Hi,

I'm new here. But, I have read so many of the posts here and learnt a lot about gifted kids/ education.

My 2nd grader shows a lot of signs of being gifted, but I do not know for sure. The school district has all 2nd graders take up the Cogat/ITBS to determine eligibility into their gifted program. I have always been of the opinion that you do not need to practice for these tests and that the tests will be able to filter the truly gifted ones from the bright ones. So, I did not have my child practice at all for these tests. However, we do stay in an area where competition is really high. And many parents had their kids practice with books and testing websites for hours every day. This has me second guessing myself and I'm now wondering if I ruined my kid's chances of a true score. Does practice increase scores? Are there cases of bright (but not neccessarily gifted) kids getting into gifted programs? Is the COGAT/ITBS combined score a good indication of being gifted or not?

Thanks a lot for this forum. All help is appreciated.

Welcome!

In a word, no.

More info: Many placement tests tend to be either IQ/ability tests or Achievement tests. It is ENCOURAGED to practice for achievement tests, such as ACT, SAT, etc. However prior exposure to IQ test material can give an artificially high or inflated score, resulting in a poor "fit" and/or inappropriate placement. These old posts may be of interest:
- List of tests for ability, aptitude, achievement
- How much error can there be in test scores?

Yes, unfortunately many programs are designed for high-achieving, not for gifted.

Many programs teach one or 2 years ahead, and look for students who will be a good fit for that curriculum. This is matching the child to the program.

Fewer will determine where a child is at in each subject, based on readiness and ability and then custom fit instruction, pacing, and grouping for that child, for each subject area. This is matching the program to the child.

Do you know what the gifted program at your child's school consists of?

CogAT/ITBS are typically considered screeners. Group-administered tests can provide some indication of giftedness... and/or of which children test well, were prepped, etc. Each test is a snapshot taken on a particular day. Multiple indicators of giftedness provide a more complete picture.

Yes, practice can increase scores, but it is unethical to give a child either the CogAT or ITBS to practice for another administration.

That said, I administered the ITBS in our homeschool yearly, and over time my kids got really good at taking that sort of test. I also administered the CogAT on a few occasions, but I timed it so that it would be a year from when they would take it for GT eligibility.