2nd Grade Cognat (custom) Scores - were you surprised by them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:20:54 -- what a racist. The majority of Asians do not test prep. Just because many of them might (I don't believe it is true for NNAt and Cogat) does not mean that it is a majority. That is a ridiculous statement that should not be able to stand without evidence. Got any? Not to many that Asian is a very broad group. I know there are Chinese schools for TJ but that is just one subset of Asian.

Not the OP, and not Asian, but I have a question: Isn't it an expected stereotype (not necessarily accurate for everyone, but understandable nonetheless) when in all these places you see for the most part Asian kids? When you research test prepping online, most of these places have information in Asian languages (and many are run by Asians). I understand that not all Asians prep, but to call the OP racist for stating that the stereotype of the Asian kid who preps for tests is expected because of such images, is really an unfair overreaction.

Agreed. To add, there are a number of ethnic backgrounds that are historically and stereotypically recognized to value education especially more than others. I am of one that is not Aisan. I am proud of the fact that my parents and their parents, etc, etc, for generations hold knowledge, achievement and motivation far and above. That is a history I own and strive for fully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NNAT-160
VQN -99

So what is your kid like? Quirky? Outgoing? Social? Likes Sponge Bob?

[Anonymous]

The bashing on these boards needs to stop. It is so irrelevant. The fact is that to some extent parents have figured out the testing pattern. I do not disagree. The fact is also that any parent can take advantage of this scenario. So calling names out is not healthy. If you don't like it, you should complain to FCPS about testing or get over it. Parents are looking for guidance (if any one really has) about the outcome of the tests. However, the replies are being directed in all wrong directions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The bashing on these boards needs to stop. It is so irrelevant. The fact is that to some extent parents have figured out the testing pattern. I do not disagree. The fact is also that any parent can take advantage of this scenario. So calling names out is not healthy. If you don't like it, you should complain to FCPS about testing or get over it. Parents are looking for guidance (if any one really has) about the outcome of the tests. However, the replies are being directed in all wrong directions.

As the originator of this forum - agreed. The finger pointing is not what I was looking for on this forum. All I was questioning is were the test results....did anyone have big swings of suprises (perhaps related to the new test)? Forget - who prepped, enthicity, etc.....did the scores surprise you one way or the other??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems that there were a lot of surprises of lower CogAT scores vs. high NNAT scores last year. How about the opposite? Has anyone been surprised by a high CogAT score vs. a lower NNAT score last year? I am trying to figure out what happened with the CogAT scores this year...

Great question. I'm the originator of this forum.

My kid's scores:
NNAT - 129
CogAT (custom) - 84 VQN with only a 63 on verbal. This kid has been reading since before K and has a super high vocabulary. I am totally surprised. I know a neighbor kid who could barely read last year (when he was a 2nd grader) and he scored an "87" Verbal (low)....and yet my kid gets only a 63? It just can't be right.

I feel the reporting in percentiles is really going to throw some parents, especially if they don't read the score report. The example above, last years score of 87 was a standard score, where 100 is average, so an 87 would be low. This years score are percentiles so a 63 means they scored better than 63% of all the FCPS 2nd graders this year which is definitely average to above average. I know, this is a very intelligent group of parents who post here so I am sure I am pointing out the obvious, but I have no doubt there will be some who will don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not surprised. We spent a good bit of time prepping, my DC did quite well.

You didn't spend time prepping as you don't even have a DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop stereotyping Asian kids on test prepping. My child is an Asian and we did not test prep him, and he did very well on both NNAT and CogNat.

Have you ever walked outside a Kumon or any other prep place? Have you seen the racial composition of the kids who attend such places? I am sorry if you are an exception, but it's not "stereotyping" if something is true for the majority of a population!

So what's your point? Apparently you know nothing about test prepping at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems as though a 134-135 composite score for benchmark CoGat would be reasonable-they raised the benchmark to 132 last year from 130 the year before, and still had too large of a pool-but why the actual number cannot be released is beyond me.

They most likely did not release the composite because many parents would be too confused seeing that the threshold went from 132 last year to close to 126 this year even though its a little more difficult to make the automatic pool. The threshold number would have dropped but the actual number of kids making it would have dropped as well. Again since this cogat was fairfax only, they could not score it at the us level like they have done in the past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems as though a 134-135 composite score for benchmark CoGat would be reasonable-they raised the benchmark to 132 last year from 130 the year before, and still had too large of a pool-but why the actual number cannot be released is beyond me.

They most likely did not release the composite because many parents would be too confused seeing that the threshold went from 132 last year to close to 126 this year even though its a little more difficult to make the automatic pool. The threshold number would have dropped but the actual number of kids making it would have dropped as well. Again since this cogat was fairfax only, they could not score it at the us level like they have done in the past.

but they could've normed for age and given that percentile. It looks like lot of incompetence on the FCPS/AAP testing!

[Anonymous]

We have not received the scores yet! Where to call?

[Anonymous]

is score of 88 good on COGAT this year? Has the scale changed compared to previous years? To me this score seems high average but maybe not good enough for AAP? Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Nnat 90% taken in the midst of huge stress and sickness. Not enough for the pool but decent in view of the circumstances.
Non-verbal CogAt 58% taken in a good mood rested and alert. Wait, what?!!! Same non verbal skill, should act as a control, no?

Her school performance puts her in the advanced groups for reading writing and math -- all at one of the schools that send 1/3 of their students to aap centers.

Even adjusting for fairfax local scores, the single way this makes sense is if she decided to, say, braid her hair during the test!

So now we're now testing for attention deficit... Arghrr

Do they ever report on the validity of the test (eg student actually participated)?

[Anonymous]

They report on validity during a WISC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nnat 90% taken in the midst of huge stress and sickness. Not enough for the pool but decent in view of the circumstances.
Non-verbal CogAt 58% taken in a good mood rested and alert. Wait, what?!!! Same non verbal skill, should act as a control, no?

Her school performance puts her in the advanced groups for reading writing and math -- all at one of the schools that send 1/3 of their students to aap centers.

Even adjusting for fairfax local scores, the single way this makes sense is if she decided to, say, braid her hair during the test!

So now we're now testing for attention deficit... Arghrr

Do they ever report on the validity of the test (eg student actually participated)?

If she is the 58% score, then your daughter falls just below the top 1/3 of students taking the test. You say she is placed at the top 1/3 of kids at her school for enrichment services. Perhaps your daughter falls right around the lower end of that group. If that is the case, then her scores are very close to being accurate.

She did not receive the equivalent of a low D or high F on the test. When compared to all the other kids in ffx, she is roughly in the upper half of kids in the district.

I think you might be misreading the scores.

[Anonymous]

My son did very average (79th percentile) on the NNAT. He had a composite CogAT score of 97th percentile (94 verbal, 94 quantitative, 91 non-verbal).

We didn't prep him at all, although I considered it.

I think all this shows is why ALL test scores need to be taken with a grain of salt.