How many dc with high WPPSI scores (98-99) did not get into Top 3 for Pre-K?

[Anonymous]

Tons of kids in this area get 98-99 on the WPPSI. It's amazing that the schools still use it. A score in that range means your child is very smart and capable, but it is not a reason to call Mensa.

[Anonymous]

Maybe because the Washington area attracts either bright or ambitious (maybe both) people from small towns across America (like NY or LA or SF)? And the kind who are ambitious enough to leave their small towns are also ambitious enough to be shooting for these privates?

I know, this sounds really self-serving. But possibly a bit of truth?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I also find it interesting that many use reading levels as the (often only) litmus test for how gifted, profoundly gifted, and stratospherically gifted a preK/K child is. I suppose there aren't many other measures at this young age, but still.

I use reading level as one way to gauge how a child's educational needs might be different from that of other kids. I don't care how they scored on the WPPSI, 80th% or 99th%, if they're reading several years above grade level, they may need instruction that varies from that of their peers that year, and possibly in future years.

Early reading is no guarantee of later "greatness," and many kids who end up excelling in school don't read early. But it is an educational challenge that parents of those kids want to address.

[Anonymous]

99% kid, great teacher recommendations, great playdates, rejected by Sidwell, waitlisted by Beauvoir, GDS, Maret. I totally agree that it is all about the parents and who you know. 98% of the slots go to connected parents; the other 2% are like a lottery among the remaining great unconnected kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:99% kid, great teacher recommendations, great playdates, rejected by Sidwell, waitlisted by Beauvoir, GDS, Maret. I totally agree that it is all about the parents and who you know. 98% of the slots go to connected parents; the other 2% are like a lottery among the remaining great unconnected kids.

Not saying that this is your case, but I would imagine that some parents actually blow the opportunity for their kid(s). Things like not being sincere, overly aggressive/neurotic, stalker-ish etc. Could this also be true?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:99% kid, great teacher recommendations, great playdates, rejected by Sidwell, waitlisted by Beauvoir, GDS, Maret. I totally agree that it is all about the parents and who you know. 98% of the slots go to connected parents; the other 2% are like a lottery among the remaining great unconnected kids.

apply to NCS and STA for middle or high school if your child continues on this path. Extremely objective student based admissions. Good environment for all races, etc.

[Anonymous]

From my (admittedly limited) observation of about 8-9 kids applying for middle school, it's true that NCS and STA were more objective than others. They took the kids from regular families (read no special money or job) that were rejected/waitlisted elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tons of kids in this area get 98-99 on the WPPSI. It's amazing that the schools still use it. A score in that range means your child is very smart and capable, but it is not a reason to call Mensa.

A percentile means that you scored higher than that percent of the children your age in the norming group. "Tons" of kids do not score 98th to 99th percentile on the WPPSI; 1% to 2% score 98th to 99th percentile. Now it's true that private school applicants in the DC area probably have a higher proportion of kids in that top 2% than some other segments of the population but still, this is basic statistics. And I believe the cutoff for Mensa is the 98th percentile so, in fact, it IS a reason to call Mensa, if that's what you're into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A careful reading of a WISC subscore sheet will reveal the 99%ile from the 99.9%ile tester who hit several subtest ceilings. The latter might not be so easy to deal with in a private school setting because of an inability (or unwillingness) to differentiate.

I think you are very wrong on this PP. My dc tested 99.9%ile and is a very normal child who can read and spell perahps 20 words, very pleasant and easy going. Just b/c she has a high score doesn't may her difficult to deal with or weird in any way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC (now 4) hit a few subtest ceilings but is still not composing symphonies, doing calculus, or reading Tolstoy. Her reading level is on par with at least a few others in her class. In fact, DC expressed interest in chess yesterday but gave up after about 10 minutes and decided she would try again when she was older (it probably didn't help that I don't really remember the rules). So you can hit the ceilings and still not be abnormally bright.

That's wonderful. If you don't mine me asking where does your dc attend school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tons of kids in this area get 98-99 on the WPPSI. It's amazing that the schools still use it. A score in that range means your child is very smart and capable, but it is not a reason to call Mensa.

