Has anybody received their test results yet? I know it's wishful thinking but I thought I'd ask.

Bill

No Still waiting.

Yep, Still waiting.

week 5 - no results

Wow - that is a long time. I think I would drive myself nuts with that long of a wait. My DS13 did the ACT this year and we had the results one day shy of 2 weeks. I couldn't believe how fast it was. Next year my DD7 will be taking Explore so now I know to prepare myself.

Yeah, dd's January SAT scores came about a week ago. Dd#2's Feb. Explore results can take up until the end of March or early April from what our local talent search says. Those kids who tested sooner will hopefully get them sooner!

I am really wanting to know how dd did on the Explore b/c I need more "ammo" to see if I can convince her school to give her a GT identification. While they put her in the GT reading class, the coordinator tells me that they require two of the following for a formal id and that she doesn't have two: ability, achievement, behavioral scales. She does have two IQ tests with the VCI in the 99.7 and 99, respectively and the PRI in the 99th on the first as well as GAIs of 99.9 and 97 respectively, which they are willing to accept in lieu of the CogAT for ability.

The achievement part is the area where we are running into trouble. They apparently are only looking at MAPs and CSAP (NCLB state test). Dd's MAPs scores are wildly erratic ranging from the 50s to 90s and we have gotten that same "good guessing" c**p about the higher MAPs scores. Her CSAPs were all proficient and some bordering on advanced, but none were advanced.

However, her WIAT scores from last May were in the 98th for math, 99th for writing, and 95th for reading and her GORT (an individual reading achievement test) from the same time is in the 98th for reading. The GT coordinator tells me that she isn't sure that they can use this much "alternate data." I'm sorry for the long OT post! I am just really frustrated.

The big issue for her is not placement, b/c they aren't going to do anything more for her even with an id. The issue is that, when she hits middle school (6th grade), she will be changing districts and that district would absolutely be iding her for math and reading with these scores. However, by the time she gets there, the scores will be too old for a new id and we'd have to retest IQ and everything. I just want her placed such that she has doors open to her in middle school in case she needs or wants them.

Her Explore scores may not help anyway, but it would be good to know. Thank you for letting me vent .

No EXPLORE test results as of yet...tested in January! We are anxious for results for school "ammo" as well.

Maria

Based on last years posts, I'm predicting we'll get them this week, with at least one person getting theirs today.

I've been known to stir the pot.
I really don't have anything riding on the results of GS10's test. He's on track to be in the advanced classrooms they begin at 6th grade at our school. He'll be taking band, with his flute. He'll be doing track. He's happy with his friends who will be with him in the advanced classes. He's busy with stuff on the farm.
The only thing that might change my plans is if GS10's scores surprise me. Then I might see what we can do to speed up the math & LA sequence in 6th grade.

So, when would you estimate that Feb. results would come?

My brocure thru the talent search says 4 to 6 weeks for results. 6 weeks is this Saturday. Hope this test will give us some more help with school understanding DS's needs.

Eeh, bummer! I hope that it isn't 6 weeks on the Feb. testing. Four weeks will be a long wait!

GS10 has just been identified as gifted in science based on the Standford Achievement tests, got the letter in the mail today. So, that makes math, reading/LA, & science. Nothing like getting one piece identified at a time. Ha, I just realized I could have used his Explore results from last year and got him identified across the board! Oh well, there was nothing to gain from it. I'm just waiting on Ooohhh, oooohhhh, I just checked our state website and see they have the rubric posted to identify a child as gifted in Visual & Performance Arts! GS10 loves to perform. He was quite good in several dramas at church and in some plays he did at a drama camp. Now I've got to ask the gifted coordinator if there's any advantage to having him identified as gifted in drama. Did I say he's quite good? That's not just grandma saying that either!

OHGrandma - how did the Standford Achievement test identify him as gifted? Was it given out of level? If so, how many levels? +2? +3? Isn't the SAT/10 content so it's not *gifted* per se, but rather academically advanced, indicating a need for advanced placement in school?

I'm not OHGrandma (obviously ) but the district dd#2 attends ids kids as gifted if they score btwn the 95th to 99th percentile on grade level achievement tests or advanced on the CSAP (NCLB test). In fact, they seem unwilling to take out of level achievement tests like the Explore for dd#2 in lieu of grade level achievement tests on which she is highly erratic.

How do they sort out the high achievers scoring at 95-99th on grade level tests, and truely gifted kids scoring at 95-99th on grade level tests who would also score 95-99th on a test 2-4+ grade levels up? Do they do further testing after that?

Nope, that's it. Gifted isn't about IQ according to both local districts; it is about high achievement. Kids with high IQs (like dd#2) but who underachieve don't qualify as gifted. Kids like dd#1 with both high IQ and high achievement are easily recognized. We do also know a lot of kids who are ided as gifted without any ability testing or who came out avg on group ability tests, but who get advanced scores on grade level tests.

our local district does this too. Teachers will "recommend" students who have high achievement but slightly above average ability testing for GT services. Parents are becoming more and more pushing about getting their high achievers into GT since the regular classroom materials are so slow moving thanks to NCLB. Most of the GT kids at our local school are high achievers. The school will take IQ testing into account but want achievement that is high as well.

Well I've been told by teachers and have read that the top of 10-15% of any class usually could be moved up to the next grade. Those aren't the gifted kids. The top 10-15% do just fine a grade up, working at a similar pace to before but just more demanding material. A gifted kid would need a faster pace (usually) more depth, and maybe 2+ skips. SO they are not distinguishing between those 2 scenarios.

I'm getting us OT again -- which seems to be my specialty . I don't think that we (or at least I) are talking about taking kids whose innate ability is in the 85th-90th percentile into GT classes. We have kids whose ability is totally unknown and even kids who test at the 50th percentile on ability tests in GT classes here. Some of these kids are older for grade, some have done a lot of outside tutoring, and some got in based upon behavioral scales that indicate that they have a lot of collections and are really sensitive (which are apparently characteristics of giftedness). I would assume that kids who test in the 95th percentile on a grade level achievement test are at least above avg, but I'm not sure. Some kids who aren't unusually bright are reading above grade level by a grade or two when they are in early elementary school. Does this mean that all advanced readers are gifted? I wouldn't make that leap anymore than I'd make the leap that all gifted kids are advanced readers. Our school system, however, does make that leap and, once you're ided as a gifted reader (even if that took place when you were 8 y/o), you are tracked into the accelerated literacy classes unless your parents agree to opt you out.

How does the ODE use the Explore for gifted identification? Since they use 95th percentile for grade level testing, how is it for above level testing? I saw where they accept Explore, but didn't see score requirements for each grade level.

