Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Next steps for gifted placement?

My DS6 (turning 7 years old in November) is scheduled to take the CogAT at the end of November in a group setting at school. DS's school uses this for 1st grade students to determine their eligibility for the Talented and Gifted program.

I've been reading through many of the past posts regarding the CogAT, and I'm getting worried about having that be the test to determine his eligibility. The principal said that if he doesn't score high enough on the CogAt to get into TAG this year, we have to wait two years to get tested again. So I'm wanting to make sure the test is an appropriate test to be used for him.

A year ago he was tested privately using the WPPSI. He scored in 99.7% in verbal IQ, 99.0% in performance IQ. But his overall score dropped to 96% due to a low score in coding. (The tester said that at the end of the timed section, my DS said that he didn't realize it was timed. He had never taken a timed test before, so I don't think he understood her directions.)

So, this is a very long way of asking, do you think I should have a private tester give him the WISC IV instead of having the school give him the CogAt? (I'm double-checking to make sure the school will accept the outside tester's report, but the policy manual makes it sound as though the district will allow it.)

Thanks in advance for your advice!

If the school will take private testing and you are able to do it, I would go that route; the CoGAT just seems too unpredictable to me. My DS7 took it this past January and recieved a score of 127, which isn't in the gifted range for the test. We had him tested privately in August and he is HG+. The discrepency between the scores was huge. I know other people have had good results with the CoGAT, but it just really seems hit or miss (even more so than individual IQ tests) to me.

If they won't accept anything else, then definitely use it, but if the results are lower than you expect, it's most likely the test (and from what I've seen high results are almost always accurate with the CoGAT).

I am a first grade teacher, and my school uses the CogAT. I've had very mixed results with test. Some of my gifted kids have tested very high with it, and others have bombed (or just missed the mark even though they totally stand out to me). I think that private testing would always be a better option because it is one-on-one. Could you wait until you get the CogAT results and then decide? I think there is enough data out there about the results of group vs. private testing that you could go to the school after the CogAT with other results and they should be receptive. I know that our school is open to accepting private results if group testing doesn't show giftedness. Good luck to you! Also, would the school accept the WPPSI results? What about teacher recs and achievement?

Hi! In second grade for g/t placement, my DS didn't do well on the CogAT. In my heart I knew that he was probably very gifted, so his CogAt score just didn't set well with me. The year after, I ended up getting him privately tested by a psychologist who specialized in gifted kids. Like I suspected, he ended up testing exceptionally gifted. I read somewhere that the more gifted the child is, the worse he can actually do on the CogAt...???

IF the school will accept the private testing, and you have a tester who is familiar with the whole range of giftedness, then I do strongly reccomend going private. You may even find that there is more that needs to be done beyoned the existing gifted program.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Thank you everyone for your great feedback and input. I really appreciate it! I'm still working with the school to see what they will accept.

I just heard back from the TAG District coordinator and she said that they are willing to consider outside testing, but that they would still want to do their own testing as well "to help create a complete picture."

She offered that they could do the MAPS test in place of the CogAT. Does anyone know if MAPS is a better test for gifted kids? I don't know anything about it...