Seattle Public Schools doesn't allow much time to appeal testing results. Last year, district results were mailed on Jan. 31, with an appeal deadline of Feb. 13.
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District Testing
Students are nominated for district-provided testing by parents, teachers, or a combination of both.
Two exceptions are the Shoreline and Tacoma school districts. In Tacoma, all second graders undergo cognitive testing to identify those who might be gifted, while Shoreline tests all first-graders. Students who do well are invited to undergo additional assessments for gifted program placement.
In other districts, the nomination process follows strict timelines. Seattle's advanced learning program applications are typically due in early October. In other cities, the nomination process may happen later in the fall, or even during the spring semester, for program placement the following school year.
Once a student is nominated for testing, he will be assessed by the district on two fronts: his cognitive abilities, measured by an intelligence test, and depending on his grade level, his academic achievement. Tests like the WASL or Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) are often used to determine academic achievement.
Districts use the Cognitive Abilities Test, or CogAT, in a classroom setting to assess students’ strengths in reasoning and problem-solving using verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal or spatial skills. Younger students are tested orally while older students take a written exam.
Most districts will only accept private testing results during an appeal process, when families disagree with the district’s findings.
Testing Kids for Giftedness: A Seattle Parent's Guide
By Denise Gonzalez-Walker
Do you think your child might be gifted? Perhaps he started reading in preschool, or absorbs new knowledge more quickly than his peers. For many gifted children, an education tailored to their needs can make an important difference in their school experiences.
The first step is determining whether your child qualifies for gifted education, sometimes called advanced learning. While school districts’ testing procedures work for many, some experts point out that they may not identify all gifted children, particularly younger students.
Most districts offer special programs for gifted students, from separate classes to extra enrichment provided in a regular classroom. In some schools, students may be put on a wait list when particular programs are full.
In the 2007-08 school year, 3,884 children applied to Seattle’s advanced learning programs. Of those, 43 percent qualified as gifted, based on either district testing or as an outcome of the appeal process.
An Imperfect System
Dr. Fred Provenzano, a local psychologist who serves on the National Association of School Psychologists Ethics Committee, says, “With any test, the inherent question is what are you testing, and how reliable is the test?”
Districts rely on the Cognitive Abilities Test, or CogAT, used in a classroom-type setting to gauge students’ overall intelligence. Younger students are tested orally while older students take a written exam. Their academic achievement is also reviewed, often using Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) scores or similar measures.
Provenzano says that group testing has more variables that might affect results than individual testing, especially with younger children who have limited experience in taking exams.
At the same time, Provenzano says, younger students may be eager to give other children a “turn” during an orally-administered group test. While children’s consideration for peers reflects positive social skills, it can hurt their scores.
Dr. Belle Chenault, a psychologist with more than a decade of experience in the Bellevue School District, has witnessed the limitations of testing firsthand. She says that the CogAT test often becomes more of a listening comprehension assessment than a true measure of intelligence for young children. Rigid testing procedures, for example, prevent the evaluator from repeating a question for students.
When Timing Is Critical: Appealing the Test
Just as each district has its own process for identifying gifted students, each has different requirements for appealing district decisions.
Families of Seattle students who do not qualify based on district results can file an appeal. In the 2007-08 school year, 406 students submitted appeals; of those, 306 or 75 percent qualified based on the strength of their appeals, says district spokesman David Tucker. g re Seattle’s appeal period is short. Last year, district test results were mailed on Jan. 31, with an appeal deadline of Feb. 13.
Demand for private testing during the appeal window is intense. Provenzano says a few years ago, he was flooded with 36 phone calls in a single day from parents seeking appeal testing. He hardly had enough time to respond to all of the inquiries, let alone schedule testing for every family who needed results by the district’s deadline.
As a result, many parents invest in preemptive appeal testing, having their child privately assessed early in the nomination process, before district results are known.
Should parents run out and schedule testing "just in case?" Helen Schinske, a Seattle mother of three children in advanced learning programs, says it depends. When her daughters took the district-administered CogAT in kindergarten, they didn't qualify for advanced learning, despite Schinske's hunch that they should have. "It gnawed at me for a while," she says. Her daughters were happy at their neighborhood school, so Schinske waited until the following summer to have them privately tested; those results qualified them for advanced learning.
If your child is being well-served by her elementary school, Schinske advises to wait and see the district-provided results. On the other hand, she says, if the current school is a bad fit, it may be worth it to pursue private testing in advance, in case an appeal is needed. Schinske even suggests sending in private test results with the initial nomination form.