Jen

I'm just popping in here a lot today . I'm not sure about ODE, but dd#1's middle school GT coordinator did tell me the other day that she is in possession of a chart that correlates 8th grade percentiles on the Explore with what that percentile is for lower grades (3rd-6th). I.e. -- a 75th percentile score on the science Explore as compared to an 8th grader is actually the 99th percentile as compared to a 4th grader or something like that (I just made those #s up).

That makes sense. I wouldn't doubt that they are speculative.

That would make dd#1's 4th grade explore composite above the "100th" percentile (I know that doesn't exist) -- lol!

Very helpful. Thanks to both of you. Now I just need to wait another 4-5 weeks to see where dd#2 came out on this test!

I still think that the various talent search organizations ought to pool their data so that we can at least have consistent percentiles for the talent search participants.

That would be great! It seems like the cut levels for awards, top 10%, etc. vary greatly from one region to another and one year to another.

Well, I'm late to the party today but I see all but one question has been answered and that question is, "Has anyone got the Explore results yet?"
GS10's results on grade level testing seem to be a bit sporadic. But I've seen him work. On grade level work he skips questions. I think his mind on something else and he's a bit haphazard with testing when things are easy. Get him involved with something harder and he stays focused on the task at hand.
Ohio accepts achievement testing as a means to ID as gifted, but it has to be on a nationally normed test. I think the Explore was just accepted in the last year. Our school does testing with the Stanford at 2nd, 5th, & 7th grades to ID gifted. In between those grades, for referals, they use the ITBS.

There are a lot of pros & cons about using AT, I think the biggest pro is it is very inexpensive to purchase achievement tests and any teacher is qualified to administer it. I think that pro outweighs all other reasons for or against AT as an ID.

I saw all this activity on this topic and got excited that someone got their EXPLORE test results back...oh well.

Doesn't it make you angry that GT servicing is so subjective? As thought the administrators don't take it seriously.

I'm not opposed to AT as part of the way to id gifted kids per se. I am just bothered with situations like ours where dd#2 tests very highly on IQ tests but isn't ided as gifted b/c her grade level achievement scores aren't consistently high. Using grade level AT as a way to rule kids out who would otherwise qualify is not reasonable IMHO.

I am not too sure on using it as a sole criterion. We have one instance I know of due to discussions with the parents in which their child has not been IQ tested (as, understandably, most haven't) and scored in the avg range on the group ability test (scores ranging from the 40-60th percentile on various subtests and around 50th for the composite) but is still ided as gifted due to advanced scores on one NCLB state test and the parents and teacher filling out behavioral scales. Now I know that group ability tests aren't fail-safe & my one dd who has taken one did much more poorly than she did on IQ (composite somewhere around the 85th-88th percentile if I recall correctly). However, a child who has no indication that s/he is gifted except for a higher than avg grade level achievement test shouldn't be ided as gifted -- again IMHO.

6 weeks and nothing. Getting antsy

They must be snowed in someplace!

Called Numats today and they told me that there were some technical issues and the results should be sent out next week.

I wonder if that will effect the Feb. results as well. If so, I imagine that it will push out hearing on the recognition ceremonies with CBK since they said that they'd not be sending out invites until they get all the scores including Feb. to figure out who is in the top 25%.

I thought that maybe the Jan. results had come in when I saw new activity on this thread.

Yes, you did. I did another search and found this thread from when you & others were waiting on the Jan Explore results in 2008. It's fun reading, and with 40 pages it will keep a person occupied while waiting this year!
waiting for 2008 Jan Explore results

Well, I read all 40 pages but it didn't occupy me too long. Six weeks today and my mailbox is still empty. UGH. So how can we amuse ourselves for another week without pulling all our hair out??? I don't understand what takes so long, it is computerized scoring, right?

Ok I've been calm, I've been good, but computer problem or not, I WANT THOSE SCORES.

Along with Explore, DC is very close to winning a national school Math contest and for some reason his school seems to be one of the last to post the scores. He doesn't even know when he takes the test for this.

DD took her EXPLORE on January 23rd so we are going on 8 weeks....

Maria

6 weeks, 2 days, 5 hours and 49 minutes but who's counting?!?! Geez, I really need something to pass the time away.
These scores are really important. I have been wanting a grade skip for dd for years but the school,of course, gives me every reason why she shouldn't. Now, I have the teacher and psychologist wanting it too. However, admin is still "on the fence". They are worried about "social" UGH!!

Me too! impatient waiting, waiting, waiting for your results.

ahahahahaha - got home from work last night, straight onto this thread and thought, why has no one posted! Then of course realised, again, we are 19 hours ahead. Really does your head in at times.

You guys are making me anxious for you. Let's hope the scores show up today!

Not today!

None here either.

Well, at least I know I am not the only one sitting and waiting and wondering.....Didn't help at all that he walked out of the test saying that he might have gotten one of the questions wrong......

ONE!!!???? Made me extra special curious.....

Mary

I am new here and want to say hello to everyone.

DS8 took EXPLORE through WATS on Jan 23. Still no result. I called ACT Customer Service this afternoon and was told that they haven't sent out EXPLORE result yet. They will do that in next couple of weeks. We should receive the score by end of March. I told her the test packet said we should get our result in early March. She repeated that we should get our result by end of March. Has anyone heard anything like this?

Cel

Well, that sucks! Dd#1's SAT scores through WATS came quite quickly. We aren't late at all yet on the Explore scores for dd#2 since she didn't take it until 2/20, but that does leave me concerned that we won't get them by the end of March as we were told. This concerns me for two reasons:

1) We really need them to get all the scores together so they can send out those awards ceremony letters so I know if I need to try to rearrange dd#1's choir performance schedule for that day. From what the director down there told me anecdotally when I was speaking with her a few weeks ago for a different thing, we do probably expect her to get into the awards with her SAT CR &/or writing scores, but I'm not counting on it until I see the letter.

2) I need want the Explore info from dd#2's testing so I can see where I get with her school re GT identification. I haven't heard anything back from the school coordinator in the past week since she told me that she would check with the district as to whether they could use the "alternate" data of an individual achievement test over a group achievement test in concert with IQ scores. We all know that individual achievement tests are so much less accurate than group tests...

Nope. I asked if they have an estimate on when the EXPLORE result will be sent out. The lady on the other end said "We haven't sent out EXPLORE result yet....". No specifics. Hey, as Dottie said, there's always hope. Maybe, maybe the lady on the other end is new? Maybe she meant something else?

I was really hoping to see them by the end of March too. I have another meeting with the Director of Curriculum coming up.

I haven't gotten them either. I am in the same city as CMITES and my son took the test at the CMITES testing center. I wasn't even worrying, but then I read the thread and suddenly I am hyper aware of it.

