Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion gender distribution in gifted programs?

I'd be surprised if that were true, since the companies that make group ability tests have psychometricians who know how to calibrate the scores on the group ability tests so that they are comparable to individuallly administered IQ tests.

I'm going to allow DS to take the CogAT and I'm hoping he does better on it than the WISC! There have to be some people who do better on an IQ test and some that do better on an ability test. We'll see how it goes. He needs a higher verbal score than what he got on the WISC and I'm hoping the multiple choice format will work to his advantage since he's not very expressive/articulate. He may very well be one of those boys that does super well on the quant and/or nonverbal sections. I detest the CogAT because it was a horrible test for DD and her score bore no resemblance to her WISC score, so my fingers are crossed.

Thanks for your thoughts. At this point, her anxiety doesn't seem school-related. She is enjoying school and it's mostly a good match. (She's not 'mathy', more language-oriented). I'm sure that she would enjoy some enrichment, but I doubt that even if identified this school would give her much (DS goes to the same school - IEP is a work in progress). We do enrich at home where possible, in her areas of interest.

So, not having a real academic purpose for testing at the moment is the main reason we've not gone there. We'll have to reconsider if that changes. That, plus (due to anxiety) I don't want to put additional pressure on her at the moment.

My curiosity will have to continue to be unsatisfied.

Bostonian, I would disagree on two grounds.

Group IQ tests are primarily devised for a different purpose. They are to screen numbers of individuals for ability to enter into a program. I believe the armed services were among the major users of such instruments.

An individual IQ test is a discrete measure and observance of one person's ability on one occasion. It's use is to provide information to guide that individual in a number of areas, including academic placement but also for neurological problems for example. The results should come with a comprehensive report noting, not just scores, but how the participant responded and what observations the tester made that can explain those responses if they are unusual. That information is as valuable as the numbers in guiding future educational decisions or if looking for discrepancies suggestive of either exceptionality which is not easily determined by the numbers.

The setting of administration can greatly influence the outcome of group tests in a negative way. The instructions may not be heard or clear to the participants. That should be picked up in an individual setting and prompt the administrator to ensure further instructions are clear and also have any impact noted in the report.

The noise, or even the simple presence, of other participants can distract an individual, especially if they are 2e, and that will not be accounted for in a group test.

Fine motor performance, difficulty managing a pencil to fill in the answer will not be detected by group administrators. Visual disturbances leading to the wrong answer bubble being selected, missing a bubble and skewing all further answers because they are out by one, fatiguability and therefore failing to finish.....these are all traps in group administered tests that can impact on the final score and mean it is not an accurate picture.

Boys have higher variability on most tests of cognitive ability. They have thicker tails on both the right and the left. The curve for girls tends to be narrower. May be something about sex-linked genes.

Wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that nearly every major cognitive instrument has been first-authored by a man. (Although some would say that Nadeen Kaufman had as much or more to do with the KABC and KTEA family of assessments as her husband did. And, of course, there is the venerable McCarthy Scales--Nadeen Kaufman was in on that one, too.)

Quick thought experiment: What if the tests have the same average?