s/o for commentary on "Just the Scores" thread

[SAM2]

I'm creating this spin off thread so people who have commentary about the "Just the Scores" thread can post here. I did not start that other thread, but I can see its OP's hope of getting just clean info on WPPSI scores is going to become harder and harder. Maybe the people who want to comment about WPPSI issues or otherwise analyze the scores can do it here instead.

As a start, here's my comment: I'm amazed just like many others here that there are so many super-high WPPSI scores. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with self-selection bias. People who have smart kids are more likely to sign them up for the WPPSI, people whose children scored highly are more likely to post about it on DCUM, etc.

I am trying to think of other ways to look at representative groups of scores, besides just asking people here to post them. I have not come up with much so far, but I did have one idea. NYC tests huge numbers of preK children each year for admission into the gifted & talented programs. As I understand it, the cutoffs are 90th percentile to be considered for District-level G&T programs, and 99th percentile to be almost guaranteed a spot. NYC uses the OLSAT for testing, which I believe is pretty similar to the WPPSI. Here is are link to some statistics on OLSAT scores for NYC preK students: http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/35EFC620-DB98-4A85-B218-066C1D44FD2E/0/2004YOBGTHandbook.pdf (page 7).

14,088 preK students took the test for the 2011-12 school year. I'm not positive, but I think there are about 75-80k students per grade, so that's about 18% of the potentially eligible students taking the test. 4028 of the test takers scored above the 90th percentile, so that's about 29% of those taking the test, or about 5% of the total students in the grade. 970 of the test takers scored at the 99th percentile, and that's about 7% of 14k test takers, or 1% of the total grade.

Those figures seem statistically logical, which suggests to me that NYC's OLSAT is a decent snapshot of where those kids are at the moment. I'd like to assume the same holds true for the WPPSI in DC, but I suppose that's debatable.

[Anonymous]

If the OLSAT is given by people employed by the NY school system and the WPPSI is given by private psychologists paid by the parents of the child, um, well, maybe there's a bit of a difference in motivation to find high scores.

[SAM2]

Anonymous wrote:If the OLSAT is given by people employed by the NY school system and the WPPSI is given by private psychologists paid by the parents of the child, um, well, maybe there's a bit of a difference in motivation to find high scores.

I'm generally am just as cynical as you, so I tend to like such assessments of hidden incentives. But I'm not sure it makes sense here .... What motivation would a private psych have to boost the WPPSI scores? The psych is getting paid the same amount for the test regardless. I suppose being known as an "easy grader" might create some repeat business, but not much since most families have only 2-3 kids at most. And if the psych does skew all kids' results to give higher-than-warranted scores to everyone, then she runs the risk of (1) losing the schools' referral business, since her scores become worthless to the schools, and (2) potentially risking her license. I seem to recall some child psychologist actually posting on DCUM several months ago, saying that the WPPSI and similar tests really are designed to prevent psychologists from skewing with the results.

[Anonymous]

Wha does "talented" mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wha does "talented" mean?

Correction:

What does "talented" mean?

[Anonymous]

I think there is a point about not wanting to post if it isn't high. My dd was high but most of her friends were not so high. Gotta tell you..they all seem the same. Maybe the only difference is my daughter understands puzzles faster than I do but I am not sure if that is really going to help her in life ..lol. I felt bad for the friend's whose kids scored low..no matter what, it feels like something is missing for your kid and it's not fair.

[Anonymous]

All the vexing over the WIPPSI is really sad. I am telling you: the WIPPSI does NOT determine if your child will get in or not. Your child can be VERY average if you have a a few kids in the pipeline, a high profile job and a lot of $$$$$. If you want to fixate on something: fixate on making law partner. That will do it.

[Anonymous]

What does "talented" mean?

It means that a particular kid on a particular day performed well on a standardized test.

[Anonymous]

Sorry I did not see this before I posted my cooment on the test scores thread about being so shocked at the high scores....