Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment EXPLORE test- general questions

Hello,
Davidson Academy has tweaked the admissions requirements and it appears that it will be mandatory for certain candidates to take the EXPLORE test. I am not familiar with it at all and have not had any luck finding anywhere to test my child. Any information about the test would be appreciated.

I am particularly interested in the test to know if it is timed as processing speed is still a challenge and if this is considered another "achievement" test.

Yes, it is an achievement test and yes it is timed. If your child has an IEP or 504 plan in school you might be able to get the same accommodations he has there (if extra time is part of that). Dd11 had a 504 for some time with time accommodations due to a SID dx and she has some of the same accommodations written into her ALP now.

I'm not sure if her issues are big enough that we could legitimately ask for extra time on tests like the EXPLORE or SAT, though, and we have never sought that.

General info on EXPLORE and test centers is probably available on ACT's website: http://www.actstudent.org/explore/ Your regional talent search may be able to help you find a testing location.

As far as where to test - I believe our on-forum friend Dandy was able to find an option for testing for Explore through the Belin-Blank Center... This is a fairly vague recollection, but search Dandy's posts from the last 2-3 months. Not sure if that helps - if not, feel free to ignore me. My kids certainly do

I think there was discussion on this board earlier this summer about taking the Explore test locally. I vaguely remember that you can take Explore at your base school if an administrator/teacher is willing to administer it via the Duke TIP program if the child is 4th grade or above. I think your dc has to be registered with the TIP program first.

The processing speed concerns me as well. Coming from a private school, I don't think dd could get a 504/IEP even though she would probably qualify if she was in public school. There must be a work around here. I'm assuming a lots of Davidson applicants are coming from homeschool environments.

Here's the pertinent info:

Thank you for the testing information- I will contact them to see if they have suggestions on how to coordinate if we are home-schooling.

My gut reaction was exactly what Dottie indicated, perhaps they are trying to push the age up a bit. There was quite a bit of discussion last month about when kids are ready to go emotionally.

Can someone explain when they say the "6th grade" Explore test?
I keep reading that it is normed for 8th or 9th grade.
Thanks

There IS only one Explore test, and it's designed for 8th graders. I guess it's sort of a misnomer for DA to say "6th grade Explore," but I think this is a holdover from when there used to be different qualification levels depending on what grade the child was in at the time. Since DA now has only one acceptable set of scores using the Explore test, it doesn't really mean anything (other, I suppose, than the fact that 7th or 8th graders could NOT qualify using Explore).

Can anyone offer insight into why the new DA cuts are so much higher than the DYS cuts? There is no GAI for WISC-IV and higher scores across the board for SAT, ACT & EXPLORE.

If DYS is the 99.9%, what do the new DA cuts represent?

Also, there used to be EXPLORE scores for 4th and 5th grade. It seems they are narrowing their focus to older, more mature students now. Anyone know the average age of new students to the middle school?

We had been considering DA as one of our future possibilities, but it is looking further in the future now...

I don't think that DA is trying to set a higher bar (i.e. higher than 99.9%). I think that they're probably trying to focus on slightly older kids, perhaps for social and emotional reasons, perhaps because of the issues with study skills and managing workloads. Perhaps because it will make for a more cohesive group if they have less of a spread in age.

At any rate, it seems to me that what they are looking for are kids who are working at a high school level, and probably at (or close to) middle school age. I'm not sure if their information still refers to kids working at a middle school level, but any kid who gets those scores on the Explore is working above a middle school level, at least in terms of content.

This is definitely the feeling we are getting. In fact, I sent an email to the school over a week ago with similar EXPLORE questions as I raised here and have not even received the courtesy of a reply. While it appears that they are looking more for high school level work and middle school age kids, (although their literature still says otherwise and talks about pre-algebra, etc.)we are also wondering if the new residential pilot program doesn't have a lot to do with this.

Now that Davidson will take boarders (for a fee) it seems like a likely motive to aim for older and more mature students as suggested above.

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed.