Andy's school sent something home a few months ago saying that they'd already picked who they thought from his class was academically gifted, but that if I wanted, I could have him tested. I usually opt for things like that mostly because I'm curious to see the results.
Last week, the results arrived. They were interesting to see.
Ability
CogAT- 93 percent (gifted is 95 percent and higher) (note to self - figure out what CogAT stands for)
Acheivement
Reading - 65 percent (yeah, that one's way below 94 percent)
Math - 96 percent
Then we move on to the Qualitative where he had "0 areas" in the Standard Score teacher survey (he would need two areas out of five to be in the gifted range).
We did get a nice note that he's "not recommended for placement at this time.
I'm glad I had him tested though. It's interesting to see that he does have an aptitude for math, which naturally made Bjorn thrilled and me glad that he's got Bjorn's genes on this one. His reading isn't great, but then again, he's just started reading so it makes sense. I have known kids who were reading chapter books at age three so he's definitely not there.
Still, I really dislike that schools label kids with advanced aptitudes as being "gifted." Something about it doesn't sit right with me, as if the others aren't gifted, too. Course, it could be partly because my kid is just above average.
I recommend reading Nurture Shock. It goes into how crazy it is to test kids before the third grade for "giftedness". But how many school systems do it and then don't retest later to see if the kids they chose for the program should be in it, or to find out if they have missed kids who should be in it. Also, it goes into the amount of sleep teenagers need in order to do well academically and socially--it will make you want to petition your school district for later start times.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion. I'm now third on the list at the library to check it out. I suppose lots of other parents are interested in it, too!
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting to hear about the third grade business and makes me even more glad I asked him to be observed this year and in future years.