That is just bogus! (As my ds would say). They specifically state that results scores for January testers will be mailed in early March and Febuary testers at the end of March. 6-8 weeks is a ridiculous amount of time to wait. When I took my boards, I had my results before I even left!!
Maybe I will call today too.

I sent a email today and asked when the results would be available.

Is this typical that they go beyond the promised timeline?

I don't think so although I have limited experience. When dd#1 took the Explore in 4th grade, they came within the 4-6 week period we were told they would. I can't remember if it was closer to 4 or 6, though.

The problem is, that your kids did so well, that they need to double check those amazing scores! LOL

Obviously, it is a good thing my family is going on vacation next week. Otherwise, I would be running to the mailbox every day....

oh well....

Mary

If I was in your shoes I'd have someone get my mail and fax the results. I'm very impatient.

I better go organize a closet to keep my mind off this.

Called customer service. Not very helpful at all. She said that they take 6-8 weeks. I asked why the paperwork we recieved said 4-6 weeks and she said it must be a "misprint". Unbelievable. She said they will be mailed "soon" but couldn't give any more info as to when.
Well, I know that I will stay away from this test again. Next up, SAT. Maybe they will be better.

Some of my friends kids took the ACT. They had results in 2 weeks. I don't get it either. Like I said before, it is computerized scoring. Shouldn't take this long at all.

And it would be nice to have a set date. I could deal with that. But to tell me that the info they mailed me was wrong and I have to wait another 2 weeks is ridiculous!

I hate waiting too.

I just got an email from CTD(this is Northwestern University) about their spring classes. Deadline for signup is March 15th.

Now, if I felt like yanking someones chain, I'd call and say I was really interested in signing up my child, but don't want to spend the money without knowing the Explore results.

Just an idea....

Great idea! Not that it will help. At least now I know not to check my mail box until next week.

OK - any theories on why it takes so long on explore test? Is it possible that they are dealing with questions about the questions or questions about norming the test and that is postponing things? Do the February scores get held 8 weeks too or are all the scores released at one time?

I've just been pondering why it oculd possibly take so long....

Obviously, I should forget about it for another week or two....
Mary

I wouldn't expect that the Feb. scores would take 8 weeks or WATS/CBK won't be able to hold their mid-May awards ceremonies since they would not have that group of scores in yet to compare & figure out who is in the top whatever percent. Dd#1 took the Explore in Feb. two years ago. I went and looked at the postmark on the envelope (I have a file of old test scores for the kids) and it said March 27th. Assuming that she tested in late Feb., that would be maybe 5 weeks. Hopefully we'll have the same experience w/ dd#2's Feb. Explore results.

Just playing online while waiting for the results. I found this info thru Duke TIP. Thought it was interesting. At least now I will have something to compare to.

Duke Tip


Happy waiting and please post as soon as you get something! At least then I know it is on the way!

I am sorry but the official score reports from the testing agency were late this year. They should be mailed this week. We will send our material in April.



This is a reponse I recieved re: explore for NUMATS, Northwetern. When I get the explore results I was thinking I would get the interpretation of scores and reccomendations. Is this correct? What gets sent in April?

I'm pretty sure the results come now but the recommendations come in April, that has been my impression from the material.

Tomorrow is 7 weeks since testing...

I'm beginning to think I prefer the February testing date.

I think I would always try for the January test date becuase if DC gets sick they there is still a possibility to take the test.

That's for sure!

Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, If I say it enough maybe it will come true.

I dunno. At this rate, we may all get them at the same time.

My DS 15 & DS 11 took SATs today. I wonder whether we'll get their results before DS 8's January EXPLORE results...not to be cynical.

LOL! Cym, you might just have online access for your older child before the explore results arrive...

Crossing my fingers for some results early in the week, if not today!!

I'm hoping too.

Crossing my fingers for all of you!

Nope. No joy at our mailbox today either. Ugh.

Dottie, you've played this waiting game longer than I, but doesn't it seem that they don't mail things at the end of the week, they mail them on Monday? I'd guess a sprinkling of results will be in hand tomorrow and the majority on Wednesday.

But, I've been wrong in my prognostications before.

I always joke that the pony is still delivering mail here, 'cause it takes SO long...BUT I got DS's results today!!!! OMG I can't believe I'm the first to say it.

Out of 4 kids, DS8 is the youngest who has taken EXPLORE in our family (oldest took it in 6th grade, another in 5th, this one in 4th) and he did really well! 99% in English! 96% in Science. He told me he had many problems in math to go when the proctor said "30 seconds". So Math was his lowest score (83%). Not bad compared to 8th & 9th graders, right?

Congrats!

cym, that was great!

WHEW finally someone gets scores! Those sound like great scores Cym!

Whew! Now I am excited. Hopefully more will come tomorrow!!!

Congratulations, Cym!

For those of us not as familiar with the test, what scaled score do those percentiles represent?

And I'm happy to hear that scores are coming in. Can't wait to hear everyone's news.

gratified3, scores that good mean the next step is the ACT. Wouldn't that freak out some high school junior, to see a 9 year old sitting at the next desk!

Wowsa! Great scores! Yay!

And thanks for giving the rest of us hope, Cym.

Congratulations! Cym, those are excellent scores.

We also received DS8 EXPLORE score. They are not as good as I expected. He only hit 3 out of the 5 benchmarks DYS for 4th grade. Maybe we will try again next year, but I really dread the wait..

Do you need all the benchmark scores? I thought it was 3 of the 5?

It reads, "At least three of the five scores listed, including the composite score." So would scores in reading, science, and english qualify even if composite and math are below 17 and 16 for 4th graders?

Yes, congrats Cym. Those are awesome scores. Ncal, those are not bad scores by a long shot. My oldest was above the DYS criterian for English and Science in 4th grade but not at their required level for anything else. She's still a pretty special, bright kid.

Dd#1 took the SAT shortly after her 10th bd in 6th grade, but she's the much larger of my two kids so I don't think that she freaked out the high school students too much. My youngest, who is really short, will probably be more freakishly small looking if she takes the SAT at 11 in 6th grade.

Now we need to wait for those Feb scores for dd#2. I imagine that we've got a few weeks left to wait.

I'm pretty sure that you're correct. One of those three does need to be composite like you mention, though, so qualifying scores in reading, science, and english wouldn't do it if you bombed the math section, for instance, and didn't get the composite as a result.

So it's 3 qualifying scores in addition to the composite or 2 qualifying scores and the 3rd being the composite?

Congrats on the scores Cym! So glad someone got results. It feels hopeful.

Dazed,

I would read it as meaning the composite score, plus two other qualifying scores.

