Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment EXPLORE results in...

My twins and I went to the WCATY ceremony last year, and IMO it was not a great event for meeting other kids. They packed a large auditorium (they honor 4th-8th grade) and it was a *long* program. My kids (4th grade at the time) had really wanted to go, but I was glad I brought a bag of books with us as they both read all through the ceremony. The reception afterward was totally jammed and difficult to mingle - we took off right after getting our certificates and sugar.

All of my DD's percentiles were higher using the 2011 summary rather than the 2010 summary.

Oh, okay. Then I guess it didn't really matter. There are some WCATY programs I think DD would enjoy, but she's not comfortable going without knowing anyone. I was looking for an easy way to meet more kids.

We are in a similar situation. DD is doing a "provisional" grade skip for the rest of the school year that started after I had already registered her for the Explore test. She scored high enough to qualify for the 4th grade award ceremony, but is still registered as 3rd grader with Numats and with her school. I did call Numats about the issue before the test and they said it would be better for her to stay registered for the Explore as a 3rd grader. I guess I could call them back and see if she could get her grade level altered, but I do think there is a high probability that her school is not going to allow her to move to 5th grade next year. I've heard there can be issues with undoing grade skips and talent searches like Explore and National Spelling Bee. Hopefully, she'll qualify again next year for the Numats award ceremony. Its the effort, not the award, that matters most, right?

Absolutely - and the chance to work closer to readiness level on a daily basis at school!

Not the EXPLORE, but dd12 did find out that her ACT scores qualify her for our state ceremony for 8th graders. Since this will be her last year testing through talent search, I guess that will be a nice end.

That IS a nice way to end the series! Enjoy the ceremony!

CTD Award Ceremony Qualifying Scores are out, which are higher than last year:

4th Graders
83 29
5th Graders
92 43
6th Graders
95 38

http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/docs/ctd/acscorecriteria2011.pdf

Thanks for posting, Midwest Dad! You always seem to have the scoop early! My dd10 didn't make the cutoff for this, but I did note that the older participants have a much higher percentage of awards, given that they need to meet fixed criteria. Something to aspire to in the future!

In fact, I am confused by the cutoff scores.
The following is quoted from NUMATS faq:

Who is invited to participate in the CTD Award Ceremony at Northwestern University?
After we analyze the test scores for all NUMATS participants who test before March, we establish the criteria for award ceremony eligibility. Invitations are mailed in late April to the highest-scoring students in grades 4 to 8, usually those who score in the top 1% for ACT and SAT and the top 2% for EXPLORE.

From http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/docs/ctd/StatSum2011.pdf
The numbers of test takers are:
4th Graders N=3227 3227*0.02=64 or 65
5th Graders N=4660 4660*0.02=92
6th Graders N=3477 3477*0.02=69

From http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/docs/ctd/acscorecriteria2011.pdf
The numbers of invited test takers for 2011 are
4th Graders 29
5th Graders 43
6th Graders 38

So I think that they only invite about top 1% for Explore test takers.

Do you think that I am right?