Cricket2, I appreciate your thoughts and the fact that you took the time to read my prior posts to understand where I was coming from/why I was asking, thank you.
re: aculady's response above...."I fail to see why anyone would want to spend the time and money to prep their child so they could get a deliberately inaccurate evaluation of their child's intellectual profile, but I know that there are a lot of parents who seem to think that getting an artificially inflated score and using it to put their children in placements that are too hard is somehow doing their kids a favor. They don't realize that they are not only doing their own children a disservice, but they are potentially harming other children who scored similarly but without prep, who really would thrive in such placements, but who might be denied entrance because of the programs' previous experience with children who were placed based on similar but prepped scores."
I don't know if you are directing this at me or stating a general opinion, but it felt like a slap in the face.
I am new to this site, I came here for support and further knowledge, nothing more.
I would like set a few things straight:
1. I was not choosing the test, the psychologist was. Why she was choosing this one over the SB-V, I do not know. (HENCE, why I am trying to educate myself on the exam-not much is known about it.). Nothing has definitively been chosen yet, when I meet with her I'd like to be well educated on both exams so I can have an intelligent conversation about the assessment process.
2. Due to class size amendments in our state (18 to a class), starting a GT program is highly competitive. While gifted testing is NOT a requirement, it does guarantee your child has a place in the program year to year (pending academic progress of course.)
3. My child was invited to be in the GT program for kindergarten but the teacher for that class was NOT what I envisioned for kindergarten-NO class parties allowed, no participation with the other kindergarten classes for holidays, no creative projects/center activities. (we ARE talking about 5 year olds here).
We chose for our very bright child to enjoy being a child--and chose a regular kindergarten class. I am proud to say my child is well adjusted, has confidence, and is happy. Now at the end of kindergarten, we are looking for him to start the GT program for 1st grade. This teacher realizes and embraces the fact that bright children are still children and knows how to encompass both fun & challenging class work. Therefore, we are considering testing to ensure he will be in her class. (remember, 18 children were in that GT kindergarten class... the competition for an outsider would be intense, therefore having test scores to back a child's entrance would secure a spot.)
It is a very sad day when a parent has to choose between embracing the wonderment and fun of childhood vs. challenging academics, but it is what it is.
