Has anyone gotten February EXPLORE results?

Last year they showed up in the toolbox on March 31, so it should be sometime soon!

We were told today by NUMATS that they don't have the scores yet (to be able to post in the toolbox), but anticipated we should receive them in the mail within the next few days. Oh the suspense!!!

Thanks for the information! I was hoping to have them by the weekend, so I appreciate knowing that there is still a chance!

Received scores in mail today. Qualified on composite, science but missed english by 1 point.

5th grader scores
English 21
Math 15
Reading 19
Science 24
Composite 20

I thought that the cutoff is based on the total ( 21+15+19+24 = 79),
not based on the sub area or composite.

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....09/Numats_Award_Criteria.html#Post152009

Is the rule changed for 2013?

5th grade results:

Composite: 20
English: 18
Math: 17
Reading: 22
Science: 21

sorry, I was talking DYS qualifications.

Great scores! Congrats to you both.

What part of the country are you in, and through whom did you test, if you don't mind me asking?

Hi, Gabalyn,

Duke Tip/ NC

Received DD's Explore results and now we are sort of confused. Overall we are extremely proud of her considering this was the first time she has taken any type of test like this (she hadn't even done any standardized testing at school yet) and she is only in 3rd grade. She was the only 3rd grader at our test site and she was a bit nervous about not knowing anyone else and being in an unfamiliar place.

Here are her scores
English - 14
Math - 13
Reading - 12
Science - 15

What has us confused is - reading was her lowest score and we really anticipated that to be her highest. She reads at least 3+ years above grade level with great comprehension. Reading was even lower than her math score. She is above grade level in math, but not near where she is with reading - and math hasn't really been her thing (not that her math test score was high by any great means, but just higher than reading).

Anyone have any thoughts why a child who has always seemed to be obviously advanced in reading would not do well on the reading portion of the Explore? She didn't have much to say after the test other than she answered all the questions and had time to spare to go back and recheck. She felt she did okay. I had previously mentioned in a post that I was concerned she would spend more time looking around the testing room at whatever was on the wall, etc. than she would working on the test, so that may be part of what happened.

1Frugal mom, I don't know about the reading part but I would say those are very good scores especially considering her age and I'm guessing lack of experience with these kinds of tests. (My own DS didn't take a grade-level achievement test until the end of third grade.)


Edited to add: Sorry. I clearly didn't read your whole post well. I see now that you said this was her first test and that you're proud.

1frugalmom, I don't know much about the explore, but when my daughter took her grade level achievement test in 3rd grade, she didn't do super great on reading, and did better in math, and she is a very verbal kid who reads a ton with great comprehension. I'm not sure what happened, but I wonder if a kid reads high level books for enjoyment and gets the nuance, etc, maybe reading dry passages and then "identifying the main idea" or whatever doesn't really hold their interest. I'm not sure that a reading comp test can ever really accurately measure the way a sophisticated reader who loves reading integrates a text. Maybe?

Tested through NUMATS in NC. Live in VA.

@1frugalmom, Don't worry about the reading score. I bet your kid just love to read for fun, not read to answer the comprehensive questions. For math, some factors would affect the score significantly:
(1) how familar is the problem?
(2) Any knowledge gap?
(3) how quick to come up with a strategy to solve the problem?
(4) how fast is the calculation especially multiply/divide?
(5) proper calculator usage.

erich - I agree with you on the math. DD hadn't probably even seen a lot of what was on the math portion of the test yet. We didn't do any prep besides the practice test they sent because we wanted the best true representation of how she could do and we don't agree with "teaching to the test". We showed her how to use the calculator since she had never done more than just play with one before and she told us she didn't even use it on the test.

She isn't truly out-there mathy and will tell you she doesn't like math she is just good at it (her words). I think she is better than what she thinks, but she is a very apathetic gifted kid. As long as she has a book she is enjoying, legos to build with, can play outside, and is allowed to be creative in any way she currently sees fit....she is happy.

We were hoping the Explore would give us a better indication of where she is at for some acceleration and changes to her IEP for next year. We were thrown off when her reading score wasn't really out there as we expected. We had also secretly hoped for scores at least close to DYS so we could get help figuring her out and how to best help her, but she is quite a ways from that mark. We will trudge along and maybe have her take the test again next year - since now she knows what the test is like maybe she will surprise us.

Received the Explore test in the mail today:

4th grader:

Reading-16
Science-21
English-24
Math-25

Composite 22


I understand those are good scores, except for the reading part maybe, which is surprising because he is a very good reader.
Now, what do I do with these scores? Would I be able to negotiate with his school to let him skip a grade? He is extremely bored in school, very morning it is the same story, can I stay home today, and study on my own, or can you homeschool me?

I should mention that he is a new kid in class, and isn't used to the American system of education. He spent the last four years of his life in Russia, where he went to the British school. As the headmaster realized how academically ahead of DS was, he suggested to skip a year, and we agreed. But, once we moved to US, the school refused to place him in a grade above his biological age. I really don't know what to do, as I we cant afford private school right now, but seeing him so miserable in school breaks my heart.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

I think you may have something here. She is not a kid that likes to really show what she can do and if she isn't interested in something, moving Heaven and Earth will not change that. She will do the bare minimum that she has to do then she is done and once she has done something and knows she understands it she doesn't see a need in doing it again just because the teacher tells her she needs to. This is part of our frustration in trying to figure out how to best advocate for her.

As a side note - the month after she took the Explore she took the school's reading state assessment. We will be curious to see how she did after taking the above level test.