Congrats Cym. Those are awesome scores!

I hope the rest of you will get the results very soon.

Very impressive scores, Cym!

You are right. Only 3 out of 5(4 single sub + composite) is needed for applying for DYS. I was just a little surprised. DS8 came out of the test saying he missed few on reading, math, and english, but probably only got 5 correct out of all the science problems. So I was expecting that he would get reasonable scores except science. According to the offical report, he did best in science, but missed english and reading cutoff by a point each.

Cym,

Awesome scores and thanks for giving all of us some hope that we might find out some news this week.

So is 3 out of 5 scores or is is 2 plus the composite? Does the composite have to be one of them?
I am very anxious waiting for my mail today. I hope it comes.

Three out of five with one of those three being the composite.

Yup. LOL!! DS took the ACT last year as a nine year old and it completely freaked out the big kids. Doesn't help that he was pretty short too... no passing for older! And it didn't help that it was the June date, which I think tends to have a slight overrepresentation of kids who are trying one last time to bring up scores... and no talent search population at all.

One girl in line actually asked if I were taking it! LOL!!

He's taking it again this year, but April instead of June... we'll see if it makes any difference. The SAT in January wasn't weird at all because it was the local talent search date and he's only a little bit young for that.

Ugh! Still no results for me. Hopefully tomorrow.

Ncal,
I was worried about DS8 taking the EXPLORE test so young. My other kids took it one and two years older (the DS who took it as a 6th grader did not do as well as DS8 did, but is very smart). If your DS has never tested before, this is first experience and you might see a big change with 2nd time (we did with ACT scores for 2 of my kids)--did he also do SCAT?

I am trying to cultivate the idea that "taking tests is fun" so I want to give DS the opportunity to test again next year, probably with the EXPLORE again or maybe ACT (though that's a bit scary for a little kid--Dottie, you're brave) The ACT waiting definitely beats the EXPLORE waiting.

Hope everyone gets their scores soon.

Cym, Thank you for the encouragement. Yes, this is the first time he ever had EXPLORE or any big/formal test. He did take SCAT when he was 6.5, right after he skipped to 2nd. He did fine for math(43/50) and average on english (36/50). I don't feel that he gets nervous at those tests, but I could be wrong. Sigh.

I do have a question for EXPLORE veterans. What is the approximate sample population for calculating 8th grader norms? EXPLORE is not a standard test in CA. I tried to find a list of states use it as standard test, but not able to get any. Any help is appreciated.

Dottie,

I repeat "my kid's scores are not average"

I just PMed you.

Did anyone get results yesterday? Nobody posted. I am still hopeful that I will get results today.

Pretty please with sugar on top come today! good luck everybody.

UGH!!!! I am so ready to scream. It did not come in the mail today. This is ridiculous!!

We got results, yesterday, but not the Explore results I expected! We received results from the long forgotten fall state testing.......DD did great on that.

Has anyone received Explore results who tested through NUMATS (like us)?

We took the test through Numats and got the results today. Here are the scores for my 4th grade DS

Composite 18
English 17
Math 16
Reading 19
Science 18

Are these scores good as compared to other 4th graders who took thetest? Just wondering

I would say YES by looking at the DYS requirements for grade 4. I think that those ARE qualifying scores.

We are in Duke Tip. They posted the average scores for 4th/5th grade talent search last year. They are:
Composite 17
English 17
Math 16.1
Reading 16.3
Science 17

So those scores look good!

We are new to test and our DD9 appeared NUMATS in February. Have they started to send scores for February test already?

Received EXPLORE testing results today - tested with NUMATS in January. There is hope, they are arriving!

Colorpro -




Duke TIP tests only 5th and 6th graders on Explore. They call it the "4th and 5th Grade Talent Search" because they start to identify kids in 4th and 5th. So, those averages probably refer to 5th and 6th graders who took the test, not 4th and 5th graders. Confusing, huh?

These do look like DYS qualifying scores to me, too. Congrats!

Off to check the mail...

Ours arrived! Yay!

We got our NUMATS January Explore results for our 4th grade twins today, too. Dd has always been more "out there" than ds, so the differences aren't too surprising.

DD:
Composite 23
English 20
Math 22
Reading 23
Science 25

DS:
Composite 20
English 22
Math 19
Reading 14
Science 23

Okay, so now that we know that our 4th grade dd is in the 99th percentile for 8th graders, any advice on what to do about it?

... Our original motivation in doing Explore was ammunition when the school starts deciding next year who goes in the advanced math classes in middle school. This is a tracking system where if you don't get into the advanced class from the get-go, you are stuck in a lower track through high school. I was afraid they wouldn't put her in the advanced math because she has a habit of saying she doesn't like math (while ds thinks he is a math genius!). So we have a solid math score for her now, but I'd also welcome other ideas on how to support her from those of you with more experience.

amylou- amazing scores! sorry I can't help. I just wanted to mention your kids have qualifying scores for DYS, just incase you did not know. I was wondering if you received good advice on your report? (I will be getting scores for the first time)

Good Luck with your advocacy.

PS. You might research old Explore threads while your waiting for more advice.

Thanks, Gratified3, for the advice on ACT/SAT. I haven't given those tests a moment's thought until now, and will look into them for next year. And I am also interested in the talent search online resources for planning based on Explore scores. I will check that out. Best of luck in getting your own scores

Math advocacy as a reason for testing has turned out to be a bit of a moot point for us, at least for the moment. To their credit, the school (garden variety public school) decided to go ahead with the middle school math screening for both our 4th grade kids this year, even though they normally do it in 5th grade. (And a friend of mine with a college degree in math had me all worked up last fall because she was having her 5th grade dd tutored in math to prepare for this screening. I guess I won't need to spend next year worrying about whether to get a math tutor!) That screening is scheduled for this week, so now I can shift my impatience to waiting for those results, now that the Explore results are in!

We did do Explore for a couple of reasons in addition to math advocacy. Ds does not handle time constraints well, and the Explore was good practice for him. I can just see him getting DQ'ed from the SAT as a high school senior because he refuses to put his pencil down when the time is up.... Also, we are thinking of pulling the kids out of school for a month or two next fall to travel - these scores relieve any guilt that they'll be missing anything critical.

And, for what it is worth, although their scores are strong, my kids are *old* 4th graders compared to many on this forum. Having never been skipped and with December birthdays, they were already 10yo when they took Explore. We have chosen not to push for skips this far - it is generally not done around here, although I think we could have convinced them. Our kids currently love pretty much everything about their school/class right now, so we don't want to rock the boat. Plus, student/teacher ratio will skyrocket when they hit middle school, making opportunities in the present setting better for differentiating instruction.

