Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Help: gifted kid does NOT qualify for public G/T

Can some please give me some direction on how to help my son? He�s almost 5 (June) and we are planning on starting him in Kindergarten in the fall.

My gifted son did not qualify for our Public School District G/T program. They tested him using Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement. He had low scores on Letter-Word ID and Word Attack. He also had a low score on Weschler Nonverbal Scale of Ability.

This was quite a surprise for me. Based on previous testing (for a private school for the gifted) he had been identified as �Very Superior� gifted. His scores were: WJ-III Cognitive: GIA = 145 and his WPPSI-III Full Scale IQ is 137.

What is going on? Does it seem that he just had a �bad test� with the public school? Should I ask for a reassessment?

Here�s a more detailed summary of his testing:

1) WPPSI-III -- Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence
Age: 3years, 3 months
(Private Testing)
Percentile Standard Score

Full Scale IQ 99 137
Verbal lQ 99.9 147
Performance IQ 87 117

2) Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities
Age: 4years, 3months
( Private School Testing)
Percentil Standard Score

GIA (Std) 99.9 145
VERBAL ABILITY (Std) >99.9 159
THINKING ABILITY (Std) 99 138
PHONEMIC AWARE >99.9 149

3) Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement
Age: 4years, 7months
(HISD testing)

Percentile
Letter-Word ID 60th
Applied Problems 97th
Word Attack less that 60th
Picture Vocabulary 98th
Quantitative Concepts 91st
Academic Knowledge 97th

4) Weschler Nonverbal Scale of Ability
Age: 4years, 7months
(HISD testing)

77th percentile

I am grateful for any advice.

Sincerely,

Laura

I'm sure that someone else will chime in with more relevent feedback for you, but the first thing I would be asking is why on earth the school is using an ACHEIVEMENT test to identify GT students. My understanding is that this is definitely NOT best-practices there since it misses children who have dual exceptionalities, those who have not had appropriate enrichment, and those (like your child, perhaps) that simply haven't had enough exposure to the material to 'acheive' at it.

I'm really confused as to the meaning of his score discrepancy and how I should proceed.

Is it a testing flux � i.e. could he have been so distracted/bored (he is quite hyperactive) that he just didn�t want to answer? (or knowing him, that he purposely gave �silly� answers to make things more fun)? How likely is this scenario? Is it �worth� requesting a reassessment?

Does he have a learning disability? Is this discrepancy a reasonably indicator of one?

Dottie --

Thank you for "talking" with me about this. The complicating factor is our zoned school is not a good match ... its a Montessori school and we don't think that style matches his personality. And the only way to go to another school (without moving) would have been the G/T route.