Gifted & Talented Testing for Elementary (schools, live, versus)

[akpack]

can't believe kids have to actually test into G&T in the elementary years. totally ridiculous. but, life is what is and not what should be.

anyways... my kid is in hpisd and will be given the Stanford Achievement test one grade level above (e.g. 2nd grader takes 3rd grade test, etc.).

has anyone had a kid take the stanford achievement above grade and how hard would that be for a kid? the school says they have to give above grade because (i think) on-grade tests are too easy and there will be too much bunching at the high percentiles.

is stanford achievment sorts of like the TAKS?

kids also have to take the olsat and i have no idea how many questions they have to get right (i.e. percentage correct) to be in the 97th percentile. anybody have any ideas?

thanks.

[Spree]

My son took those tests in another state where G&T started in 3rd grade. He went to a once a week - pull out class and was bussed to another school. He did not care for it at all. Then we move to FL where G&T placement was based on WISC III test results which is actually an intelligence test that does not involve reading or writing. That's when he was placed in appropriate and truly G&T classes.

Stanford Achievement has much different questions that TAKS tests, I'm not sure if its bubble in scan tron sheet or a booklet they work out of for the Stanford, can't remember. Let him take the tests and see, don't make a big deal out of it. The students don't prepare for the tests like they do for TAKS.

[GreyDay]

Originally Posted by akpack

can't believe kids have to actually test into G&T in the elementary years. totally ridiculous. but, life is what is and not what should be.

anyways... my kid is in hpisd and will be given the Stanford Achievement test one grade level above (e.g. 2nd grader takes 3rd grade test, etc.).

has anyone had a kid take the stanford achievement above grade and how hard would that be for a kid? the school says they have to give above grade because (i think) on-grade tests are too easy and there will be too much bunching at the high percentiles.

is stanford achievment sorts of like the TAKS?

kids also have to take the olsat and i have no idea how many questions they have to get right (i.e. percentage correct) to be in the 97th percentile. anybody have any ideas?

thanks.

Why do you think it's ridiculous kids have to test into Gifted schools? While we all think our kids are bright, but with limited spots, the kids have to prove it.

Unless you're slicing it very thinly at the haircut of longitudinal achievement of black, white, asian, latino kids in majority districts, your kid should be fine in HPISD.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by GreyDay

Why do you think it's ridiculous kids have to test into Gifted schools? While we all think our kids are bright, but with limited spots, the kids have to prove it.

Yup, I was in HPISD back in the day and even in the mid 1980's there was testing to get into the "Explorations" (elementary TAG) program. Back then, there was definitely a creative component to testing in as some parents with "book smart" straight A kids were always upset their kids didn't test in & other "textbook" TAG (bored @ grade level, not straight A kids) always got in.

Testing is the "fair" way - parental or teacher opinion is too subjective.

[Big G]

Originally Posted by GreyDay

Why do you think it's ridiculous kids have to test into Gifted schools? While we all think our kids are bright, but with limited spots, the kids have to prove it.

+1.

IMO, It's not about limited spots - I would think HPISD could expand or contract their G/T program as needed. It's about making sure those who ARE gifited are getting an appropriate challenge, and about not having those who really AREN'T gifted from clogging up and dumbing down the G/T program. (This is a real problem in PISD, so if HPISD is taking steps to better filter the participants, kudos for them.)


Going cross-thread here, if testing for the HPISD G/T program sets you off, you REALLY won't be happy with the St. Mark's admissions process. They expect their incoming 1st graders to sit for the ISEE, a lengthy bubble-in standardized test.

---

As far as above-grade level testing goes, that's a common technique for evaluating G/T kids. The Duke TIP program has elementary kids sit for the ACT EXPLORE test (designed for 8th graders), and middle-schoolers & high-schoolers are admitted to varying levels of the Duke TIP summer programs based on their SAT or ACT performance in 7th grade.

[akpack]

Originally Posted by GreyDay

Why do you think it's ridiculous kids have to test into Gifted schools? While we all think our kids are bright, but with limited spots, the kids have to prove it.

Unless you're slicing it very thinly at the haircut of longitudinal achievement of black, white, asian, latino kids in majority districts, your kid should be fine in HPISD.

what does "longitudinal achievement" of various kids mean? that sounds vaguely racist. and i hate talking about race because it seems so moot in this day and age.

anyways, i think it's ridiculous because the math and reading at hpisd suck (just teaching to the near weakest link) so if my kid doesn't get into the G&T(which probably won't happen given the statistics and my kid's sheer resistance to sitting down and cranking it out) it's three-digit addition, subtraction and reading "henry & mudge" next year.

what is up with that? can you say "brain dead"? i can't believe kids can't be taught to add, subtract up to a billion digits in one year.

my kid learned to read time in one sitting. the school says they learn to read by the half hour this year and by the quarter hour next year? shouldn't kids who know how to multiply double digit numbers and reduce by common denominator be taught above grade math regardless of G&T qualifications? you'd think "yes, of course. why not?" but no. teachers "can't teach above grade math" in the regular classrooms so if my kid doesn't get 97 percentile on the olsat and stanford, we're talking 265 + 172, towards the end of next year, no less. oh, and recognizing and counting coins!

and we wonder why we are behind the chinese and korean kids. they don't mess around taking 2 years to learn to read clocks. that's for sure.

i guess, what i am saying is, there should be an alternative for kids who are ahead in math and reading but are not gifted. who cares about being gifted. there are a billion gifted people wasting lives away doing heaven knows what. kids need to feel challenged. it's not going to do any kid any good to feel complacent doing math-so-two-years-ago.

but no, it's standardized tests or bust. r-iiiii-diculous.

[akpack]

so does someone have the time to explain the difference between the taks and stanford or maybe just what the stanford is about?

[akpack]

Originally Posted by Spree

That's when he was placed in appropriate and truly G&T classes.

what is the difference between a trutly G&T class versus a not-so-good one?

thanks.

[akpack]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Testing is the "fair" way - parental or teacher opinion is too subjective.

as it turns out, teacher opinion is 25% of the admittance criteria.

[akpack]

Originally Posted by Big G

+1.
As far as above-grade level testing goes, that's a common technique for evaluating G/T kids.

but how do the kids fare? do the gifted kids get like 99% correct to get the 99th percentile? or is it more widely distributed?