Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment On line testing

I have a meeting booked with our teacher for next week to discuss my girls progress and possible acceleration. They are currently in Grade 1 and we are aiming to skip to Grade 2 based on my assumption they are actually working at a 2 or even 3 level. Of course, now that I have a meeting booked with the teacher I am beginning to have doubt. We have WISC scores of >99% but no other formal testing (and can't afford more at present) just wondering if someone could point me in the right direction of some simple free on line tools to help me benchmark reading, spelling, comprehension, writing, math. I just need something simple to stop my self doubt at the moment.

Hope someone can help

Hi, I understand these doubts! I think most parents on this board do too. I think those scores are clearly an indication that something is needed for your children outside the regular curriculum. They are gifted, probably highly gifted. If you google on 'levels of giftedness' or 'dr. ruf' you will find some good info on getting an idea of where your kids fit on the continuum of gt (from moderate on up ..)
I do not have any links for something more 'test-y', probably someone around here does though.

I think you need to look further into acceleration, too. Arguments for and against. Lots of schools are loaded for bear with 'against' arguments, so if you do feel this is the best thing you need to come prepared with counter-arguments (of which there are many, plus supporting studies).
Very best of luck to you and your dd's with the meeting (twins? )

thanks, this is not our first meeting at the school, we already have an inprinciple support for acceleration but previous we have been the ones to knock back the offer (sort of, also some issues with places in the year above). But I think over the xmas break I changed my mind and wouldn;t mind looking into it further (nothing immediate but just planning some steps towards it or even just subject acceleration as a start). So I am meeting with the teacher next week for a conversation of "Hi , so the girls are operating at grade 3 level for Math, reading why don;t we plan to..." but now I'm doubting myself and just thinking "they are just 6 months ahead, nothing super and the teacher might shoot me down in flames". I'm sure I'm right, but I think I just need something simple to boost my confidence prior to the meeting. Oh and "yes" I'm blessed with twins with identical wisc scores (go figure)

This isn't a test. Here's what the core standards they expect for grade levels are. http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards
Also I'm not sure this is where I saw it but there's online lists of content covered by the Taks test, probably for the CAT and whatever else they use too. It's a start. http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index3.aspx?id=3839&menu_id=793

There is a DORA and DOMA test that my mom's school uses and you can pay for it and use it at home too. It is online. The DORA measures reading with different subtests including spelling, phonics, comprhension, word recognition etc. The DOMA is math. I think the web site is, www.letsgolearn.com

DD took the DORA over the christmas break. And her developmental psy who just saw the results when he did her testing was impressed at how accurate it was to what his results were. He also said our districts SLP uses the DORA quite a bit. So it might be worth checking out.

We used DORA in August so I could get a feel for where both kids were at. It was a pretty impressive little tool. And it surprised me when DD4 scored quite high in some areas - even higher than her DYS6 brother. It's quite thorough for sure.

I think we'll use DORA again at the end of the school year to see how things have changed for them both.

OK I just had a quick look at the DORA--> seems I have to pay for 1-10 assessments (does that mean 1-10 children or grades 1-10, sorry I'm a bit confused?) $20 for a comprehensive reading test sounds pretty awesome (maybe I'm missing something?)

My son just took the DORA, and while overall I like the test ($20!!!), some sections have so few questions that a few lucky guesses could make a huge difference. They are all multiple answer questions except for the spelling one (not sure about reading comprehension, DS hasn't done that one yet). I know DS guessed randomly on a couple of questions and got lucky, giving him a vocabulary of a 10th grader (he is 5yrs 3months). He also topped out the word recognition section as a 12th grader. He is a fluent reader, but he's not THAT good

I wouldn't base any serious decisions on the test.

If you'll go and sign-up for a FREE account here, you can get the first one for $15 (plus $1 that HSB charges, so $16), and then $12 for any others that you order at the same time.

http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/homeschool-test-assessment-curriculum/

HTH

Thanks guys

I understand not to take it too seriously--> I just need to boost my own confidence really that I'm not imagining their ability