Pardon me if this is naive, but what is the goal of early SAT testing? The whole testing world is a little foreign to me, and I'm hesitant to do to much of it. We signed up for the SCAT mostly because there's an appealing CTY summer program nearby.
That's a good question. I think it varies from family to family. For us, the CTY summer camp for high school aged kids was the goal. I also wanted a test that I could use to see development, and like your situation, the SCAT just didn't have enough 'headroom.'
There is also the question of LOG - levels of giftedness. One would like to get an idea of 'how gifted' a kid is. It sounds like your daughter's school is geared to gifted children. That's great. Unfortunately, we sometimes see a school that is terrific for kids who score 30/50 on the SCAT, but doesn't 'see' that there is tremendous variability in the group called 'gifted' and doesn't provide enough challenge for high LOG kids to develop good work ethic. Sure it's fun to have fun at school and never break a sweat, but in the long run it probably isn't what parents want for their kids. A kid who scores 47/50 on the SCAT might turn around and score 500/800 on the SAT, or 600 or 700 or 780, and as you can imagine, that is quite a difference in what level of schooling they might need, yes?
It isn't about 'which kid is better' - it's about 'what does my kid need? Is the current school situation ok? If now, can I translate that vauge feeling of 'she's just going through the motions' into numbers that school personel might take notice of? If she doesn't seem to be making much of an effort, is it because she is lazy or because she is bored or because she is missing some basic skills?'
Make sense?
Grinity
