is reading higher than grade level, but we'd like to show some evidence of that before sending in the application. I just turned in his application for first grade and the administrator said that he will be in one of the more advanced reading groups as there are kids entering that are still on letters. We're hoping for the academic support that Davidson can offer as our school district has a reputation for having the mindset that all children are gifted and don't offer any differentiation (at least they don't advertise it).

Dottie, thanks for that info. At this time I think we'll go ahead and see about WJ testing. If it comes back at the 145 mark then we'll probably apply, but I think we'll hold off on until we can forward as much information as possible. The WPPSI score is just under which is frustrating, but Davidson has those thresholds for a reason. Are both achievement tests pretty much the same, or is one better over the other for a child who is stronger verbally or otherwise? Thanks!

They likely moved the page. Here is a starting place for you: http://rrf.org.uk/resources.html

What is he reading on his own? If he is reading chapter books independently, then you can get a ball park figure of what that level would be by googling "title book AR level". That should give you a grade level equivalency.

My ydd was also on the just below mark for WPPSI as well, we applied with portfolio and were asked for more information. We'll do achievement testing for her later on. We think it will be better to wait until she has taken off more with both math and reading. She is leaping ahead right now, but we'll wait more....