Finding a Private Psychologist
When seeking a psychologist for testing, Dr. Nancy Robinson from the University of Washington’s Robinson Center for Young Scholars recommends that parents look for someone who is experienced in working with gifted children, who will not give up the first time a kid responds to a question with, “I don’t know.” Robinson notes that school-based psychologists spend the majority of their time with children who have learning disabilities. As a result, they may not be as knowledgeable about the challenges of assessing gifted children.
The Davidson Institute, a leading resource for families of gifted children, also recommends looking for a licensed psychologist who is capable of easily building rapport with both parents and the child. It’s important, too, for parents to ask questions about what particular tests will be used, and the psychologist’s experience administering those tests.
Both the UW’s Robinson Center for Young Scholars and Seattle Public Schools’ Advanced Learning Web sites include lists of psychologists who provide educational testing. Other parents in your child’s school often are a valuable source of information, too.
The Cost of Private Testing
The cost of having your child privately tested can range anywhere from several hundred dollars to well over $1,000. Why is this?
The amount of testing that parents request is paramount. Testing for learning disabilities often takes six to eight times as long as the necessary testing for district appeals, says Provenzano.
Chenault agrees. “With appeal testing, we are simply trying to determine if the student meets the threshold set by the program,” she says. “Special-needs testing, on the other hand, seeks to identify individual learning needs, along with ideas for what that student will need in the classroom.”
Most students who are privately tested for program appeals will only need a limited amount of assessment, most often an intelligence test administered in a one-to-one setting. The exception would be for children suspected of being “twice exceptional” – gifted, with specific learning disabilities.
Myth of Privilege
Some people believe the ability to pay for private testing gives more affluent families an unfair advantage. Provenzano agrees that there may be some truth to the notion that by paying for testing, parents could potentially influence the provider. This is why, he says, psychologists are trained to use standardized testing methods to offset possible bias.
On the other hand, Provenzano says that people rarely talk about the district’s possible testing bias. Gifted programs in public schools receive mixed support from staff who may think they don’t recognize the value of every child. Also, public schools’ evaluation processes are somewhat inflexible due to limited program space and lack of funding.
Working to counter this perception, at least when it comes to underrepresented populations, Seattle provides free individual testing for low-income families filing appeals. The district’s Advanced Learning program is also reaching out more aggressively to schools with large low-income, minority and bilingual student bodies, encouraging teachers to identify children who might qualify for advanced learning programs.
Schinske talks about another reason for the perception that some families unfairly game the system – the whole process is so difficult, she says, that parents can begin to feel cynical about those who do get in.
In the End
The goal of educational testing is to determine the best learning environment for the child. While test scores can partially tell what a student needs, the child’s relationship with her peers and teachers may be just as important. Many parents opt to keep their children in regular classes despite scores that show giftedness. Others may stay in regular classrooms while waitlisted for advanced learning programs.
To that end, parents and teachers should try to work as partners. In a published article, Robinson proposes a number of strategies for forming positive partnerships with the school. Parents should recognize that teachers are doing their best and want to help their children. They must also acknowledge that teachers will have different perspectives on a student’s behavior and learning needs. Robinson recommends that parents use a combination of positive negotiation strategies, along with clear communication, to advocate for their child’s learning needs.
Seattle Public Schools offers several different programs for gifted students. Program locations and details can be found on the district’s Advanced Learning Web site.
Accelerated Progress Program (APP): Serves students who are highly gifted academically, at the 98/99th percentile in cognitive ability and the 95th percentile or above in both reading and math achievement.
Spectrum: Open to students with high IQs based on intelligence tests measuring cognitive ability and academic achievement in both reading and math with a threshold of the 87th-90th percentile, depending on grade level. Program is based in separate, “self-contained” classrooms within some neighborhood schools.
Advanced Learning Opportunities (ALOs): Serves gifted students and teacher-identified students in regular classrooms, by providing an accelerated, rigorous, and enriched curriculum.
Hoagie’s Gifted: This is a parent-friendly portal with over 1,000 pages of information on gifted children and adults, including extensive FAQs. www.HoagiesGifted.org.
Davidson Institute’s GT-Cybersource: GT-Cybersource includes an online article library, state policy database, events and online forums for parents and educators. www.DavidsonInstitute.org.
Denise Gonzalez-Walker is a Seattle freelance writer and mother of two children, ages 4 and 10.
