http://www.davidsongifted.org/young...holars___Qualification_Criteria_384.aspx

Interesting... Instead of needing an IQ test plus an achievement test, now you only need one qualifying score. The portfolio is optional.

SAHM - this is huge for our family. DS7 has WISC scores that easily qualify him, but he missed the achievement score by less than 1 percent. I'm so excited that he might qualify now. Thank you, thank you for posting about this change.

This is great for DD. We are with you Suevv, DD clearly qualified with WISC scores but not with Ach.

I think this is a huge and important change that will benefit many 2e kids especially. I'm so pleased about the change. Don't know how it came about - but thanks Davidson!

Thanks for the info. We were just thinking that summer might be a good time to start getting things lined up for DD10 to apply.

I am so excited as well! This change will qualify DS as he does not have achievement testing. He is 2e. Agreed, this is great news for 2e kids!

They have also dropped the acceptance scores for WJiii from150 to 145. Mayhave done that with the WPPSI as well.

I am going to be doing cartwheels for the next hour. This is such great news!

I will do cartwheels with you! I didn't know how to get an achievement scores but WISC IV qualifies both my kids… great news!

I'm happy to share the news -- also happy this is hopefully more affordable now!

This literally made my day. My daughter qualified with both. Her brother, who is 2e, only had the IQ and I have been trying to figure out how to get the other score. In some ways, I feel like the 2e kids need advocacy almost more often.

Err... DS12 qualified with the achievement test score and a portfolio, no IQ score, when he was 6. Has it been different somewhere in the middle of that time, then?

Happy for all of you happy people, anyway!

I think the new qualifications put the emphasis on cognitive abilities. Honestly, I personally feel that is where it should be. I see a lot of high achievers, but the out of the box creative thinking that is a hallmark of cognitive giftedness is something different that should be nurtured. I work with some exceptionally gifted children, most of which spend their free time playing and creating which is what they should be doing. Not spending more time on rote academics that they are going to master eventually anyway.

No, that was always possible. DD11 qualified (at age 8, I think) with an IQ score and a (single) achievement test score, without a portfolio. She wouldn't qualify under the current achievement rules, because she only had a high-enough score in Broad Math, but she would still qualify with the IQ score without needing a portfolio. The difference is that you couldn't have qualified before without a portfolio, and now you could (as long as he got that high achievement score in at least two categories).

I also like the new system better.

Yikes, I am glad I logged in today and saw this. I had put off applying for DD because we only had qualifying WISC and figured we would do achievement testing sometime in the future. This is great that we can apply now without doing the achievement testing BUT she took the WISC almost 2 years ago -august 2013 and so her qualifying test is about to expire!

It seems like the most logical person to be a nominator would be one of her teachers last year but its summer and I don't know that I can even reach them.

If a child qualifies it seems like it makes sense to apply as soon as practical as it seems the criteria change every year or so.

Really? I'm not aware of them having changed since DD qualified in 2012.

I did notice that the EXPLORE criteria changed within the last 18 months or so (requiring higher scores in some cases than in the past), but I would agree that these recent changes are more substantive.

I'm pretty sure several of the SAT, ACT & Explore minimum scores have been adjusted upward over the last few years. Unfortunately, I did not archive the minimum score guidelines from previous years to verify.

My son qualified for DYS in the summer of 2012 as a 7th grader with WISC-IV and ACT scores. My daughter qualified this summer as a 7th grader with WISC-IV and ACT scores. I think the minimum ACT scores are higher across the board just not sure by how much.

Indeed! This will make a difference for our family, and our plans to have our younger child tested. (We will test sooner (just one test!), and apply sooner, than we otherwise would have.)

Okay....I know I'm really late posting to this one, but we were out if town when the thread started and I didn't notice it until I finally read the DYS nominator form thread going on now.
Whoa. I have to say, this is really amazing. The IQ scores that we had were way too old and testing is just such a hassle, etc. that I just sort of didn't think about ever applying -- the portfolio was too hard to scrape together because of underachievement, lack of documentation, etc.
(I'm glad I actually noticed it, finally -- I feel like an idiot but I usually skip all the DYS threads if I don't have time to read them...)
Although I do think it's interesting -- I wonder why they changed it.

To open it to a broader population base, I would imagine.

Testing IQ and achievement costs money that not every family, especially those with multiple kids, can afford to spare. With less and less school districts administering individual IQ and individual achievement tests to save money it effectively filters out a lot of potential candidates.

I suspect that it was also getting burdensome reviewing portfolios. The new changes will mean a lot fewer portfolios to review, plus those were probably the easiest part of the qualifications to "game". But I don't have any way of knowing for sure - that is just my guess.

Interesting point. I almost wondered why they still allow for a substantial -- six item -- portfolio if they stressed it wasn't that big of a deal. I guess it's better than having to ask for it if there's a score just above the cutoff and they want more information, etc -- plus I figured parents would want to show off their kids work at least a little bit :-)

This is awesome! Of course, DD's score (that we used to apply in 2012), is too old.

Too bad DS's qualifying scores are on a test they don't accept... (RIAS)

Hey slammie - I sent you a pm.

Sue

Suevv, sent you one back.