CogAt?

[Mama Lynx]

How useful is the CogAt? Or is it just a nice extra?

[Mad Jenny Flint]

I believe it is useful because you can compare aptitude/capability with school achievement. You can tell if your child is working up to his/her own ability. However, ability is flexible and not static, it can change. Don't let results make you feel fenced in. It's a good tool used with the IOWA and helps round out the results profile.

[TravelingChris]

I found it not useful at all. My middle got middling cogat scores but gets high regular scores and it looks like she will be getting fairly high ACT scores. It doesn't test things she does well in. My youngest got lower COgat scores on math sections and higher on verbal but everyone she meets and her other test scores show that her area of talent is not verbal but rather math/engineering.

[Sandra in NC]

My son took the CogAt because he needed these scores (in addition to SAT) for a summer program he applied to.

[jg_puppy]

My dd is much younger, but I tested her last year with the ITBS and CogAt. I thought that the CogAt test helped me realize what I already suspected. My dd is very bright and not working up to her potential. The results of the CogAt with the ITBS also gave me some information about what type of learner she is based on her strengths and weaknesses on the tests. Now this is for the elementary level and may be slightly different for the higher levels.

 

I've used it several times--once was for a child that his mom was CONVINCED was profoundly gifted. He's not. I've used it several times for my own children--one that I was pretty sure was way up there but really didn't know. She was. When you have a child that far off the charts, it's good to know that--they really are a different kettle of fish. It helped me to see WHERE their strengths are. I usually give it every other year.

 

This is slightly off topic, but I have been wanting to ask this question for awhile. Do you test on level or out of level for the CogAt?

 

Jan

[EKS]

I've used it several times--once was for a child that his mom was CONVINCED was profoundly gifted. He's not. I've used it several times for my own children--one that I was pretty sure was way up there but really didn't know. She was. When you have a child that far off the charts, it's good to know that--they really are a different kettle of fish. It helped me to see WHERE their strengths are. I usually give it every other year.

 

FWIW, the CogAT is *not* good at identifying giftedness, particularly in twice-exceptional individuals, and is particularly not good at identifying kids who are HG+. It is highly dependent on speed, whereas real IQ tests are (mostly) untimed. It is also not useful in identifying degree of giftedness, due to its low ceiling and emphasis on speed.

 

A high score on the CogAT probably indicates that a child is truly gifted, but a lower than expected score does not rule out giftedness. Unfortunately it has become immensely popular with school districts to use the CogAT as the sole means of identification for gifted programs and by doing this they are missing both reflective gifted and twice exceptional children.

[Krista in LA]

I used it several years out of curiousity. I guess I wanted to prove what I already suspected and then the results were lower than I expected the first year. So, I made her take it again, and the results were way higher than expected. I made her take it two more times to get a better feel and it ended up averaging after 4 years right where I expected. I'm doing the same with my ds now - making him take it for a few years to get a good feel for his abilities and then I'll stop. I'm not as sure about his abilities as I was my dd's. I don't know that it's especially useful though, but they do enjoy taking it...