Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Experiences w/Davidson Young Scholars Program?

Hi indigo, thank you for your input. You are absolutely right about this issue. It would be tough for others to distinguish "self-driven, self-taught" vs. "Hothoused". I wish his WJ-III one subtest score would be considered along side with whatever I can come up in his portfolio. We were told by school psychologist that DS was doing "high school level Math" during the WJ-III "Applied problems". Maybe, or just maybe I can squeeze the request for "further complete WJ-III test" at next week's meeting with school officials... ?

Sorry! I was only addressing the idea of the level of confidence/autonomy a child might present in a video demonstrating a skill. Val is right with the DYS qualifications for test scores. Additionally, if opting to present a portfolio, based on the link Val provided, it looks like it would be beneficial for your child to demonstrate skills in several areas? Just my 2 cents.

Val, Thank you for your links and detailed explanation!

It shall be fairly easy for me to dig out some of DS' works (on paper). But just like Indigo mentioned in the previous post... it might be difficult to tell how DS reached to that point just "on paper". Has anyone here heard of "success story" for DYS applicants with Valid full IQ score + achievement "One Subtest" score + Portfolio. If the school refuses our request for "complete WJ-III achievement testing" (their reason would be valid since DS was just screened for school's GT program), we might have to get private achievement testing done on this little guy

Oh! No need to say Sorry! Your input is greatly appreciated because I often times think about the same issue. DS is clearly a conceptual learner, he gets concepts quickly and then "guesses" what the next steps/concepts. He can't take repetition... I don't have workbooks or even textbooks for him at this point. I do know some kids that were "Kumoned", they can do above grade level Math/Reading too. In a K classroom, the teacher still can tell them apart though

Hi Love2Dolphins! I just went through this with "school results," although different tests. If your DS's school would be willing to complete the rest of the subtests to enable them to calculate a "Broad Reading," "Broad Math, a "Broad Written Language," and a "Total Achievement" - that might be the quickest way to get what your DS needs. It would appear that your DS's school performed one of each of the subtests (I believe there are usually 3 needed for each broad score, as my DS5 took the WJ III Ach.) needed to calculate "broad scores" for the WJ-III Ach. Of course, many successful applicants have completed portfolios for their DC, so if you feel like you have the work samples, that could work, too! Best wishes to you and your DS!!!

Hi Loy58, Thank you so much for your input. I agree with you, getting rest of the subtests done (by the school) would be the best solution. We will bring it up at our next meeting with school officials next week.

I wonder if it is "standard procedure" to only administrate few achievement subtests in public schools. I understand that "high Ability" doesn't necessary warrant "high achievement", especially at K level (lack of exposure to certain materials, etc.)

Thank you again! Loy58. Best luck to you and your DS!

You mentioned your child doing algebra/geometry... which has not been taught in kindergarten. Gifted kids often push for "more" in areas of interest, and parents scramble to keep up with them.

Schools may test relative to criteria they deem important for their own gifted programs/services. This may differ considerably from other/outside programs/services. For example, DYS describes a minimum of 99.9th percentile... the extreme outliers.

Hi Indigo, thank you for your reply.

Yes! As parents, my DH and I often feel been "pulled" forward by this little fellow. He would beg for more or "big kid/grown up" version of something. We are trying our best to suit his needs.

I volunteers routinely at DS' K class, witnessing the growth of bunch of 5/6 years. Often, I got surprised at the fact that some kids seemed not to know the basic knowledge of something. I wonder probably those kids were not exposed to those knowledge at all at home. (for example: the planets in the solar system, etc.)

We would try to ask School to complete the WJ-III test for DS, but not really optimistic. Just like you mentioned, school already did their part to identify DS for their own GT program. There is no need for them to do extra for us at this point.

Our school did testing for Gifted for both my boys. I was not thrilled with the scope of the school systems testing even though they both qualified for gifted.

So I went to the university psychology clinic where they are training grad students. Both of my children ended up being tested by the same grad student about a year apart and she and her supervising professor are doing research in giftedness (just a coincidence that we drew her both times). The clinic does testing on a sliding scale and then even took off more money for my youngest because we did extra scales and forms and answered extra questions on him for a bit of research on giftedness. I could only guess which forms/scales were standard and which were extra for the research but I have a good idea. That study was over by the time we got to my older son the next year (and he was one year too old for the scope of the study anyway).

If you only need a WJ-III completed I would call the university and see if you can get a grad student to do it. The three subtests already given can't be given again so I am not sure if they can just complete the rest of the subtests or if they would need to pick a different achievement test altogether...make sure you give them the list of acceptable achievement tests.

Hi Sweetie, that was surely very sweet of you answering my post in such detail! Thank you for your suggestions.

Yes. We can only expect "that much" from public school system. My DS was pulled out from his regular half day K class for the testing couple of days in a row. The school psychologist seems to be very busy (rotating her visits in several elementary schools in our district). We really don't think the school would agree to do "more testing" on our little guy. Like you suggested, we might need to find other party (University Grad student? Private psychologist?) to do the complete testing, either finish the WJ-III or switch to another valid test...