Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy pros and cons of IQ testing?

I think achievement testing is probably going to do more in your effort to advocate to the school than an IQ score, personally. A high IQ is all good and well, but the vast majority of teachers and administrators can't say what that equates to in terms of education. They DO understand when a test shows a child is reading/comprehending at a 6th grade level when they are still in 3rd, or MAP scores showing they've mastered math a grade level ahead.

Is there any way to get the school to do any sort of achievement testing?

Given your situation, I would test. You'll have more information to use in advocating for him and it won't just be a "gut instinct" or observation. Unfortunately, we waited until my son was practically depressed before we tested and once we had the results, we finally understood the extent of his outlier status. When we shared it with the school, they were totally on board with finding solutions to challenging him. The approval for a skip came within 2 weeks (they did the IAS the next week). We didn't end up skipping and we're trying to figure out additional accommodations this year, but everyone is working toward extreme accommodations-- all because of the testing. So if you need "ammo," so to speak, data is what you need. We had both the WISC and an Explore test.

I think that epoh has a good point. This is all we've *ever* used in our advocacy for DD.

If you declare yourselves homeschoolers over some summer or long vacation break, for example, you can order inexpensive achievement tests from "Family Learning Organization or F.L.O." and pretty much test any level that you think might be appropriate. We tested only one year out of level before DD entered school (we were in fact homeschoolers at the time) and DD basically hit the ceilings on ever subsection. Straight up 99's.

In other words, we probably (knowing what we know NOW, I mean) could have turned around and jumped up to 4th grade from there to get something that wasn't entirely at the assessment ceiling.

Anyway. That was a CAT-5. The school completely knew what this was and understood that a 6yo who knocked the 2nd grade version out of the park in November was in need of a 3rd grade placement. At a minimum.

In other words, achievement testing may be exactly the route to try if you think that there are no complicating factors (2e) to contend with.

Hmm....I don't think there are any complicating factors, although obviously you can never be sure. He doesn't seem to be having any problems, aside from losing his focus when he gets bored. But I think that's just being an 8 year old boy. I didn't realize that achievement testing was an option. His AR scores for reading are around a late 5th/early 6th level, and they test his math pretty regularly - he's around a 5th grade for that as well. Is that the same thing? Or should I look at independent achievement tests? I like this idea far better than the idea of IQ testing, for a number of reasons.

To me, 170+ says "Mission Accomplished!"

I take it that your father had some interesting life experiences.

Yes, there are a number of independent batteries, and if you can find a way to get hold of them, proctor them yourself, and then get formal scores after a mail-in... that will allow you the freedom to test 'out-of-level' the way we did.

I highly recommend that. In hindsight, we should have tested DD at about a 4th grade level, not 2nd. But we didn't know. We had no idea that her scores would be that high. We did it to see how much more time was really needed since she seemed bored and resistant to the 2nd grade material we had, and it seemed like she was running through homeschool curricula faster and faster-- which was weird, since obviously as the material got more challenging, it should have been slowing her down. It wasn't, because she was more fully engaged the more challenging the material was.


It was a complete and total surprise to us that when we approached her charter school a few months later, they didn't balk at all about a 3rd grade placement on the basis of those achievement test scores (and a reading level pre-test with them). It really was that easy. Somehow the combination of "out-of-grade-level" and "ceiling" and "recognized, nationally-normed achievement test" was magical.



Jon, for a variety of reasons, while my dad's life was absolutely "interesting" it is most certainly not one that I'd wish on anyone, most particularly my own child. Think Dylan Thomas or Hemingway. Larger than life, and terrifying intellect, but this world is just not made for some people. Giving it a label is sometimes giving it LEGS, too. There is an element of "you're smarter than me, so I don't want to be around you because I want to feel smart and you'll make me feel stupid, since compared to you, I am kinda stupid..." that is impossible to overcome when that number stands in for the whole person, too. That's the real danger if the number is VERY high. I never wanted that to happen to DD. Oh, sure, sometimes other parents still feel threatened by her because of the multiple grade accels and what that must mean... but at least she's never just that number.

Our district's gifted testing starts with a screener (KBIT and TOMAGS) and then moves on to WISC-IV. I'm glad to have the IQ info, but have no intention of telling my kids their "numbers". Interestingly, DH and I didn't learn our actual IQs until we had our oldest tested -- apparently at that point each of our parents decided we were old enough, or mature enough, to know. We were both in gifted programs at school as kids, so there was a general knowledge that we were at a certain level which I think parents thought was enough info.

I'm glad we have the info, as it helps us advocate for our kids better. Since the testing was done through the school, the administration "trusts" the data, so to speak. I don't think we'd be pushing as hard for math acceleration for our youngest without the info from the TOMAGS and WISC. Our district does a decent job with differentiation for MG and HG kids, so I feel like our two older kids are being well served, but our youngest is just at a different level with respect to math and I don't think I would have appreciated that without the testing, because he doesn't present himself that way.