My one issue would be with the term, "group IQ tests." None of these tests with which I am familiar (CogAT, OLSAT, etc.) purports to be an IQ test. They all actually state emphatically that they are not.
I agree! What are they called 'as a group?'
It is my humble opinion that tests like the CogAT and OLSAT are asking the wrong questions. I'd just as soon see straight achievement tests used b/c I don't think that these tests do any better of a job in narrowing down gifted from high achiever.[/quote]
I agree, and perhaps it would be fun to give above level achievement tests to see who is sort of doing 90th percentile work on grade-level achievement tests and also doing 90th percentile or above on one or two years ahead of grade level achievement tests.
In some way this kid needs gifted services more than the kid who achieves 99th percentile on 'at grade' achievement test but only 50-70% on the test for the next grade up.
I personally don't think that any school is every going to meet the needs of all kids with only one type of intervention for gifted kids. Sort of like thinking that handicap ramps are going to met the need of every kid with physical disabilities until a child breaks their writing arm and needs to wear a cast for 6 weeks. Those ramps aren't going to help her one bit.
Strangly, my son once mentioned that he and a few other kids were being pulled out to take NCLB tests that are normally given to kids in an older grade. I think it was in 2nd grade before Giftedness was really on my radar. When I asked him why, he said that the school wanted to see how prepared they are, but when I asked which kids were in this special grouping, I suspected that it was all bright kids. I never heard anything about it from the school and I never asked. I would have thought that they would have mentioned it to me. ((shrug))
ETA: Is this the article 'gifted today not tomorrow?'
http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ746292.pdfHere's a link to a Renzulli article -
http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/sem/semart13.htmlLove and More Love,
Grinity