Just as a timely link, I just saw this article posted on some other list serv this week and it refers to how many boys don't show true ability on timed tests compared to girls. We did the SCAT this year for DS (3rd grade), and not the EXPLORE just because I thought my own kid would not be strongest. He did very well on the SCAT, but I suspect not as well as he could have. He was in and out in half the time on both sections.

http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/x7088.xml

Congrats to everyone on their scores! Look forward to trying this next year!

And both of my dds do much worse on timed tests. Their processing speed scores were avg on the WISC, though. I wonder if they stratified the data by overall ability. I'd be curious to see if the correlation btwn slower processing speed and gender is the same when you are only looking at one tail of the bell curve (either tail).

I have yet to receive mine.

Oh no doubt. I just thought it was an interesting link that might be relevant to us or someone else out there! My DS actually seems better at this kind of thing than I ever did based on the SCAT (and I am female), so I'm not even sure I can categorize him this way yet! It'd actually be interesting to see more data on that link - like average processing speed of boys vs. girls.

I'm personally just amazed not so much at the ability of the kids, as the ability of some of these kids to get down what they know on paper in a short amount of time at such a young age!

I want to thank everyone for the feedback, it's been very helpful.

Does anyone know how the awards Ceremony for Numats works? What does it take to get invited?

When do they usually hold it?

Thanks

Ok, so our postmaster called me this morning and told me the letter is in the box....it's now at home but I promised DD12 that she could open it. Tick Tock...Tick Tock....

Maria

Funny enough, I was just putting together a list of resources for interpreting talent search tests/awards levels/etc. NUMATS sets the bar pretty high! Their 2008 awards ceremony score criteria are here: http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/docs/ctd/acscorecriteria2009.pdf
I don't think that they've posted 2010 info yet.

congrats on the great scores! I hope everyone will be finished waiting very soon.

Hey where is the 3rd graders on the list? we went thru North Western numats talent search

NUMATS has no 3rd grade awards ceremony -- that starts in 4th.

Here's my DS 3rd grade EXPLORE scores:
composite 17
english 15(usage7, rhetoric 9)
Math 17
reading 19
science 18

Any thoughts on how this can help advocate for more appropriate work? or what he needs?

Still no results for me! This is torturous!!!

Wow! Congratulation!

What would consider the ceiling of the EXPLORE test? We won't get our results for a while yet (Feb. test), but I wonder if there is some number for when to move a child up to the ACT? Would you look mostly at the composite, or if one subtest is very high would that be enough? What do you think?

Just something to think about while I wait, and wait...

I am perfectly happy with my child's scores.:)

3rd grade
Composite 13
English 14
Math 10
Reading 10
Science 16

You can really tell his interests. (and the fact that he probably rushed through the Reading). Good scores, awesome for awareness at his school and great for getting him into CMITES summer courses.:)

Strange results here. Science was the highest last year, science actually dropped in raw score from last year and ended up being his lowest score. English/reading was his lowest score last year and was the only subscore to increase over last year to spike to his highest score this year.
To add to the weird results, he took the Stanford Achievement test last fall and science was his highest percentile then.

I suspect he is playing with the answers deliberately. Over the last few months he has taken to calculating the minimum grade he needs on a test to carry an A in class, and then hits it.

Congrats to everyone! I'm glad the scores are rolling in (finally!)

On advocacy--I used one DS's scores to place out of middle school math when he got to middle school (good thing too because I don't like their curriculum). He took Statistics and online Fractal Math in 6th and is taking community college algebra courses in 7th (intermediate alg last semester & college algebra this semester). He is much happier this way.

I don't know how to use the non-math scores for advocacy (yet)\

In case any of you are interested, the Western Academic Talent Search (WATS) previously Rocky Mt Talent Search uses EXPLORE too and the summer programs are open to kids throughout the country--not just those who participated in WATS. This year the summer institutes are held at Colorado School of Mines. There is a weeklong institute for 4th-6th graders, 2 wk programs for 6th-8th graders, and 3 wks for 7th-10th.

3rd Grader

Composite: 15
English: 13
Mathematics: 16
Reading: 15
Science: 17

Just arrived. First foray into Talent Search

OH Gatorgirl....I'm sure the wait is even worse now that so many have gotten scores. here's to hoping it comes tomorrow!

Congrats everyone on fantastic scores!

Dazey

OHG, your comment made me laugh as I remembered something one of my economics professors said. He told us in order to use our resources (e.g., time, energy) efficiently, we should only be working hard enough to get the lowest possible scores that would result in an A. He said since an A is an A on a transcript, and there are no A pluses, why waste your time working harder for the higher scores? (My answer was that we should be there to learn as much as we could, and not just to get grades.)

Maybe your GS is destined to be an economist!

LOL - sending sympathy OH! These are the exact kind of games I anticipate my DS to play. He sped through the SCAT at record speed and refused to use his scrap paper. Asynchronous for sure! Sorry you didn't get a "real" number. Hope they're "good enough" to use them for your purposes anyway.

I did that a lot, mostly in high school. I also almost always calculated those in college as well (how many correct answers do I need to get X grade). Rarely did I the absolute minimum, but I always knew and had fun calculating.

I used this to my advantage when I was grading final papers. I required that students give me a stamped envelope if they wanted comments back. (Which they ALL should have! But rarely half the class did.)

Then I'd figure the lowest score a student would have to get to raise the semester grade and the highest score a student could get to lower the semester grade. Surprisingly often it was in the "A+ or D-" range.

I'd skim the paper, checking for the major things: thesis, intro, conclusion, etc. If those were present, it wasn't a D-. If they weren't (or were anything less than amazing), it wasn't an A+. If I hadn't received an envelope for the paper, my grading of that work was done! It took seconds!

Don't work hard, work smart.

This is our first explore experience.

In "Developing Math Talent" it states if EXPLORE score is above 50% to do testing to see what a child knows and placement. I was
wondering if anyone is doingor done this? Where? How? $?

I was also wondering wouldn't that apply to all subjects above 50%?

WOW!!!! My mailman knew I was waiting for this so he saw it and made a special trip at the beginning of his delivery.
All I can say is WOW!!!!
Composite 22
English 25
Math 17
Reading 25
Science 21

Do you think this will help with a grade skip?? I am so excited. I knew the math would be lower but 2 25's??? WOW!!!

Yes, both subtests were 12's!!

Wow is right! Remind me, what grade is she currently in?

I just may not tell you all how dd#2 did on the Explore when we get the results b/c I don't imagine that it is anywhere near as well as those scores that you all are posting! (She was a Feb tester, so we're still waiting.)

She is in 5th grade. Hoping to skip 6th next year esp. since she scored in th 98% for 8th graders.

