CogAt -accurate?

[BlsdMama]

We recently tested our 13yo.  I would consider her academically strong, especially in math, but I didn’t expect scores like this.  Composite was 98th percentile. I’m surprised. Have you found the test accurate?

[madteaparty]

I think it’s meant to test potential/proclivity right? I’m not sure but when I gave that test to little DD (part of her year end testing, I don’t know why I gave it because the ITBS would’ve sufficed), she also scored very high in math. She’s not particularly gifted or amazing at math. Maybe I’m not working to the max of her potential 😂

 

[Luypie]

My DS scored 96 percentile or maybe 97 on cogat. Quantitative was at 98 or 99th percentile. It was done at school. Then, school picked few kids for further testing and psychologist did WISC with him. He scored at overall 99.7 percentile. That was enough to get him into gifted program. I would say, in my son’s case, it was a good indicator for further testing. But, before any testing, I knew he was gifted  (intensity, sensitivity, taught self to read, passion into certain subject, etc). Trust your instinct. 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Luypie

[EKS]

Assuming that the test was taken under standard conditions, then yes, it is accurate, especially for its ability to predict how well a student will do in school.  It's essentially a test of rapid convergent thinking.  

[madteaparty]

4 minutes ago, kand said:

I didn’t know the CogAt could be given at home. Where did you order?

BJU testing 

[madteaparty]

2 minutes ago, kand said:

Thanks. Looks like it doesn’t meet the end of year testing requirements here as it’s not an achievement test. I thought it might be an interesting change this year. seems wacky that in looking for that information, I found a bunch of sites that all offer parents test prep to prep their kids for taking it for gifted testing 🤔. 

No, I used it in addition to ITBS

[kbutton]

A local enrichment program for gifted kids (not school based) accepts the CogAT for entrance (others are also accepted, and recommendations are also accepted). It seems to be reliable. I assume it's not as precise as something like the WISC, but that doesn't invalidate it. It's one of several tools that can elicit information about ability.

 

[SeaConquest]

In our case, the test was not accurate. My oldest son is 2e and took the test at the end of 2nd grade through our district. In SD Unified, they have two levels of gifted programs. He didn't qualify for either, which was shocking, and not at all reflective of the work that he does in our homeschool (which is several grade levels ahead) and not in accordance with any other achievement or IQ test that he has taken (and he has taken several). He was not on ADHD meds back then (but we had our suspicions that he likely had ADHD), which likely had an effect, and he could have just had an off day. Anyway, just our experience. I think many 2e kids are missed on exams like this, though, so he is probably not alone.

Edited February 24, 2020 by SeaConquest

[Cake and Pi]

I think the CogAT is minimally accurate. That is, I would consider any score a minimum representation of abilities, as long as the test was administered correctly and without the child being prepped beforehand (prep/training can artificially inflate scores). Assuming no prep, a kid isn't going to reason higher than they're capable of reasoning. However, underperformance on the CogAT, especially by 2e kids, is pretty common.  

[EKS]

Keep in mind that the CogAT was designed to test the ability to do well in school, which requires quick, convergent thinking.  And, as a result, it is actually an excellent test (as far as tests go) of how a kid will do in the typical gifted program, as most gifted programs assume that gifted kids simply get the right answers (convergent thinking) more quickly. 

The WISC, and other individually administered ability tests where time limits are few and far between, are not as good at this.  However, I would expect that they would be better at determining who would especially benefit from homeschooling.  In fact, I suspect that those of us here have an overabundance of offspring who perform better on the WISC than on the CogAT and that is why whenever this comes up that there are a whole bunch of people saying that the CogAT underestimates giftedness.  And of course it does, since giftedness goes well beyond doing well in school.

 

[Noreen Claire]

I have nothing really to add, except that I had both DS7 and DS10 take the CogAT and the Iowa last week, and have been going over the results this morning. They seem fairly reliable to me. 

(I wish I had actually tested them with a higher-level of the exam, to see what the actual ceiling would have been for each. That might have been more helpful, in our case.)

 

Edited February 25, 2020 by Noreen Claire

[Paige]

23 hours ago, SeaConquest said:

In our case, the test was not accurate. My oldest son is 2e and took the test at the end of 2nd grade through our district. In SD Unified, they have two levels of gifted programs. He didn't qualify for either, which was shocking, and not at all reflective of the work that he does in our homeschool (which is several grade levels ahead) and not in accordance with any other achievement or IQ test that he has taken (and he has taken several). He was not on ADHD meds back then (but we had our suspicions that he likely had ADHD), which likely had an effect, and he could have just had an off day. Anyway, just our experience. I think many 2e kids are missed on exams like this, though, so he is probably not alone.

That was our experience too. The teacher was shocked that DS bombed it because he was one of the brightest kids she'd had (her words, experienced teacher). Turns out later that DS had a few issues that made the testing inaccurate. He is hearing impaired, ADHD, and he doesn't like to give the obvious correct answers but likes to give "interesting" answers.  The interesting answer thing is true even now that he's older, but was especially true when he was younger. He would hate to give normal answers.

[sweet2ndchance]

My oldest daughter did the same thing when she went to public school. I knew she was bright but I never really considered her gifted because she spent a lot of time trying to get out of doing any work at all. We didn't live in a state that required testing of any kind for homeschoolers which is why she had not had any kind of testing before starting public school in 5th grade. I knew she was capable of at least grade level appropriate work, but she tested into the gifted math track. She was the 99th percentile across the board in all math categories. At home, she did what she had to do in math just to be done with it and never showed any particular interest in doing the math. She just wanted to get it done and so that she could do what she wanted to do. She didn't struggle but she didn't seem unchallenged either so I never thought to push her any harder when she was homeschooled. She did fine in accelerated/gifted math track from middle school forward and took dual enrollment math and English classes in high school.

[Janeway]

The Cogat measures their theoretical ability to learn a subject compared to others. It does not measure their actual knowledge, however, I have found level of education to have some effect on these scores, but only some. I would say your child has the definite ability to learn math quickly and well. Cogat does not measure how much she applies this ability.