Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy District refuses to accept outside testing

We have been advocating for single subject acceleration in math for quite some time without much luck. DS recently took the ACT Explore test and scored very high in the mathematics section (high nineties). Without a doubt the child needs to be accelerated. In addition, a PH.D in gifted education has written and sent to the district a strong recommendation that the child needs to be accelerated in math. So what happens?
The district tells us that they will NOT accept or consider any outside testing or recommendations. The child was also tested by another school as part of the application process (private school) using the MAP. In this case, he also scored exceedingly high in the area of math prompting the private school to suggest we accelerate him in math. His school wont accept the results of the MAP test either.
The only testing results they will accept is what they administer within the district.
The test the district did administer, ITBS, DS scored a 99% in the math section.
I can’t imagine why a district would refuse to consider outside testing or recommendations. Has anybody else ever heard of not accepting or considering outside test results? I just doesn’t seem right.

I suppose they would be telling themselves that they are avoiding situations where parents "shop" for the "right" results. In most areas, I cannot believe that would be that much of an issue. Otherwise, the only explanation I can come up with is they are control freaks. ;-)

In your case, it seems very odd that they won't accept nationally-recognized tests (MAP, EXPLORE). I would be very tempted to ask "what are your district's reasons for not accepting tests administered elsewhere?" because I would be soooo curious as to what they'd say.

Well, I do think that "shopping" is pretty common these days in a surprising number of locations. So I can see why this kind of policy is tempting to administrators-- in my own district, leaving the door open must be a nightmare, honestly, because of the sheer volume and time involved in managing workflow there...

still. The EXPLORE ought to be very well-known to any district, and it's certainly proctored under highly standardized conditions. That one is a mystery to me.

Most likely they have had experiences with unreliable outside testing, and score shopping. It happens. In every large, affluent community, there are certain evaluators that you know will give just about every kid a nudge in their scores, one way or the other, or are biased toward diagnosing kids with certain disabilities, or frequently write that a student should have foreign language requirements waived, etc. I read a lot of outside evals in my work, and I have certainly seen them.

There are as many unscrupulous and unprofessional individuals in this field as in any other, I imagine. ETA: Sometimes it's unscrupulous parents, who don't tell evaluators that they're asking for unethical short-interval re-testing, which almost always artificially inflates scores.

I have not, however, ever worked in a district that refuses to consider outside test results.

What I find more puzzling is that they don't appear to be accepting of their own testing in the 99th %ile.

Our schools do their own testing, and I've heard through the grapevine that they do not accept outside testing when it is submitted as a part of a G&T appeal. The school DOES do a great deal of testing, including MAP testing and ITBS - but none of this is given "out of level" (with the exception of the RIT score on MAP, which is supposed to be independent of grade).

Does your school HAVE a subject acceleration policy? As far as I can tell, our school does not. In this instance, you might be able to suggest looking at the IAS.

We also had our DD take EXPLORE, because of the lack of out-of-level testing.

So if his school is so wedded to their own testing, what out of level testing do they offer? Did they give the ITBS out of level? It sounds like your DS did as well as one can possibly do on that test!

Still, EXPLORE is pretty darn standardized and can be given out of level (did your DS take it through a Talent Search, and I'm assuming it was out-of-level for him?), and IMO, hard to argue it was somehow "influenced."

We used our outside testing as a "supplement" to our DD's in school testing, to try to get a better picture of her abilities (and a better idea of whether she was being appropriately challenged). DD was already in the G&T program, but she still seems underchallenged. Our school DID look at our outside testing (which really doesn't conflict with any of their in-school testing, but instead offers a more comprehensive view), but in terms of actually seeing modifications on a day-to-day basis...it has been slow going. The school loves to differentiate (see earlier thread about how differentiation doesn't work). Long story, but our advocacy efforts are ongoing.

I'm dealing with this issue now.

I think that the school's position, in my case, is that testing is only one of their criteria, so if you don't meet the other (subjective) criteria, outside testing, or really, *any* testing, even if administered by the school itself is insufficient to establish the need for services.

So, yes, some districts seem to feel free to ignore their own testing if other criteria is not met since the testing, in and of itself, is necessary, but not sufficient.

DS is in fifth grade and took the Explore test through a nationally known talent search. His results placed him in the high nineties as compared to the eighth grade students who took the test. In addition, the recommendation sent to the district came from the university that sponsored the talent search. DS’ math teacher has also indicated that he needs a differentiated math class and a high school math teacher within the district also wrote a letter to the administration indicating the need for single subject acceleration.

I can understand a district not wanting to rely only on outside test scores. But more data is usually a good thing to have. Why not consider them along with the district testing to get a more complete picture? Especially if the outside and inside testing don't contradict each other.

Best of luck,
--S.F.

As part of DD's special ed eval they actually ASKED if they could use the outside WISC IV scores that we have, so that they don't have to spend the time/money to test her themselves. Of course, it's different if it's an assessment for advanced abilities since in most places that's not mandated. But they also accepted her WISC scores for the gifted program, for the same reason. It's cheaper/easier for them. They do, however, have a list of psychologists that they will accept scores from, meaning that our outside results in terms of our other child (from a major university) are probably useless.

venice, my take on your particular situation is that your district is refusing the *acceleration* rather than refusing the outside test results and outside recommendations. Your ds clearly hit the 99th percentile on the MAP test done at school, so that in and of itself would probably have been sufficient if the district wanted to provide subject acceleration.

My recommendation is to try to network through the grapevine and find out whether or not there are other students who've been allowed to subject accelerate in math. What you need to find is one example of "it's been done" and then go back with a written request to your ds' school stating every test results and written recommendation you have.

Best wishes,

polarbear