Hello! I'm new here and have been scrolling through some of the old threads. Our DS6 was tested with the WISC last week and his scores came back high enough for DYS. So, now I want to put together an application for May and, if admitted, hopefully have some assistance from DYS as we plan for next year. (Leaning toward grade acceleration.) This brings me to my question:

As we didn't have achievement testing done, since we had some ideas from school testing, we will need to submit a portfolio. Can anyone give me more info about what we should include -- or any other useful info? (IQ score is strong -- so this will simply flesh it out a bit, right?) Thanks!

Others may have direct experience and could share. I would recommend searching through old posts and seein what others have used. Try googling "portfolio site:davidsongifted.org/bb"

I wont be much help, but I wanted to say good luck. We are applying for May too since we just got DD's scores back but we did achievement too at the same time. I would try to highlight out of the box thinking and I remember reading on here before that they are looking for work samples several years above grade level. I hope more people can help.

I suggest searching past threads on portfolios. As you will see, it is much easier to get in with achievement testing than with a portfolio. I think you will see many people displeased that their dc did not get accepted with a portfolio and ended up doing the achievement or IQ testing route after being initially rejected. They had items 2-3 years ahead, but it is often difficult to show that a 6 year old is PG as opposed to HG with work samples.

Just my 2 cents.

Thanks, all! Gabalyn, I searched and found a thread that leads to a wikipedia page where a poster has links to many threads from this forum about just this. Very helpful with giving specific examples.

qxp: If testing were more accessible -- and free -- I'd just do that. But, figured I'd try this first, since there's really no time to get achievement tests (and reports) and still meet the May deadline. If IQ scores clearly qualify and the lack of achievement scores were an issue, they would ask for those, right?

Could you ask the school to do the achievement testing? If you explained what you wanted it for, they might be able to help you.

My two six year-olds were accepted with IQ tests and portfolios, so acceptance with a portfolio certainly is possible.

I had videos of each child reading and discussing advanced material. One of my children read at an exceedingly advanced level, so I included several videos of him reading and discussing material.

I had videos of my daughter doing advanced math problems.

I had videos of my children explaining an advanced science concept. I also included a little video of them playing chess.

I also included math worksheets that they did specifically for the application. I divided it into computations, like long division, and problem-solving.

I did find Davidson very responsive when I sent questions asking what to include in the portfolio. I would encourage you to ask them about specific ideas.

You probably can discern that I wasn't one of those people who did the application and portfolio in an hour. I tried to present our strongest case first, which isn't a view that seems to be widely held here.

My DS was accepted with WISC scores and a portfolio. I sent videos we made of him over several years which demonstrated him talking about advanced things, reading advanced things. Although i emphasized the recent stuff. I sent in some written work too. My impression is that you need to show stuff which support being several grade levels advanced, whether that is in math, reading or science.

Good luck

DeHe

We applied with both qualified scores (IQ & achievement) and portfolio. So I don't know how much portfolio helps. Just to give some examples. I submitted a chapter book and a few poems that DD wrote at 7, and several songs DD wrote at 5. I also asked for 3 recommendation letters from her school teachers, music teacher and a teacher of gifted writing. Good luck to your application!

Thanks, all for the responses! I did call DYS and the person was helpful. I am planning to go with a combo of videos of reading, math sheets and possibly a spelling test (a clear strength, but he's never had a "test".) The school has given some form of achievement testing and, although it is not one of the accepted ones, I did ask for copies to include as other posters have discussed. Thank you!

I am not OP but this is very helpful. Along with the qualifying IQ test (Full Scale 145, Verbal 146 and I compute GAI at 154 (assuming I did it right), I included writings from a journal and workbook math computations and video. One of the struggles for me is that our child seems a "kid" at home but when we meet same grade peers their level of understanding just seems a chasm away. It is hard to show that. I am hoping the recommendations will make that clear. Funny, all this "concern" over just trying to find a "place" for our child to have friends at a similar level of interest and engagement.

Your post is right on. Almost exactly how I feel.