Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Math test

Hello, looking for recommendation for a math test. My DD12 has been going to an alternative school where it is not the best fit. We have a gifted middle school. She has been adamant about not attending. She has agreed to go for a day and shadow and is actually coming around to attending. I did not know that I needed a math score at the 98% to get in. We have what we need for IQ and verbal. She is currently in geometry and getting an A. However they are still requiring a math test. My DD has a tendency to number reversals. She also can mix up a sign if she is not really careful and not stressed. We have been working on it. She is also a slow processor. It can be any math test as long as it is nationally normed. I am assuming that if she is doing Geometry she should be able to score a 98% given the right test and environment. Is that a correct assumption? Her verbal scores on IQ are much higher than the PRI or whatever the other half of the test is called. However she has been amazing at math since a young age. Unfortunately, now if she struggles a little bit she considers herself not good at math even though she is quite advanced. This makes me nervous to give her a math test that she does not get the 98% on, then it adds to the "failure" aspect. Any suggestions and ideas are welcome. Thank you in advance.

I'd try something untimed. Unfortunately, most of the ones I can think of aren't straight math tests. The WJ-III would probably work, but it will be math + reading/writing as would the WIAT. NWEA MAPS might also work but I'm not sure where you'd get her to take it unless your local school can test her for you.

Are you looking to go with a private tester rather than the school? Has she taken any math achievement tests? Unless you are homeschooling, at age 12, I'd expect that her school should have given her some sort of math achievement test by now.

Thanks Cricket2. She has tests but they score generally. She scores in the high proficient but it does not give a percentile rank. So I guess I was trying to see if anyone knew of a nationally normed math test that is good for someone who tests like my DD. I guess un-timed would be a good start. For example the Davidson require the WJ broad math. Is that timed? What about something like the Kaufman test? I was hoping someone had some experience with just the math test. I can ask the school to test her but we have struggled with the tests they have administered specifically the COGAT. I wanted to be informed prior to seeing what they would do. Thanks

Going off of our local tests that give you scores like that (high proficient, low advanced, etc.), I don't expect that those would work. Low advanced is usually around the 95th percentile.

One of my girls took the WJ-III years ago and I don't think that the majority of it was timed. There was one piece I believe was. The other took the WIAT about two years ago and I don't believe that was timed at all.

The WJ-III is nice in that the tests are totally modular -- of the main three math tests (there are several supplementary ones that aren't typically given and probably won't be in this circumstance), one is a test of basic calculation skills (untimed), one of math applications (untimed), and one a test of fluency of basic single-digit addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts (timed). It would be a perfectly reasonable choice. There would be no need to administer the reading, writing, oral language, or any of the other tests -- the WJ is designed to be used in selective fashion. There are 53 tests -- giving all of them to a kid would be silly.

The Kaufman Tests of Educational Achievement is also a fine test, and also one in which the tester can give just the sections on math.

I'm not a huge fan of the WIAT, particularly of its new iteration, but it's really not a bad test and it's more or less equivalent to the others. Whatever is convenient for the tester is probably going to be fine.

If you want something more comprehensive and less vulnerable to a kid missing signs and making other "careless" mistakes, more focused on how a kid *thinks* about math, the KeyMath-3 is superb. It's keyed to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards and tests each strand (numeration, algebra, geometry, problem-solving, data, etc) separately. The only thing it's missing is a test of timed fact fluency, but (1) that may not be relevant in your situation and (2) it's easily supplemented by the fact-fluency test from the WJ. While I give the WJ in most routine situations, when I'm either trying to document a particularly unusual level of talent or where there's a concern about a possible subtle LD, the KeyMath is a *great* test for letting me see how a kid approaches mathematics from a variety of angles. (full disclosure -- my name is in the manual as a field site tester, but I receive no ongoing compensation from the company -- I'm just a happy test user.)