Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Explore results

How does the ODE use the Explore for gifted identification? Since they use 95th percentile for grade level testing, how is it for above level testing? I saw where they accept Explore, but didn't see score requirements for each grade level.

Jen

I'm just popping in here a lot today . I'm not sure about ODE, but dd#1's middle school GT coordinator did tell me the other day that she is in possession of a chart that correlates 8th grade percentiles on the Explore with what that percentile is for lower grades (3rd-6th). I.e. -- a 75th percentile score on the science Explore as compared to an 8th grader is actually the 99th percentile as compared to a 4th grader or something like that (I just made those #s up).

That makes sense. I wouldn't doubt that they are speculative.

That would make dd#1's 4th grade explore composite above the "100th" percentile (I know that doesn't exist) -- lol!

Very helpful. Thanks to both of you. Now I just need to wait another 4-5 weeks to see where dd#2 came out on this test!

I still think that the various talent search organizations ought to pool their data so that we can at least have consistent percentiles for the talent search participants.

That would be great! It seems like the cut levels for awards, top 10%, etc. vary greatly from one region to another and one year to another.

Well, I'm late to the party today but I see all but one question has been answered and that question is, "Has anyone got the Explore results yet?"
GS10's results on grade level testing seem to be a bit sporadic. But I've seen him work. On grade level work he skips questions. I think his mind on something else and he's a bit haphazard with testing when things are easy. Get him involved with something harder and he stays focused on the task at hand.
Ohio accepts achievement testing as a means to ID as gifted, but it has to be on a nationally normed test. I think the Explore was just accepted in the last year. Our school does testing with the Stanford at 2nd, 5th, & 7th grades to ID gifted. In between those grades, for referals, they use the ITBS.

There are a lot of pros & cons about using AT, I think the biggest pro is it is very inexpensive to purchase achievement tests and any teacher is qualified to administer it. I think that pro outweighs all other reasons for or against AT as an ID.

I saw all this activity on this topic and got excited that someone got their EXPLORE test results back...oh well.

Doesn't it make you angry that GT servicing is so subjective? As thought the administrators don't take it seriously.

I'm not opposed to AT as part of the way to id gifted kids per se. I am just bothered with situations like ours where dd#2 tests very highly on IQ tests but isn't ided as gifted b/c her grade level achievement scores aren't consistently high. Using grade level AT as a way to rule kids out who would otherwise qualify is not reasonable IMHO.

I am not too sure on using it as a sole criterion. We have one instance I know of due to discussions with the parents in which their child has not been IQ tested (as, understandably, most haven't) and scored in the avg range on the group ability test (scores ranging from the 40-60th percentile on various subtests and around 50th for the composite) but is still ided as gifted due to advanced scores on one NCLB state test and the parents and teacher filling out behavioral scales. Now I know that group ability tests aren't fail-safe & my one dd who has taken one did much more poorly than she did on IQ (composite somewhere around the 85th-88th percentile if I recall correctly). However, a child who has no indication that s/he is gifted except for a higher than avg grade level achievement test shouldn't be ided as gifted -- again IMHO.

6 weeks and nothing. Getting antsy