Amy, I'm in a really huge hurry today so I hope this makes sense (since it's simply quick random thoughts lol!) -
FWIW, I couldn't remember your ds' WISC profile, so I took a quick peak in the archives - it looks like he has the same large discrepancy in verbal vs non-verbal on the WISC that shows up on his CogAT. I'm wondering if there isn't a chance that whatever is driving those differences in scores might somehow be impacting his achievement test results.
I don't have much experience with the Terra Nova, but fwiw both experiences were odd - go figure! My EG ds (who is grade-accelerated in math + really really good at math) scored very much lower than we would have guessed based on what he's learned in math, even with his extended time. We suspect from what we've been told by his school staff that he most likely got off-track on marking bubbles on the answer sheet (he has challenges with copying related to his disability and is supposed to be able to write his answers in the answer book). During his TN testing, on the day he took the math portion and received the oddly low score, he was given a bubble sheet by the proctor instead of being told to write his answers in the test book.
Our dd8 took the TN last year in 2nd grade and also didn't do very well - across the board. Her scores are lower than we would have guessed based on ability and class grades. In her case, I wouldn't be surprised if she raced through the test and missed doing some questions all together because she tends to do that with classwork.
My advice is to ask for copies of the complete test results from your school - get as much info as you can, think through how your ds might have been impacted when taking the tests.
Then I'd make an appeal to the people who are deciding entrance into the gifted program. I wonder if you could ask for some advice/written support from your neuropsych who did the WISC testing?
Best wishes,
polarbear
