Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Explore results...input please!

Don't know what to make of it re: the English and reading
4th grade:
English 23
Math 13
Reading 19
Science 17
Composite 18

5th grade:
English 22
Math 14
Reading 18
Science 19
Composite 18

Is this something to be concerned about? Because it sort of seems like she hasn't learned much this year...or at least not what the Explore is testing? I just didn't expect the reading and english scores to go down and thought math might go up by more than one point.

I am thinking I will use the score report from 4th grade as evidence for the subject acceleration in English and just keep the most recent one to myself.

Thoughts?

Hi Deacongirl,

One thing to consider: how much exposure has your DD had to above-level content, and at what level? Since the test is aimed at 8th graders, if she's in 5th now, whether she'd know all that content from the higher grades probably depends on what she's been taught, more than on ability. I suspect the science and math are particularly susceptible to this problem, but the reading also calls on strategies typically taught in middle school language arts.

They're great scores-- at or above average for an 8th grader! I would hope that the school would understand that there's great capacity for learning more.

DeeDee

I'd guess that a point in either direction is within the standard error of measurement - that it's not a statistically significant change.

For me, I'd use the score reports together as support for the idea that she hasn't learned anything in the last year. To me, that speaks in favor of the skip - without it, she's stagnating.

Ditto to everything AlexsMom said

polarbear

thanks all...

I know I feel like a dork b/c 1 pt. prob. isn't significant--

And I did also have like Alexmom's idea...you don't think they would use that to say "everyone evens out, blah, blah" do you?
It does seem like given her WISC VCI of 99.9% that we could use the two reports together to say she needs to be taught at a higher level.

Just feeling icky about it. Could have saved myself a bunch of money in tuition from Aug.-Feb. and she might have actually learned more if I had just home-schooled her. Sigh.

OK, off to the trenches to ask for acceleration!

"Everyone evens out" = "Obviously, she reached her academic peak at the age of 9, and there's no point in educating her any further, right?"

You never know what stupid thing the school would say, but IMHO it's obvious that she'd benefit from some sort of acceleration. Also, don't beat yourself up over hindsight.

Also, did you test through NUMATS? They give a nice report suggesting appropriate coursework based on the test results. My DD's 4th grade scores were similar to yours other than in English, and she got "Consider full grade acceleration, subject area acceleration, early entrance to high school" in every area but Math.

It seems like other people have said that they could provide their test scores to a second talent search group, and for a fee, get access to that search's resources. That report might be something you could use with the school, too.

Your child's scores look much like my dd's in 5th grade..this year she was at a 24 composite with two perfect subscores in 6th grade. I think for my dd it was experience with this form of testing. This year she knew exactly what to expect. My dd likes to take the test "cold", she does no prep, not even the booklet that comes with the testing registration. My thought is to listem to what your child is telling you...not what the school says.

I agree with what Mamabear said. Exposure to challenging curriculum made huge difference in EXPLORE scores.

Is this something to be concerned about? Because it sort of seems like she hasn't learned much this year...or at least not what the Explore is testing? I just didn't expect the reading and english scores to go down and thought math might go up by more than one point.

I am adding my voice to the others saying that both reports point to the need for her to be taught at a higher level. I look at my two boys - both are good at math and both were tested on the EXPLORE in 4th grade. Ds1 got a 19, ds2 got a 25. Now, honestly, if I had to pick one as the stronger math student, I'd probably pick ds1. So, why the difference? Well, ds2 took the test in 3rd grade (albeit not through NUMATS), ds2 got subject acceleration in math, ds2 benefitted from some of the opportunities ds1 had (doing some of the problems that ds1 did as part of the math team this year)...
So, you might glance at these two scores and think ds1 is good at math, but ds2 is great, but that would be wrong. Ds1 didn't even own a calculator before he tested on EXPLORE, and his teacher at the time didn't believe in challenging him. It was probably a heck of a lot more impressive for him to get a 19 than for ds2 to get a 25 in the same grade. This is learnable material - your dd's high scores both years show a ton of potential- the English grade is pretty amazing and really shows that she GETS it at a very high level. But she can't learn this stuff by osmosis.
I'd go in and say, "hey, I'm paying for my dd to learn - she's already well above the average 8th grader but she's making no progress. She needs material at her level!"

I hate to say it, but she probably isn't learning very much because she probably already knows what they are teaching her.