Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment CogAT scores

joys, I am another parent who has an EG kiddo (per WISC/WJ-III Cog testing) who didn't score all that highly on the CogAT... that's neither here nor there re your child, but one thing I am curious about - are you going to have an opportunity to ask your questions to the person who administered the test? I would expect you should be able to do that, especially given that his local stanine is so much lower than his grade/age stanines.

Also, fwiw, in our school district the CogAT is used as a *screen* for the gifted program, but children who test above the bar on the CogAT are then also given a second ability test. You could ask if your district would do the same for your ds (or if they do that routinely).... jmo, but a true ability test such as WISC would most likely give you more/better info re your ds' innate strengths and abilities (at least it would be interesting to see!).

polarbear

@cricket2, thanks. You explained the scoring very well. Now I have a much clear picture.

@polarbear, I am trying to communicate to the person who administer the test but they are slow in responding. Unfortunately our district focuses on academic achievement so an IQ test is totally out of the scope.

Even though I want my son to get into this program so that he will be challenged, I think I'll be much happier if he can be accomodated in regular classroom. That hasn't happened so far, hence my hope is on gifted program. But at the same time, I am scared labeling my son due to various reasons but there doesn't seem a way out. So far we have been encouraging him in other non-acads areas so that he'll have a well-rounded personality. Over the time he has developed various interests other than the books and we again don't want him to get into the mode where books are his world. Its ok, if they are just a part but we don't want him to be surrounded by books or talking about math all the time.
We haven't done an IQ test due to many reasons, but major one is we don't want him to think that he is over\above others just because he can do advanced math or read above his age. We have put a lot of effort in order for him to have balanced approach towards life. One of my fear about gifted programs is we don't want him to be surrounded by the high-achievers all the time that he stops to appreciate the gifts of non-achievers. Also if the kids are really that smart seeing so many of them scoring so high, and if he gets in then we don't want him to feel dumb either. But then is acceleratin possible in regular classroom?
Thats what I wonder about all the time.
Sorry about rambling..

In my PG DS's experience, there is 30+ points difference between Cogat and WISC scores.

His Cogat scores made him dis-qualified for our school math accelerated program. It was quite a shock for me. I talked to the gifted teacher. She told me that DS is lack of problem solving skills, critical thinking skill and blah... I really doubt it since DS played chess so well and was top 3 players in our state at his grade level. If he is lack of critial thinking skill, he would not be able to do it. Then I happened to talk to another parent of PG child who plays chess and has 30+ points of discrepency between Cogat & IQ. She suggested IQ test for DS. That is how we found out DS is actually PG.

My DD9 CoGat score was about 10 points lower then her actual Wisc score. Because of this, she also did not qualify for gifted services. Ds7 will not be tested on CoGat until next year. CoGat is the only test given to qualify for gifted services in our district. To qualify for the CoGat, the kids need to be in the 95th percentile on NWEA MAP reading and math. The district does use WISC for the self contained magnet program.