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Posted By: Catherine1011 Sages-2 scoring and discrepancies. - 05/09/14 02:32 AM
Hello,
This is my first post and I am here hoping someone will be able to help me analyze my 10 y/o 5th grader Sages-2 scores.

Divided into 3 sub-tests, his percentile scores are: Math/Science 61, Lang/Arts/SS 50, Reasoning 89.

The school district requires a score of 80 in all 3 sub-tests to qualify for AP classes. Obviously, my son is quite removed from such achievement. To be honest, the scores kind of shocked me, the language and math are lower than what I would have guessed, although I expected the language to be low, but not quite that low. I suspect dyslexia but have yet to have that confirmed with testing. In the state standardized test for 4th grade, he received proficient in ELA (advanced in math) and so I thought that his struggles with language/writing were diminishing. His class work is average.
Anyway, I guess what I really want an opinion on, is the difference between the reasoning score and the other scores, esp. Lang/Arts/SS, and what if anything I could do to help bridge the gap and nurture the reasoning.

Any input would be greatly appreciated,
Thank you!
Posted By: knute974 Re: Sages-2 scoring and discrepancies. - 05/12/14 12:40 AM
I am not familiar with the Sages-2. Have you seen this document which describes the subtests?
http://www.prufrock.com/Assets/ClientPages/pdfs/sages/CH01-SAGES-2.pdf
It sounds like the reasoning portion measures "problem solving" skills that make it sound more like an IQish test and the other sections are more of an achievement section.

Does the school give this test to everyone or just kids that they suspect may be gifted? I am wondering if the teacher is seeing something that makes him/her think that he might be appropriate for a gifted program. You mentioned dyslexia. He may be twice-exceptional with his dyslexia suprressing his acheivement.
Posted By: aeh Re: Sages-2 scoring and discrepancies. - 05/12/14 01:47 AM
Did the report mention which norms were used? There are two: one is more or less a population of neurotypicals, and the other is derived from identified gifted. Obviously which norms were used would make a huge difference in interpreting the scores you reported.

Taking the assumption that these are NT norms, the aptitude measure ("IQish") is in the top of the High Average range, while the other two (the achievement screeners) are dead on for Average, most certainly consistent with his Proficient score in ELA, but maybe slightly low for an Advanced in Math. This is greater than a standard deviation difference between the estimate of ability and the estimate of language/writing achievement (1.23, if anyone cares), which does suggest further investigation into the presence of some kind of language-based learning disability, preferably using an actual comprehensive assessment, rather than a screener like SAGES. I would want to see better measures of cognition, phonological processing, and achievement, including fluency measures. The last because if we do suspect 2e, high cognitive ability dyslexic compensators often reach a point where they can decode, comprehend, and express (spelling kind of a toss-up) for accuracy, but not for speed. They are pouring a ton of cognition into something that is automatic for others, so they can generate a quality-enough product, but at great energy cost.
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