Really want to find a good coach for NNAT and CogAT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people really hire coaches to help their kids do well on the NNAT and CogAt??? That's crazy. I have heard about parents bringing their kids to education centers, hiring tutors, and buying workbooks. But, this is the first time I have read about parents hiring coaches. Now I feel guilty. I did not even tell my kid he was taking a test. I didn't prepare him at all. I guess I am old school. I thought these tests were supposed to assess a child's ability without preparing/training the child first. It is no surprise that local scores are so different from national scores.

That is why they need to use a higher standard for the AA program here. A parent on another thread said 97 percentile would be good enough in other parts of the country, but not here and wanted to know why. This is the reason: kids are "coached" so they end up getting higher scores than they would have without that help. The scores then can make it look as though they need a program that they actually don't need, so the base line score needs to be raised. They also take into account teacher observations of how kids behave in class, where the "coaching" has less effect.

They've needed to raise the base line score for years now. That was especially noticeable when so many of the current 5th grade class was admitted to AAP.

They need a way to identify coaching...maybe they can put an easter egg in the test..

I doubt there is a question they could ask that would identify test prepped kids. And unless there are a bunch of kids who get into the program and then fail at it (because presumably they weren't a good fit) there isn't much reason for the school system to be concerned about it. It would be interesting to see a study about how much test prep for these tests raises scores on average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people really hire coaches to help their kids do well on the NNAT and CogAt??? That's crazy. I have heard about parents bringing their kids to education centers, hiring tutors, and buying workbooks. But, this is the first time I have read about parents hiring coaches. Now I feel guilty. I did not even tell my kid he was taking a test. I didn't prepare him at all. I guess I am old school. I thought these tests were supposed to assess a child's ability without preparing/training the child first. It is no surprise that local scores are so different from national scores.

That is why they need to use a higher standard for the AA program here. A parent on another thread said 97 percentile would be good enough in other parts of the country, but not here and wanted to know why. This is the reason: kids are "coached" so they end up getting higher scores than they would have without that help. The scores then can make it look as though they need a program that they actually don't need, so the base line score needs to be raised. They also take into account teacher observations of how kids behave in class, where the "coaching" has less effect.

They've needed to raise the base line score for years now. That was especially noticeable when so many of the current 5th grade class was admitted to AAP.

They need a way to identify coaching...maybe they can put an easter egg in the test..

I doubt there is a question they could ask that would identify test prepped kids. And unless there are a bunch of kids who get into the program and then fail at it (because presumably they weren't a good fit) there isn't much reason for the school system to be concerned about it. It would be interesting to see a study about how much test prep for these tests raises scores on average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apparently, coaching kids for exams is routinely practiced in other parts of the world. In fact, instead of going to sports after school, kids go to tutoring centers.

I think it's alive and well here in the U.S. too. I drove past this gem today: http://www.mybestacademy.com/

[Anonymous]

Someone posted last year that the teacher or principal asked her dc's class if they had ever seen questions like this before and then wrote down the names of the students who raised their hands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently, coaching kids for exams is routinely practiced in other parts of the world. In fact, instead of going to sports after school, kids go to tutoring centers.

I think it's alive and well here in the U.S. too. I drove past this gem today: http://www.mybestacademy.com/

Personally, I take issue with all the fairfax county school teachers on their test prep staff. Not ethical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently, coaching kids for exams is routinely practiced in other parts of the world. In fact, instead of going to sports after school, kids go to tutoring centers.

I think it's alive and well here in the U.S. too. I drove past this gem today: http://www.mybestacademy.com/

They have a GT DAYCARE?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently, coaching kids for exams is routinely practiced in other parts of the world. In fact, instead of going to sports after school, kids go to tutoring centers.

I think it's alive and well here in the U.S. too. I drove past this gem today: http://www.mybestacademy.com/

I check out the website and it doesn't look like they have a test prep class for the NNAT/COGAT, unless the GT 1-2 class to develop vocabulary and math skill is actually just test prep. They do advertise TJ, Algebra 1, math competition prep though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who game the system this way make me sick. If your child is gifted, he/she will not need coaching to make it in. Please leave the spots open for the kids who truly NEED them.

