Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment CogAT results are way off what I expected

Quick refresher- we had DS4 and DS7 tested back in January for a local GT charter school. We decided to use their group testing because it was free and we can't really afford testing for both kids. The school wouldn't tell me ahead of time what test they use, but it was the CogAT. DS7 has already had partial WJIII achievement that showed solid GT with a possible HG+ leaning. DS4 we had tested just to see where we were (with a suspicion we were dealing with at least a very bright, if not GT kid).

So the results:

DS7
Verbal- 129
Quantitative- 125
Nonverbal- 118
SAS composite- 127

DS4
Verbal- 114
Quantitative- 110
Nonverbal- 91
SAS composite- 104

DS7's are at least *almost* GT and I can comfort myself with the fact that the CogAT is a screener and not designed for gifted kids, etc. But, DS4's scores honestly made me laugh out loud. The kid can do a 100 piece puzzle in less than 10 minutes and yet has a 91 nonverbal? I'm seriously at a loss on how that's possible.

We went into the test thinking that the worst that would happen is that we wouldn't know more than before, expecting that any group test was going to be a low, possibly extremely low, estimate. I'm just really bothered by the scores. They don't show at all what we see at home, our experience watching the boys interact with other GT kids, nor the achievement testing we have for DS7. But, they were enough to soundly exclude them from the school, so they must have some validity, right?

There's a certain amount of learning about taking tests that comes into play. DD6 went to a play based preschool which was wonderful, but her first school test results were much lower than her abilities. After a few months of learning about taking tests (in Kindergarten!! ) the scores jumped up significantly.

I liked Grinity's phrasing about having a data point. Now you have a data point, but it's just a data point. It may be a good data point or a bad data point and has to be taken in context with everything else you know about your children.

Will the school accept outside testing? It may be worth spending the big bucks for an alternate assessment.

I've seen kids score like that on the CoGAT and then score 145+ on the WISCIV. I just don't think it's that great of a screener for GT kids.

My daughter was tested by the school because they wouldn't use her outside testing. We got a similar result. Our school uses WJ and her scores were definately lower than her SB and WIATT/WRAT scores. If you really want to try for this school, think the results might be different, and they except outside testing I would try for that. Otherwise, will they retest in a year?

Ditto, especially the CogAt.

Hey, Gratified, congrats to DS on DYS!

I really dislike the fact that group screener cognitive ability tests are seen as the end all be all for some gifted programs.

I guess it's a good place to start, but, I really don't like how just missing a few questions can really bring that score down.

My daughter topped out at 150 on the CogAt and I still think it's a flimsy eval. I should be singin' it's praises, right?

My other daughter is about as out of the box as you can get. I can't WAIT til she takes the CogAt(heavy sarcasm)

I'll get back to you on that one........

I mean, you don't want to put your kid under a microscope or anything, but, you need more than one test to see a real pattern.

What about having DS7 take the Wisc and taking care of DS4 a little later down the road?

Ds8's scores were so weird it actually says on the cogat website that "it is important to double-check the integrity of their scores" (when kids get a score profile like ds).
Duh.

So, we're checking, via individual testing for various reasons, not the least of which is a possible ld. If not for that, I would still be very inclined to get more info based on the disconnect between what I see in the boy and what I see in the numbers.

Proportionally, the numbers did seem to make a little sense - scores in descending order : nonverbal, verbal, quantitative.

But the profile info said stuff like 'only after much overt practice can a skill be executed externally'....this is just not my straight-A, super-spelling, harry-potter-reading, armour-designing, needs an explanation 1x, crazy boy.

fyi: Cogat.com, enter the profile info and see an 'explanation'....

Ugh. Now I am even more concerned with my DS6 going to take the CogAt in a couple of weeks. I can imagine him losing interest quickly with a group environment. Especially if there are any signs on the wall...or dots on the ceiling to count.