Hi All, I am a mom of three children 9, 11, and 14. My 14 and 11 year old were designated Gifted in their 2nd gradeyear at our local public school. My 9 year olds experience in second grade at the same school( same teacher ) has not led to his being identified. My question is, can a child under acute stress only within his classroom environment result in his performing poorly on such a test as the OLSAT ?

I am asking because our district found that his teacher treated him in an inequitable manner when assessing his social growth and development( manipulated/used classmates judgement/gossip rather than her own experience with him to assign his grades ). The district then reversed many of this teachers report card marks and comments pertaining to our son . Looking back over the documentation, such treatment of him by her ( constant singling out for punishment /ridicule )that she used to justify her conclusions that he lacked progress and demonstrated an inability fo follow school rules or get a long with others - escalated after we complained, escalated daily the week of OLSAT , and started up again the day before State Testing.

Is it possible to railroad a child into- poor performance -through such acute emotional harassment ?

I am thinking of petitioning the district to have him retested (?)

Please advise !!!

Hey Hi5,

-treatment of him by her ( constant singling out for punishment /ridicule )

Oh my gosh yes, it is absolutly possible to railroad a child into poor performance!!! You know the saying that even bad attention is better than no attention? Same principal. Your child is being treated as a lesser student than the elder siblings and his self esteem could be damaged. The teacher is ignoring his abilities and why would he put himself out there, if he has tried before and just gotten a bad response.

You may seek out having him tested privately. That is the path I took with my DD.

What a sad situation. Best of luck!

Is he still in this teachers classroom?! I sure hope not.

I would certainly imagine stress was a factor when he took the test. Stress messes with all of us! Makes it hard to read correctly to pick up details properly, to think clearly, etc.

I would start with the school and see if he can't be reassessed by a different teacher. In my children's school district the teacher is allowed to give a recommendation, but does not do any of the testing.

Absolutely stress can play a role in test performance! I'm so sorry your son is having a stressful year in his current classroom.

One thing I'll suggest - you might want to consider private testing. It definitely sounds like the teacher situation causing problems, but I'm struck by the difference your ds' situation with her vs your older children having been through the same grade with the same teacher with no issues. Chances are it's totally the teacher, but I'd want to be sure. FWIW our 2e ds fell apart with stress in 2nd grade, and it looked to us (parents) like it was all an unreasonable teacher because his teacher was giving us feedback that seemed completely unlike what we saw at home. It's possible that stress could result in poor results on the OLSAT or other tests, but it might also be due to a 2e issue too - and it might be much easier to tease out through private testing than in school, but that's just our experience.

Best wishes,

polarbear

I was going to suggest private testing as well if the school will accept it. We saw a huge difference btwn scores on the CogAT (another group test) and the WISC for our anxious, 2e dd. She also had a horrible year and teacher fit the year she was tested on the CogAT.

Another thought is regarding group tests. There is a note on Hoagies about a study that shows a negative correlation with IQ scores for the OLSAT in HG kids; the more HG the child, the lower the OLSAT scores. The opposite held true in the study for average kids (OLSAT scores correlated pretty well with IQ).

Point being, if there is any possibility of ongoing anxiety, 2e issues, or a divergent thinker, an individual test would probably be a better way to go.

One thing to realize to is about the OLSAT- the verbal part is pretty much only analogies. if your child doesn't really know what that is, even if they are very verbally gifted, they might not do well on that. They might not know yet how to take a standardized test- like leaving questions blank. Etc.

Hi Everyone, Thank you so much for the quik responses.
jack'smom , right on the money with the testing lack of experience...in fact you jogged my memory in that during State testing , the teacher ( NOT this regular teacher since she suddenly took a " leave of absence " for a month when the district came to the campus to investigate our complaints ) called me after the first day of State testing and said my child and a few in class friends were challenging each other for "speed" in taking the test ! haha, as a result my child skipped two pages !!! She allowed them to go back and complete them because of their inexperience with a warning to slow down next time.
If my child skipped any pages on the OLSAT under the regular teacher, NO WAY would she bring that to anyones attention.
Is it possible for parents to see the original test booklet ? I have given the OLSAT a long time ago and I know they are returned to the test center for scoring... Any advise on this ?

Also, at this school, this teacher is like the gate keeper to the gifted/talented tag. She has actually laughed in the face of parents who have requested their child be tested ( before they went to the test-all policy) and of course told them "no".
Dont know how to go about getting a different test situation.
This same teacher signed my other two childrens documents.

I would like to have all my ducks in a row before I approach them for a possible retest aka , know whether or not it is possible since i suspect by allowing us to do so would be admitting again their teacher intentionally acted against our childs best interest due to personal bias etc...

Any further advice or support is greatly appreciated.