Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Incongruous test results. Please fill in gaps.

Well, let's see.

The companies that publish the tests have certain proprietary rights, so that an assessor cannot, for example, show you the test questions and answer sheets.

What actually goes in the report ends up being a balance between the assessor's professional judgement and what the school district requires. Some assessors will tailor their report, or choose which instruments to use or not use, based on the concerns that are raised in the request for evaluation. For example, if a speech and language assessment has been requested, you might skip certain sections of the academic assessment that cover the same ground.

Subtests scores are part of the report, but different assessors like to report different information. For example, some school psychs like to put confidence intervals after the subtest and summary scores. Others don't want to explain what confidence intervals are and introduce unnecessary confusion with technical statistical information, so they don't bother.

I like to see a discussion of behavioral observations. They might say that the student was on-task and engaged the whole time. They might say that the student got stuck on repeating a joke they heard on TV during a timed portion of the test. I think I actually wrote in one that the student walked over to the piano and played "Heart and Soul" when they had a break!

One thing I love to see in a cognitive report is the school psych's statement that the IQ score either is or is not, in the assessor's professional judgement, a good summary of the student's cognitive potential. For example, if there's a big difference in subtest scores, the school psych may say that one of them is the best approximation of cognitive potential instead of the composite score.

I like to see some kind of interpretation of the subtest scores. And I like to see some kind of practical recommendations based on those scores. For example, a teacher might try various approaches to give a student with a low processing speed score extra wait time in class.

But all reports are not created equal, that's for sure!

DS quite likes the Barwise & Etchemendy "Language, Proof and Logic" book+CD course - he's done more playing around with the software than systematically going through the book, but that's OK in this case. I would love to recommend you a certain recreational book on logic, sets and proof theory (no, not mine!) but it isn't ready yet. Graph theory's a big hole in the market, it seems to me. Gertrude, Superperson and the Monster ( http://www.ccs3.lanl.gov/mega-math/workbk/graph/grgsm.html ) were a noble start, but it's a pity about the bugs, and besides it's died.

I agree with polar bear that you should ask the school for all of the data in writing. We had private testing done. Our report included raw scores, IQ, Percentile and Confidence Intervals broken into VCI, PRI, WM, PS and FSIQ. Our report also included all subtest scores, both raw and scaled.

Thanks Beckee and knute974 for letting me know what I should be expecting in a report (so I know when they're not giving us enough). I'm also wondering if one has a "right" to receive certain information. For example I found this thread
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/128116/
where the OP wasn't being given raw scores (which could be used to find extended norm scores), and one poster suggested that HIPAA gives you a right to these medical records. But are they really medical records, and does HIPAA really apply?

Thanks ColinsMum and kcab for the suggestions of books and online courses. I'm wondering what there is at elementary school level. I saw that EGPY courses include set theory and logic at elementary school level, but they are very expensive and our son is covering all other topics except these for free with k12.com. I think even average elementary school students could learn a bit of basic set theory and logic, and it is a pity these topics are not included in the standard curriculum.

It's been a month and a half and both the testers and the school are flat out refusing to disclose the subtest scores for the WISC-IV. About a month ago they gave just percentiles for VCI, PRI, WM, PS and FSIQ. There are no other numbers and no kind of psychologist commentary or interpretation. They refuse to give us anything else.

Is this normal?

What should we do?

What rights do we have to the missing information?

Thanks. I've already tried getting records, but maybe it'll help if I know about FERPA. Would HIPAA also apply here?

Is it typical for schools to actively try to prevent parents getting access to this kind of information? What is their motiviation? I'm new to this (only our oldest has started school) and so I'm trying to get a better understanding of what is going on. I'm shocked at how determined they are to not give us the results.

The test was ordered by the school, and the tester was paid by the school, but is not a regular employee of the school (or the district). So there are two places to get the information, the tester or the school, which is actually making it even harder to find out.

I don't know if HIPAA helps in this situation. FERPA absolutely should apply. I have never heard of a school hiding results. Is it a public school or private?

It's a public charter virtual school.

The school finally gave us the scores. I decided to put them in a new thread.
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted...._scattered_scores_Any_th.html#Post150672