Oh, but I am kind of bummed. Duke TIP only gives awards if you score in the 99% for composite and she is only 98%.

That sounds quite reasonable. Dd#1 took the Explore in 4th & did very well on science & english, okay on reading, and not too well on math. She was really thrown for a loop by it being hard & left the reading test twice to go to the bathroom & cry, so I don't suspect that it was her best showing.

None the less, she didn't do nearly as well as your dd and she did skip 5th quite successfully. She was still advanced on all of the grade level tests and in the 99th percentile on the SRI lexile for 6th grade post-skip. Overall, I'd say that she is still a very strong student post-skip. It sounds like your dd would be a great student still post-skip.

99th as compared to 8th graders?! Geez, that's going to be one empty awards ceremony!

I think you are mistaken, it's 99% of her peers, and with those scores if she's not in the top 1% i would be shocked

Originally Posted By: OHGrandma
I suspect he is playing with the answers deliberately. Over the last few months he has taken to calculating the minimum grade he needs on a test to carry an A in class, and then hits it.

My husband and his classmates did this throughout medical school. My oldest son does this in high school and I HATE it. He thinks it's more a victory to get a 91 than a 96, because he didn't spent extra time studying for the same result (A).

Congrats gatorgirl. I agree with colorpro--the % Duke uses will compare to other talented 5th graders not the 8th/9th graders.

I'm sorry gatorgirl I forgot to congratulate you on the awesome scores.

TIP gives awards to kids with 99th percentile composites, compared with 8th grade norms. My DD has gotten this award in the past. IIRC, there were 250 or so kids in the TIP region who were recognized that year.

The curve for the talent search kids is to the right of the "average" 8th/9th grade curves. So, the talent search pool is very impressive. Or, as my DD said, it doesn't say much about the average 8th grader.

WOW on those scores! Definitely worth the wait!

This is what I thought. So she missed it by 1%.

Wow! The scores that everyone is posting are outstanding. DD12 opened her envelope last night and was disappointed with hers. I, however am not. She improved from last year and that was what I was hoping would happen.
We still have not gotten anywhere with the school on any accelerated Math and although her Math is the lowest, I still believe that it is because she has not been exposed to anything other than 6th grade Math and that is so ridiculously easy. I am just hoping that some other opportunities open up for her along the way.

Composite 18
English 16
Reading 17
Math 15
Science 22

Congratulations! Those are amazing scores. This board does attract best of the best!

Gatorgirl -

So close! If your DD skips to 7th next year, she can take the SAT/ACT and try for the awards for the 7th grade talent search. If she doesn't skip, she could take Explore again...

The 7th grade talent search gives awards at the 90% for national awards and 50% for state awards.
And you only have to get that in one area. It doesn't have to be the composite.

WATS awards depend on the pool from year to year so we still don't know if dd11 got in on her 7th grade SAT scores this year. If she is in the top 25% of the 7th grade pool from WATS she will, but it will be a few more weeks until we get the email if so.

It would be nice if the awards were based on the same thing from one talent search to another. Some seem to set the bar low enough that my kids would certainly qualify every year even if they didn't have their best day. Others are so high that it seems like DYS kids would be the only ones who qualify.

This is the same reason for my dd's lower math score. It's not that she couldn't do the higher work but she hasn't been exposed to the higher work.

Hehe, I'm tempted to blame GS10's drop in his math score on another year of Math Investigations!

Hello,
We are new to testing and talent search. We took the explore test in January so that we could attend the C-Mites Summer camps.
We received the results and inspite of all the data I don't know how to interpret the scores. Are they good enough to approach the school to have him tested for the gifted program. We have just moved to a big public school district from a small private school that did not test of offer any special services.

My son is in 4th grade and these were his scores
Composite 16
English 16 (usage 9, Rhetorical skill 7)
Mathematics 16
Reading 14
Science 16

Any advice?
Thanks.

Those scores seem particularly strong in mathematics for a 4th grader. While talent search kids often do better than the avg 8th grader in english, reading, and science, they often do not do better than the avg 8th grader in math due to lack of exposure. I believe that the 16 he got in math should be above the 50th percentile for an 8th grader in math. I would certainly approach the school and see what they can do in terms of further testing to identify him for whatever GT programming they offer.

Thanks gratified and cricket. I am going to approach the school and see what they say.

16 in Math is at the 64%. Very good for a 4th grader.

Those are awesome and almost identical to the scores my DD got in 4th grade. They were very useful in her skip over 5th grade to 6th grade.

Congrats!

Question - my son skipped a grade. So, he is a 5th by age and a 6th in school. Do I compare his score to the 5th graders in the talent search or the 6th graders?

I had sort of expected a 25 in math, but he only got a 24. However, he told me the day of the test that he missed one question. Maybe that was the difference.

I actually wrote almost this exact same thing a few pages back! Totally agree. Having that kind of accuracy and focus as a young kid is just amazing!

Maybe having a 3rd grader, who is working on 8th grade level math without breaking a sweat has warped me on the knowledge required end. We could definitely be doing more math wise, but I've let his accuracy, speed, and maturity catch up with his conceptual knowledge. And we haven't done the EXPLORE with him, but will next year. He doesn't strike me as the poised, focused test taking type at this point in life!

He actually did surprise me on the SCAT a bit (had no problem being well above qualifying despite only using 1/2 his time and refusing to use scratch paper), so you might be right! Kind of makes we wish we would have at least tried out the EXPLORE this year. Glad to know other parents think this way too about their asynchronous kiddos.

I emailed the principal about whether she wanted to see the scores, but gave no hint of how he did. (22 composite, 24 math, 23 science, 21 english and 19 reading). Also asked her insight on how to compare. She said 6th grade is the right comarison. Wonder how she will react to the 22 when she sees it.

I'm shipping a copy of his scores to the school tomorrow.

Deal is, Snoopy doesn't want to skip now. He finally feels like he is at home with these kids. This may be enough to convince the school and yet we will be saying no. What a warped situation.

Yes, the school is great. No, they don't make any special accomodations for him. Somehow this is just working.

For now..... And I have learned enough to enjoy it when things are working because they don't keep working for long....

Mary

P.S. For the math question he missed.... area of a triangle. He told me in the car he only missed one question, but they didn't give him enough information, wait it was a right triangle, oops, well he missed that one. I thought it was very cool that he figured out his own mistake. I'll bet it was the only math problem he missed.

He won't be as well prepared for the SAT next year. He is nearly finished with Algebra 1 on ALEKS, but lots of stuff he hasn't done on the SAT. Won't look nearly so good coming off of it.

We are new to Talent Search. Our DD9 has been identified to be Gifted in Math by her school and her Gifted teacher referred us to Explore. After the test, she was confident that she answered all questions, although she was not happy with science.