Those are excellent scores! I think you have a great case for acceleration and if you do some research you will find lots of information to back you up.

We had a good experience recently advocating for subject acceleration (DS doesn't want to skip a whole grade) when we brought our DS's scores into the middle school where DS will attend next year. The principal, being familiar with Explore tests, looked at the scores and agreed subject acceleration was needed.

I believe those scores make the cut for DYS with room to spare. Consider applying. They may be able to help you advocate.

Congrats!

The school should let him grade skip. He should be doing High School Math not elementary. Talk to elementary school as well as middle school administrators.

Good Luck!

We received scores today from the February test. 6th grader's scores:

Composite: 22
English: 23
Math: 23
Reading: 19 (this was down from a 21 as a 5th grader)
Science: 22

Everything except Reading is a Davidson qualifying score. Unfortunately we don't have WISC scores to go with it!

revmom,

Congratulations to your 6th grader! You could still compile a portfolio if you're interested in DYS. Those are excellent scores!

They came in the mail today. We tested through Belin-Blank this year. We didn't get reports until early April last year, but we tested through C-Mites last year.

I don't have an answer for you, but I don't think reading a few years above grade level necessarily correlates to high Reading scores on the Explore. I can commiserate because DD9 tanked the reading section this year and her reading score actually dropped a couple of points to 13. This pulled her composite down to 16 so again she missed the DYS cut and can't join her twin. At least with DD, it's mostly a time factor. She is slow and left even more questions unanswered this year because she needs time to think it through so not the best test taker.

Just got dd's scores.

5th grade
composite 21
English 25
Math 16
Reading 22
Science 20

I read somewhere about a pyramid with A, B, and C ranges that recommends a level of acceleration, etc. based on scores. Does anyone have access to that or know where I could find it? Thanks in advance.

I think what you are looking for is in the online toolbox.

Drat. We tested through Duke, so I don't have access to that.

Wow! Great scores!

We tested through Duke as well.

Thanks, KADmom. Gifted denial at last losing its hold on me.

For the question about the pyramid - I'm pretty sure that the pyramid is included with the C-MITES materials (or at least it was 9 years ago). My current 3rd grader took EXPLORE through NUMATS and while they provided recommendations in their Toolbox, it was not the pyramid.

The recommendations are kind of general and you really need to consider your kid. I think the Duke recommendations based on 7th grade SAT scores would have middle kid grade skipping and entering college early, but that just isn't right for her. While she could probably handle the academics, it would not be good socially or for sports.

gabalyn,
The Pyramid of Educational Options for Elementary Talent Search Participants is in Susan Assouline and Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik's book--Developing Math Talent. It's on page 153 in my edition. If you don't have the book, you can find it on Google books by typing Developing Math Talent acceleration pyramid into Google. It's on page 161 in that edition.

Thank you so much!

My D9S 3rd grader took the Explore Test in January via NUMATS.

English 22
Reading 22
Math 14
Science 17
Composite 19

I am glad he took this test to get a better idea on how math is going for him. The math curriculum had been changed at his school 2 years ago to Singapore math and I have just felt he was not advancing in it very fast. Our school advances in Reading classes but does not in math for lower grade levels, which makes absolutely no sense to me at all. I definitely feel this may be the reasoning for the math score. He has started on EPGY's online math program this month at home to get more exposure. It seems to be moving faster and he is getting more out of it. I hope to see improvement by next year with it. I just don't want him falling behind on math.
Everyone on here has great scores. I think this is a wonderful forum for parents. It is sad to see that 20 years ago the school system in my county had a weekly pull out program for Gifted and Talented for kids to spend one day a week at the High School for Project Grow, now there are limited resources in our school systems. Thank goodness for the internet and resources for parents to have for the kids to utilize now.

Congratulations on such great scores !

DS who is in 4th Grade tested thru Duke TIP.
His scores :
English 15
Mathematics 16
Reading 18
Science 20
It was his first time taking this test. He struggles with relatively low PS and WM so these look like very good scores for him. Unfortunately as we expected he wasn't able to finish the Math section - didn't even have time to guess all the answers. It is his strong subject and We were hoping to get him subject accelerated in math since he complains that it is too easy for him at school.
Any tips on how to improve his English and Reading scores?

rachsr,
those are terrific scores. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to ask for acceleration with them!

DYS qualifying scores..

EXPLORE
Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6
English 16 19 22 23
Math 14 16 18 21
Reading 16 18 21 23
Science 16 18 20 22
Composite 15 17 20 22
The composite score plus two subject test scores must meet the minimum score criteria

I can see why the school doesn't provide any acceleration. It is not that the child is not good enough. Most time it is just that the school has no idea about talent search or doesn't believe in talent search. Even in the gifted school I don't think that they necessarily value much about the talent search result. The teachers tend to believe their classroom performance way more than what challenging tasks you child can do outside of the school. It is very sad but it is true based on what we have experienced.

Although CTD claims that majorite schools accept talent search results. But from what I have seen, there is no recognition or what so ever when the schools accept the talent search scores. They just pass the certificate quietly to the students and that is all in most cases. Nothing concrete happens afterwards.

Thanks frannieandejsmom I hadn't looked at the DYS cut off.
We haven't spoken to the school yet after we got the EXPLORE results but as it has been discussed plenty of times here schools have a different perspective than us. As PP said some schools don't really know what to make of these scores. They tend to rely on class grades which unfortunately for DS is partly based on class participation. He tends to zone out when the teacher is going over something he already knows which is quite often. Still managed a 95 last quarter though.so maybe its worth talking to them again.