Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment SAGES-ii Testing for Kindergartner

Dear All,
I am new to the forum and need some advice. I have an amazing 5 yo son who is really bright. He is in Kindergarten now and our school district uses MAP to measure achievement. He maxed out on his fall MAP tests and the school recommended a SAGES-ii testing which he took recently.

He has scored a 95th, 87th and 70th percentiles in lang arts social studies, sci-math and reasoning respectively. I actually expected better results.

Keeping that aside, I learnt that SAGES-ii testing is same for K to 3rd grade levels. So, is an age appropriate quotient applied already to the scores? I mean, is the normative values different for my kid as he is in K? I am really confused and not able to find much online too.

Any advice would be highly appreciated. Thanks.

Welcome!

Typically, tests are scored by age, so his youth should have been accounted for in the percentiles. However, one of the unusual attributes of SAGES-2 is that it has both general norms and gifted norms. Find out whether his percentiles were based on the gifted or general population norms. That could make a big difference, as even 70th %ile on gifted norms would be quite strong.

Thank you aeh...that was very helpful. I am new to the country and am just learning how the gifted programs and tests work in the United States. I will check about the norms.

Another thing, when you say tests are scored by age, do you mean his age has been considered while giving the scores?

The tester told me reasoning was the last sub-test administered. Therefore, the lesser score could be due to fatigue or hunger considering his age.
Is it fine to give all the three sub-tests in the SAGES-ii testing together as it spans for over an hour? Do you think I can request for a re-test of just the reasoning part?

Yes, I do mean that his age has been considered in determining the scores. And yes, it is acceptable to administer them all in one session. No, you cannot request a re-test of any part. Tests of this nature are not supposed to be re-administered within this short a time period. Typically, the re-test interval for cognitive (reasoning) tests is two years.

I would first find out whether these scores are based on the general norms or the gifted norms, as it may be that the perception of lower-than-expected performance is misplaced to begin with. If, after answering that question, you still feel that this is inconsistent with your experience with your son, your options for appealing any decisions based on this testing will depend on the school. SAGES-2, although a decent instrument in its own way, is really a screening instrument. There are other tests of cognitive ability that are both more comprehensive and more nuanced, such as the WPPSI-IV and DAS-II.

On another note, I assume that your son is also a recent arrival to the USA, which means that any assessment using USA norms is an approximation at best, as his educational and cultural experience is not exactly represented by that of the children who made up the norm groups.

Thank you very much for the reply:-), I just checked with the school and the scores are percentiles on the general norms.
I totally appreciate your point that it could be because my son has newly arrived in the country.

He made the gifted cutoff anyways as one of his scores is over 95th percentile. And as he made the cut-off, the school recommends him to take an IQ test soon. But we are relocating soon and the new school will be using a CogAT screener for kindergartners. I hope that gives me a better picture of his reasoning abilities.

Two things,

1) Please confirm if the mean is 100 and SD is 15 for this testing.

2) I was reading this document

http://www.prufrock.com/Assets/ClientPages/pdfs/sages/CH06-SAGES-2.pdf

and found that the mean and SD values are different for different ethnic groups to incorporate the fact that you had mentioned. However, I don't find the 'Asian' ethnic category there.

Another reply that I sent before this post seems to be missing here.

Thank you very much aeh:-) I found from the school that these are percentiles based on the normal population.

He has anyways made the gifted cut-off as one of his scores is over 95th percentile. And as he has made the cut-off, he is asked to take an IQ test soon. But we will be moving out of this state and the school which he will be joining is using CoGAT screener for kindergartners. I hope that gives a better picture of his aptitude skills.

Depending on how soon you are moving, it might still be worthwhile to take the IQ test, as that is likely to be more accurate than either the SAGES-2 or the CogAT. OTOH, it doesn't matter very much at this age, as long as he has access to the appropriate services. And there is something to be said for waiting a year or two, or longer, before having him sit for a comprehensive IQ test, as he will be better acclimated to USA educational expectations by then.

Hope it works out for your family one way or the other.

The present school has identified the psychologist for doing the test, but they are waiting for the dates to be confirmed. It may be arranged in about 4-6 weeks. But we are moving in a couple of weeks. so I guess he will have to miss it. I really really want him to take it. He loves tests too :-) as they challenge him. However, you are certainly right about waiting for some time for the IQ test considering his age.
The new school uses a cogat screener for kindergarten for classroom differentiation and cogat starting 1st grade and they start to pull out gifted kids starting 2nd grade.
Thank you for the clarifications and best wishes aeh:-)
I read many of the threads in this forum where you have provided valuable info to moms like me. Thank you !!