What should be our next step? We have never had her do any prep for these tests since we do not know how and what to prepare.

I do not think our school district offer to skip a grade but we would not go for it as she is already the youngest in her class.

Anyone know about a good summer program around Central Ohio and its vicinity?

Thanks

OhioDad,

I do have one dd who has skipped a grade despite being one the youngest in her grade as well. Being younger isn't always a reason to rule it out. However, it is a very, very good idea to have a complete IQ score in the 98th percentile or above and to have the child be working multiple grade levels above her current grade in all academic subjects if you are going to consider a full grade skip. Another option would be seeing if she can be accelerated in math only -- commonly referred to as "subject acceleration."

We've never prepped our girls for Explore or SAT tests either. My understanding from talent search is that they don't encourage a lot of prep work although I know that some people do so.

Have you gotten her Explore results back yet? You may be able to use those to advocate for more challenge in math if she did as well as she thinks.

When your dd is a bit older, you may want to look into Math Path summer camps: http://www.mathpath.org/ They are held on a different college campus each year so they might have one close to you in a few years.

Cricket,

Thanks for your response.

She is already in accelerated program in Math. Our school only provides Math and Reading acceleration program.

She appeared for her Explore in Feb and I think we should wait for another 2-3 weeks for her result.

Our Church has a program for Math Olympiad. I have already talked to the organizer for next year. We are thinking of signing for NSF (North South Foundation) math quiz.

I am still looking for more advices.

Thanks

Is that the accelerated program for her current grade? I was thinking more along the lines of sending her to the next grade level for math. My oldest, for instance, went to the 4th grade accelerated language arts class with 4th grade students when she was a 3rd grader. The accelerated class for the next grade up might be a better fit for your dd.

There's the Atlas summer program at CSG for gifted learners. I have heard good things about it for years and the facilities and teachers are wonderful but dd won't be "old enough" until next year. I suspect its aimed more at "typically" gifted, rather than PG gifted. I thought about pushing to have dd go early, but have opted to wait until she can go with a friend.

We have had really good luck with the summer programs at Wellington in the past because they were so flexible...

Ok, so I'm new to all of this testing stuff. On the school's advice we had our son, 9 4th grade take the Explore test. Just got the scores today. Frankly, I don't know much about the scores so I Googled and found this site. So far, I'm learning a lot reading the posts. Scores were composite 21, Eng 20, Math 23, Reading 18, Science 23. He really enjoys Math and Science so I'm not surprised those scores are higher than reading. He is in the gifted program at school now. They seem pretty decent as compared with 8th grade levels. Are there other tests he should take?

FinalFor - those are great scores and I believe he qualifies for Davidson Young Scholars Program if you also have qualifying IQ scores.

EXPLORE

Grade 4
English 19
Math 16
Reading 18
Science Reasoning 18
Composite 17

At least three of the five scores listed, including the composite score
He qualifies with English, Math, Reading and the Composite.

I just got my DS Explore scores (tested through NUMATS), and since others are sharing I thought I would too.

5th Grade
Composite 23
English 22
Math 21
Reading 25
Science 25

They look like they might be high enough to be invited to the CTD Award Ceremony. Can anyone who has been there tell me what that is like? Is it worth a 12 hour round trip drive to Chicago?

WOW those are great scores Shelly! Looks like your Explore days are over and it's on to the ACT!

I don't know about the ceremony, sorry, but I had a few questions, if you are willing to share (and anyone else whose child has taken the test). First of all, your ds did amazingly well- congrats to him!

As we look at our son's scores and try to figure out what they mean, I was wondering:
Do you think that the test is an accurate reflection of his abilities?
Is this his first time taking it?
What is your schooling situation? I am trying to figure out how accurately the tests reflect our perception/reality of our kids. Can a smart kid who is in a regular 3rd grade curriculum extrapolate that knowledge to a high enough level to do well on the EXPLORE, for example, or is it a test where you must have been exposed to the material through acceleration or accommodation?
Anyway, just curious...
It sounds like a long trip to Chicago, but it might be fun to do a road trip/mini vacation for the weekend. I've heard it is a beautiful campus.
Theresa

We had to drive up the night before and stay at a hotel for testing. Testing starts at 8:30am and it was 1.5hr drive for us and I didn't want DS9 being tired for the test. It was nice alone time for us (he has two siblings who stayed home w/ DH). He is in 4th grade and homeschooled. He was in PS for K-2. This was his first time taking the test. I think for the most part it is a reflection but he didn't have enough time to finish math and science. That really hurt him, especially in science since it seems he got most of them correct that he attempted. Science is mostly reasoning and analyzing data which is where DS9 shines. DS9 is not particularly accelerated - his science knowledge is pretty broad from reading and watching NOVA. I think the young kids are extrapolating. The time limit really hurt him. He'll be doing NWEA Map testing and it'll be interesting to see how he does on an untimed test.

Have you looked at the sample questions for the Explore? That might give you a better idea about what the test is measuring.

For those HSing and whose DC took the Explore, will the test results change anything for you?

Hi Theresa, thanks for the interesting questions. It is interesting to contemplate what this all means. So I would be willing to share.

I do think he has a high ability. He is also generally curious about Science topics. This is his second time taking the test. He took it in 3rd grade Composite 15, English12, Math 14, Reading 16, Science 18.
His schooling situation. He is in a regular 5th grade class. The gifted services are once a week pull outs for verbal and match. The school he is at is a title one school with a larger minority/low-income population so it has more emphasis on the other end of the performing spectrum. The school hasn't had some of the extras that other schools in the district have like Math Masters or Destination Imagination. Not an ideal situation. His teacher says at conferences that he spends lots of time reading (sounds like my entire school career) and occasionally the teacher would like his attention but also admitted that he is getting the material. Next year should be better. He is going to be in a highly gifted middle school program. Basically a choice school where the gifted kids are collected in one middle school class which allows the teachers to go at a faster pace. My DD was in the highly gifted middle school program and it was good for her.

I think generally it has been noted that Math scores are not as high on this test because they haven't been exposed to the material. One thing I noticed when I did the practice test with my DD when she took the test is that the Math portion is that she didn't make use of the calculator and tried to do problems by hand. That seemed to be one of the biggest problems is lack of judgement on when to use the calculator ... rather important on a timed test. Her scores in 5th grade were good Composite 18, English 18, Math 15, Reading 17, Science 20. Not as good as her brothers. I think exposure to the test in 3rd grade, hearing me mention the calculator issue several times, and maybe being identified for gifted services earlier may have contributed to his better score. Or he could have just been having a better day ... it is hard to say with testing.

