Hi

We are considering our options for school next year for DD8 who is finishing 2nd grade (gifted private school 3rd grade, 4th grade or public school 3rd grade or 4th grade). Gifted school will allow us to keep her a 3rd grade but move her into the upper grade class (mostly 4-5th graders) or to accelerate officially. I am sure the process would be much harder to go to 4th in public school and we have not initiated anything yet as we are most likely staying at the private school.

I have been wondering about doing achievement testing in part to help evaluate if she needs a grade skip. I've also considered it might be useful if we want to apply for DYS.

I'm wondering about the best timing for achievement tests and which test. Does the test compare her by age or by grade?

We also just got back her results on the Terra Nova Cat 6 testing done at school. I am wondering if this is sufficient to meet our needs now in trying to decide what to do for next year and how high she really needs to score to consider a grade skip reasonable (using other factors as well of course). She had a 99th percentile on 3 out of the 10 subsets, 96 percentile on 3 more but the others were just well above average.

Hi coveln,

Your DD sounds very much like my DS6.5 (tested really similarly, by the looks of it) except a couple of years behind yours in school. DS will be going to 1st grade at a gifted private school next year (he was in K public this year). The school believes in keeping age peers together as a homeroom throughout his time there but accelerating subjects as necessary. The only potential issue with that is his age peers will be spread across two grades: 1st and 2nd. He'll likely be the oldest in his class next year, so it's possible they might entertain accelerating him a grade if necessary, but that seems to be putting the cart before the horse for us at the moment.

But anyways... we're doing some achievement testing this summer. We're slated for the WJ-III, I think, which I believe is normed by age (I think most of them are). Qualifying to apply for DYS would be a bonus, but the primary reason we're going through it is to look for LDs (we suspect a few issues but aren't really sure).

Does her gifted school require achievement testing to consider grade or subject acceleration? My guess is that the public school would require something (they seem big on achievement testing), but even that can vary from district to district.

I think the Terra Nova is a curriculum-based test, where there is a different version for every grade. If so, then a high score on the 2nd grade test does not give much information about 3rd grade material - it only says she does not need to review before going on. It's reasonable to think she might know 3rd grade material too, but you will need a different test to prove it.

Individually-administered achievement testing like the WJ, WIAT, or KTEA is typically age-normed, though one also has the option of grade norms. The standard score and percentile information gives you a good idea of relative standing in the population, which can be helpful for use in the IAS. There is a temptation to use the grade equivalents as direct justification for grade placement. Don't do it. That's not what they mean, nor what they are designed for. These are the kind of test you do need for DYS.

The Terra Novas are good for looking at grade-level standards, but not as informative beyond learning standards one grade level above, or so.

To clarify, the Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS) is not a test, rather it is more of a survey form, gathering various inputs including:
- IQ test scores,
- aptitude testing (2 grade levels ahead, ACT/SAT are examples),
- achievement testing (Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) is one option),
... to help guide discussion about the best grade-level placement for a child. The scores of tests used to apply for the DYS program can, in general, be entered into the IAS.

To further clarify, the IAS form comes in an explanatory book.

It is basically a scale that considers multiple factors like FSIQ, Achievement test results, size for age, support of teachers etc. Each factor is assigned different weight and different levels of IQ/ achievement are assigned different scores. After completing the form and computing the total you have a more objective yardstick by which to measure a kid's eligibility and readiness for either subject or whole grade acceleration.

Yes, but it won't generate true standard scores. There are situations where above/below-norm-age testing can be clinically-informative, though.

There -are- age equivalent tables for both cognitive and achievement tests. We just don't recommend their use. Age equivalents simply mean that this child received the same number of points on this test that the 50th %ile of a certain age group did. They are not considered good descriptors because they don't really tell you if a child could function like that age, if placed at that instructional level, or if she has mastered the same skills.