GDS/Sidwell Moms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone on who's willing to discuss whether or not they engaged in the kinds of more specific play described above prior to their dc being tested? And what that process was like - and, of course, how dc did on the test

We had both our entering 3rd grader and our entering K tested the same fall... we did nothing special except let them know they were going to play games with someone. Both had attended a good quality child development center for years so were used to playing games with teachers/others. We did some puzzles and the usual stuff as parents but nothing special. 3rd grader did fine 75-79 ranges and we kept in current public school. K got 99 and attends a 'big 3.' Both are very different kids and have different 'needs' as far as schooling so it made sense to look at different schools. 3rd grader was tested again by school system the following year as part of a 'Section 504'/learning difference process - testing came back very consistent at about 78%.

We used Education Assessments Associates (something like that) on MacArthur and had 2 different testers but like both and the write ups and the conference afterward. Very useful and helped us make some decisions about schools.

[Anonymous]

We didn't do anything other than have breakfast and both scored in 99/98 percentiles. One is in public school and awaiting decision on other.

[Anonymous]

Did not do anything to prepare other than tell DC that we were going to play some games with a nice lady. I spent a little time reading about the test but did not have much time or desire to "practice," and I read somewhere that if the tester figures out DC has been prepped, that fact would get noted unfavorably in the report, so that caution gave me good justification to do no prep. DC seemed to have lots of fun with the puzzles and scored well.

Good luck if you decide to go that route.