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Is anyone here involved with the Davidson young scholars?


galtgrl
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Yes.

 

The email lists are by far the most valuable thing. It is a truly safe place to talk about the special needs of these children.

 

The other important thing is the consultant that is assigned to your family. She (or he) can help arrange conversations with specialists if you need them.

 

For curriculum issues and other homeschooling type stuff this board is better. But sometimes I really really need a place to not feel so alone.

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I know a couple of kids here who have been involved over the years. I think it is another good outlet for programing for gifted kids. I can't give you specifics, however, sorry.

 

Duke TIPS programming also offers both online classes and courses you can order and do at home. The online stuff is very expensive, but the home courses are very reasonable. Some I know who have used them have been well satisfied. I've thus far held off on ordering as what they offer never seems to match up with what I want to do in a particular year.....

 

EPGY and several other universities also offer some decent programming and testing opportunities for gifted kids....

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We've done a writing course with CTY, but yikes! the expense!

I didn't know TIP had courses other than the online, so I'll look into that.

 

But sometimes I really really need a place to not feel so alone.

 

I get that! I just don't know if I want to bother pursuing it if that's the main reason for us to do it...I can barely get on here to complete a post :tongue_smilie: so I don't think I'd be "connecting" very much with others via the e-mail list, lol.

 

Thanks for the responses.

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There is no cost.

 

Correction, there is no cost above and beyond the price of the IQ and achievement testing. They do offer a portfolio option for families whose financial situation does not allow for testing. However, I've heard that it is extremely difficult to get accepted without test scores.

 

After shelling out several hundred dollars for an IQ test, I wasn't too keen on the idea of spending several hundred more on an individual achievement test.

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Correction, there is no cost above and beyond the price of the IQ and achievement testing. They do offer a portfolio option for families whose financial situation does not allow for testing. However, I've heard that it is extremely difficult to get accepted without test scores.

 

After shelling out several hundred dollars for an IQ test, I wasn't too keen on the idea of spending several hundred more on an individual achievement test.

 

 

It's possible, if you live near a university, to have an achievement or I.Q. test administered by graduate students under the supervision of a mentor. The test results ARE valid and ARE accepted by Davidson at a fraction of the cost of having testing done by a private psychologist.

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I was looking for group activities with my oldest, but there were none in our region through any of these folks. And by the time I began to really learn about most of them, he was getting into junior high age, too. I thought it was better bang for my buck to let him do dual credit courses than some of the online offerings.

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Correction, there is no cost above and beyond the price of the IQ and achievement testing. They do offer a portfolio option for families whose financial situation does not allow for testing. However, I've heard that it is extremely difficult to get accepted without test scores.

 

After shelling out several hundred dollars for an IQ test, I wasn't too keen on the idea of spending several hundred more on an individual achievement test.

 

It is my understanding that you just need a standardized test ($40) with a score in the 90% range to join your local talent search program. Through that program you take the Explore test ($70) and get into Davidson with a certain score. I have no personal experience though, that is just how I understand it. ;)

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It is my understanding that you just need a standardized test ($40) with a score in the 90% range to join your local talent search program. Through that program you take the Explore test ($70) and get into Davidson with a certain score. I have no personal experience though, that is just how I understand it. ;)

 

Doesn't the child have to be in 4th grade and live in the Southeast to take the EXPLORE through Duke TIP?

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Doesn't the child have to be in 4th grade and live in the Southeast to take the EXPLORE through Duke TIP?

 

The southwest talent center lets them take Explore starting in 3rd, but doesn't include CA. I think each state has a talent search they would fall under. I don't know what yours would be though. If you start a separate thread, someone should be able to answer.

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JHU CTY is the talent search for CA and it starts in 2nd grade but I didn't see on the DITD website that they accept the SCAT as a qualifying test. It's probably worth a quick email to see if my DD's SCAT score would be acceptable as the 2nd test...
DD the Elder is going to take the SCAT this year because it's short and will her give a bit of experience with testing. From my reading on the SCAT, it isn't much of a test... its main purpose seems to be to "qualify" children for CTY's rather pricey programs. I'd be surprised if DITD accepted it.
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The verbal portion of the SCAT was analogies. I wasn't trying to specifically prep my DD for the test but it just so happened that she loves analogies workbooks and had done several of them from Critical Thinking Press and Prufrock Press before taking the SCAT.

 

The math portion just struck me as odd. :confused:

 

I wouldn't blame DITD if they don't accept the SCAT...

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Unfortunately the SCAT is not one of the accepted test scores for the DYS program. We first applied with IQ and SCAT, and were told that despite how high the SCAT was, it wasn't written in a way that could be interpreted as 99.9th. That was 4 years ago, and things may have changed. We ultimately persued WIAT testing, and DS was accepted.

 

What you ultimately need for Explore testing, is a local testing center. It doesn't matter what talent search you go through, and if you find a center, you can test through C-MITES which starts testing as low as 3rd grade. Unfortunately though, most talent searches only offer the test in January and February.

 

Sometimes you can get inexpensive achievement testing through a tutoring agency or an educational consultant, bypassing higher psychologist fees. If the kid is a strong candidate, and 10+, your best bet might be the ACT or SAT. While their official qualification requirements start in 7th grade, the cuts are not terribly high, and there is probably some degree of grace for a younger child.

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A friend of mine was just praising the support she has been getting from Davidson. Since there seems to be questions regarding their standards, here's the link:

 

http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/Article/Davidson_Young_Scholars___Qualification_Criteria_384.aspx

 

the following page seems to indicate that tests are AND/OR qulaifications, this could be worth reviewing before paying for a bunch of tests:

http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/Article/Davidson_Young_Scholars____Application_Process_380.aspx

 

I've also downloaded the application form to look over which also includes info as to what is regarded as "Evidence of Extreme Intellectual Abilities" and it might be useful to look at that too.

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