Shelly

We HS. I don't think the results will change much. It is nice to add to the portfolio of tests that show what we already know.

I do have another meeting with the Director of Curriculum for our school district, we do this every six to twelve months to discuss options, so it will be nice to have in hand. Sadly for our area, I don't see it making much difference.

That calculator was an issue for my DD too. She felt like it would be "cheating" to use it. I thought after not finishing EXPLORE and our conversation about how the calculator is actually assumed to be in use during the test, that she would "get it". Apparently not--only a few weeks later she told me she was the last done for a math placement test--she didn't want to use the calculator if she thought she could figure it out on her own (I'm realizing that we are missing an emoticon--where's a good old mental head slap when you need one???). While mental manipulation of number is a relatively strong point for DD, she is far from instant in her processing....

The whole question about how to interpret is tricky. For instance, it would appear that DD got almost everything she actually got to correct (I think she had 2 wrong on reading, 1-3 on science depending on how many she actually left blank). On the one hand, that seems pretty impressive to me. On the other hand, there are obviously plenty of students who are able to do that AND finish the tests, which she did not.

When I look at placement recommendations that are based on EXPLORE scores they seem--with the possible exception of DYS--to be somewhat low relative to DDs performance. Yet,the idea that DD has exceptional math strengths has been dismissed pretty consistently by the school, and up until this year, she has received precious little in terms of acceleration (mostly random independent work for 2nd, 3rd and 4th without monitoring/guidance/feedback).

So I find myself confused. Are the majority of (out of level) EXPLORE test takers actually not from the upper end of the acheivement/ability pool? Do all mildly/moderately gifted kids test well above the mean in most subject areas and it is really only the 20+ scores that indicate anything out of the typical range? And then I wonder about the time factor. If she were really gifted, would she finish everything (keeping in mind that she is 10/5th grade)? I wasn't surprised when she didn't finish everything last year, but this year I have to admit that I didn't expect so many blanks. If she were really gifted, wouldn't she just know the answers and move quickly through the questions? Or, is her lousy sense of time/pacing not very relevant and the telling factor is her accuracy with what she has done? She grew in both english (3 points) and math (2 points) as compared to last year, despite having LITERALLY no instruction in either for her 4th grade year, and little in the way of writing this year (her growth was all in style/rhetoric--she had already hit ceiling on grammar/usage). If the test is out of level and she grew without instruction, is that meaningful, or is it just to be expected because she's a year older? She didn't grow at all in science and she dropped a couple of points in reading, but both reading scores were above 20, so pretty much at ceiling there.

I don't expect anyone has the answer to these questions, but I'm thinking maybe other parents with kids somewhere below DYS levels are pondering the same questions, so I thought I'd muse obsess out loud...

One of the thing it says in the results is that in the third grade, and I would think a few grades later, the comparison are against other children who fall in the high ability ranges. So, for instance, my child got a 10 in one item, which is like 20% for the kids taking the test. But, then you have to consider the fact that the kids taking the test tend to already be in the top ~5% of the population of third graders. On the other hand, he got a 16 in Science which according to the results, is about 80-something %, once again compared to other high ability children. Keep in mind that either score is high enough to get him into any class in CMITES.

Does anybody know if they send additional info later? I'd like to see some stats of how peers did. The score sheet just shows data against 8th graders. It would be interesting to see the scores within his peer group. I think it helps paint a more complete picture.

When dd#2 tested in the past, we got an interpretive guide that gave us an idea of how the other kids in her grade did. It did not give percentiles, just the top scores, bottom scores, avg scores, etc. I've linked as many of the interpretive guides from the various talent search organizations as I've been able to locate here: http://www.galileoeducation.org/Test-Scores.html

Some of them seem to have recognition ceremony levels as the only info available online while others have the entire interpretive guide online. Interpretive info for SAT scores for 7th graders seems to be the most easily accessed online with WATS (formerly RMATS) having the most complete info for Explore results online that I've seen. Keep in mind that some of these interpretive guides are from last year b/c the new ones aren't out yet and that your child will be compared to this year's cohort & the cohort from your regional talent search not the others. The scores seem to vary quite a bit from one talent search to another.

Thanks Cricket. Good link. I read somewhere that more info is usually sent for the Explore that provides more info. Your links helped also.

Have you looked at the sample questions for the Explore? That might give you a better idea about what the test is measuring.

That was a good idea. Ds had looked at the test booklet when it came, but it was more of a "look at this and see if you feel comfortable," kind of thing. I was more concerned that he wouldn't feel frustrated.

I'm impressed that you drove and stayed at a hotel. We had a bit of a drive, but not 1.5 hours (about 40 minutes) and ds is an early riser, so it wasn't bad at all. My only concern was that he gets carsick very, very easily (sometimes driving to the high school 20 minutes away).

And my ds has never seen NOVA- but I bet he would like it, so you've given me some good suggestions!
Theresa

Wow - that makes his high scores even more impressive! Given his current schooling situation, it sounds like the jump to middle school will be really good for him.

Thanks for the links. I had the same musings as Taminy, and this definitely helps me better understand ds's results!

Theresa

DS9 did the Explore thru North Western, NUMATS. They are going to send more info. I was wondering if the info is different than what was sent from the EXPLORE testers? Did anyone get this information? We are suppose to get it this month.

I'm also waiting for the statistical summary from NUMATS. Their web page makes it look like you get a full breakdown of scores and percentiles, but this is also our first year so I can't speak from experience.

http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/numats/program/benefits/

April 28th and still nothing from NUMATS. Did anyone receive their NUMATs info?

We received ours Monday (Wisconsin) for the ACT NUMATS.

We have only received the catalogs about the Gifted Learning Links and Summer Programs. No specific NUMATS info as of yet.

Maria

Still waiting for NUMATS data here too. I know it's partly my neurotic love of statistics talking, but this whole process sure seems slower than it should be.

Also, still waiting for NUMATS data, and the state recognition ceremony is only a week away. I had been assuming we'd get the data before the ceremony, but maybe not?

NUMATS follow-up material:
NUMATS follow-up material is being mailed to students and schools during the week of April 26.

This announcement is on the NUMATS website. We haven't received it and we live less than an hour away, but at least this gives me hope that we'll get it this week!

May 5th and still waiting....NUMATS where are you?

We got ours yesterday. It was our first time, and it was very helpful. We are meeting with the school in a few weeks to discuss accommodations for both my boys, so I was happy to have more data.

May 13th and still waiting.

We got ours this week. Wednesday, I think? Very helpful data!

Hope yours comes soon!

We finally got our NUMATS report from Northwestern.

DS9 scored 99.3% of age for reading. About 1145 kids were in his group. I'm proud of him.