OK, so my son was given the CogAT test. I called the publishing company yesterday to understand the meaning of the scores. They were the ones that explained to me the correlation of the IQ as compaired to his test results. For the stanine scores, the explanation of those state that my son is unable to grasp basic concepts without constant 1 on 1 teaching with frequent repetition.
Due to my child only being in 2nd grade, they do not take standardized tests. The school district goes completely off the CogAT scores. They are also supposed to go off of teacher recommendations and their DIBELS scores. The teacher was in complete shock when I spoke to her yesterday and the school is 100% behind me, to include the principle. The school isn't the issue, it is the district that runs the program.
I spoke with Johns Hopkins, UW Robinson Center, Duke, and Northwestern to obtain more information on gifted testing. They all stated that over 75% of truly gifted children will score at or below the median range of CogAT tests, which is why it is so important to have the tests given 1 on 1 with a licensed psychologist.
The only way my son is able to get into the gifted program is through this one test, unless I pay for outside testing through a specialist. I have his entire school record already, showing his DIBELS level is on par with 8th graders, his extra workbooks for 3rd and 4th grade math, his writing samples, his research papers, etc.
The books he has read include (but are not limited to), the Heroes of Olympus series, Percy Jackson series, Harry Potter Series, and Eragon. Right now he is reading the Kane Chronicles. He is the only child in his class able to read and understand these books on his own with zero assistance.
I meet with the "Highly Capable" program director today to fight about this. His teacher already submitted that it will be damaging to my son to stay in regular school next year. Our district has a 5 day a week, full time gifted school. However, after the fight I am in, I am wondering just how truly gifted this school is.