But the program isn't really for gifted kids, is it? Certainly nearly 20% of our elementary school kids cannot be naturally gifted.

I was upset initially when I found out how many people in my neighborhood put their kindergarteners in test prep. But if they perceive the schools as offering two different standards of education, and if many of them (in my neighborhood at least) happen to be from backgrounds where hard work is pushed and innate intelligence de-emphasized, it makes sense that they would want to prep. their kids to get into AAP. I still think it's sad that the kids are being tutored instead of playing outside, but I also think it's highly possible these kids have the potential to academically surpass the kids who do well on these tests without coaching, because at some point-- even if you're really gifted!-- success does come down to being willing to work, and I appreciate parents instilling that in their young kids. Maybe just not this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently, coaching kids for exams is routinely practiced in other parts of the world. In fact, instead of going to sports after school, kids go to tutoring centers.

I think it's alive and well here in the U.S. too. I drove past this gem today: http://www.mybestacademy.com/

I check out the website and it doesn't look like they have a test prep class for the NNAT/COGAT, unless the GT 1-2 class to develop vocabulary and math skill is actually just test prep. They do advertise TJ, Algebra 1, math competition prep though.

There is always the place in Chantilly.

http://studyconceptsinc.com/k-7-programs/gt-prep-kindergarten

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently, coaching kids for exams is routinely practiced in other parts of the world. In fact, instead of going to sports after school, kids go to tutoring centers.

I think it's alive and well here in the U.S. too. I drove past this gem today: http://www.mybestacademy.com/

I check out the website and it doesn't look like they have a test prep class for the NNAT/COGAT, unless the GT 1-2 class to develop vocabulary and math skill is actually just test prep. They do advertise TJ, Algebra 1, math competition prep though.

There is always the place in Chantilly.

http://studyconceptsinc.com/k-7-programs/gt-prep-kindergarten

Yep. From their website:
"As part of these classes, students will acquire, practice and review competencies that are required to perform well in tests like the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAt) and the Naglieri Non-Verbal Ability Test (NNAT). Students’ scores in these tests are used by Fairfax county as one of the key criteria for acceptance into their respective Gifted/Talented/Advanced Academic Placement programs."

Lovely.

[Anonymous]

My friend's kid has been in kumon 2x/week, every week for 3 years. Did not make the pool.

I know of someone like this as well. I think they applied again this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My friend's kid has been in kumon 2x/week, every week for 3 years. Did not make the pool.

I know of someone like this as well. I think they applied again this year.

Yeah, I wouldn't think that kumon would help you on these kinds of tests, it's all drill and kill. Waste of time and money. If you kid needs help with math fluency, teach them yourselves, it's an easy thing to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard of Coach Cathy, a former college teacher, also a wonderful math coach, help kids who love math with all kinds of competition math, not sure whether you are talking about her? Not sure whether she teaches this kind of class too? You may want to check with her, [e-mail]. Seems she doesn't teach much, my niece loves her, but her friends still on waiting list.

Also, I agree it's no good to prep to AAP though many do no matter what.

I heard and happened to know some average kids boost score to 99% on both NNAT and CogAT after some private lessons with Coach Cathy, cathyspringing?
I am curious how they doing later on in AAP program, struggling? But, the kids I know doing fine, still average in AAP, only have a very high score for the AAP tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yeah, I wouldn't think that kumon would help you on these kinds of tests, it's all drill and kill. Waste of time and money. If you kid needs help with math fluency, teach them yourselves, it's an easy thing to do.

That's what I've seen as well. Looked into Kumon in 1st grade and all they were working on was increasing arithmetic fluency, which does absolutely nothing for Nnat and Cogat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I heard and happened to know some average kids boost score to 99% on both NNAT and CogAT after some private lessons with Coach Cathy, cathyspringing?
I am curious how they doing later on in AAP program, struggling? But, the kids I know doing fine, still average in AAP, only have a very high score for the AAP tests.

There could be many reasons for that. My kid got 99% in Nnat and 98% in Cogat with no coaching, but his schoolwork is determinedly average. Yes, a good reader and all that, yada yada, but his written work stinks and he does not pay attention at math, resulting in silly mistakes. All in all, he's immature. Should he get in, he's not going to become a shining star overnight.