A percentile means that you scored higher than that percent of the children your age in the norming group. "Tons" of kids do not score 98th to 99th percentile on the WPPSI; 1% to 2% score 98th to 99th percentile. Now it's true that private school applicants in the DC area probably have a higher proportion of kids in that top 2% than some other segments of the population but still, this is basic statistics. And I believe the cutoff for Mensa is the 98th percentile so, in fact, it IS a reason to call Mensa, if that's what you're into.

I'd wait until DC is a little older to call Mensa. I don't have much faith in test results from K! My oldest DC scored 99.9 in K, went down to 95 on SSAT for middle school, but is now back up to 98. Youngest bombed out on the test in K (probably related to DC's view that every test is a race to see who finishes first) but on a recent IQ test to enter private looks to be a genius.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A careful reading of a WISC subscore sheet will reveal the 99%ile from the 99.9%ile tester who hit several subtest ceilings. The latter might not be so easy to deal with in a private school setting because of an inability (or unwillingness) to differentiate.

I think you are very wrong on this PP. My dc tested 99.9%ile and is a very normal child who can read and spell perahps 20 words, very pleasant and easy going. Just b/c she has a high score doesn't may her difficult to deal with or weird in any way.

I am not talking about merely being 99.9%ile. I am talking about being 99.9%ile AND hitting a number of subtest ceilings. Look at the WISC subscore sheet -- did she hit any subtest ceilings? If so, how many & in what categories. Hitting a subtest ceiling means that she got all possible questions right in a subtest -- this will be listed on the subscore sheet at the top of each individual column. Hitting these ceilings poses the question whether the tested child is significantly beyond his/her years in knowledge/ability.

Also, I am not saying that a child who is hitting the 99.9%ile and hitting subtest ceilings will be "difficult to deal with" or "weird." I think these are frequent myths about highly gifted students -- that while they are academically gifted they have difficult behavior or are geeky or weird in some way -- that's a total myth. Our DC gets along well with kids of any age and has many friends in school. What I am saying is that a child with this testing profile will likely be considerably ahead academically or able to breeze thru material easily, which does pose some problems for schools. Either the child is at risk to become bored in class or the parents might be asking for differentiated services that the school can't provide.

For some private schools, it might be easier to weed out these profiles. To be more generous, some private school might decline such students because the private school can't provide the differentiated education the kid probably needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC (now 4) hit a few subtest ceilings but is still not composing symphonies, doing calculus, or reading Tolstoy. Her reading level is on par with at least a few others in her class. In fact, DC expressed interest in chess yesterday but gave up after about 10 minutes and decided she would try again when she was older (it probably didn't help that I don't really remember the rules). So you can hit the ceilings and still not be abnormally bright.

That's wonderful. If you don't mine me asking where does your dc attend school?

Sorry, but not many 4 year olds express interest in chess. Reading at age 4 is fairly uncommon. In our entire preK class there was only one child reading. There's a wide variation between average and Einstein. Just because a kid's not Einstein, doesn't mean the kid's average either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A careful reading of a WISC subscore sheet will reveal the 99%ile from the 99.9%ile tester who hit several subtest ceilings. The latter might not be so easy to deal with in a private school setting because of an inability (or unwillingness) to differentiate.

I think you are very wrong on this PP. My dc tested 99.9%ile and is a very normal child who can read and spell perahps 20 words, very pleasant and easy going. Just b/c she has a high score doesn't may her difficult to deal with or weird in any way.

I am not talking about merely being 99.9%ile. I am talking about being 99.9%ile AND hitting a number of subtest ceilings. Look at the WISC subscore sheet -- did she hit any subtest ceilings? If so, how many & in what categories. Hitting a subtest ceiling means that she got all possible questions right in a subtest -- this will be listed on the subscore sheet at the top of each individual column. Hitting these ceilings poses the question whether the tested child is significantly beyond his/her years in knowledge/ability.

Also, I am not saying that a child who is hitting the 99.9%ile and hitting subtest ceilings will be "difficult to deal with" or "weird." I think these are frequent myths about highly gifted students -- that while they are academically gifted they have difficult behavior or are geeky or weird in some way -- that's a total myth. Our DC gets along well with kids of any age and has many friends in school. What I am saying is that a child with this testing profile will likely be considerably ahead academically or able to breeze thru material easily, which does pose some problems for schools. Either the child is at risk to become bored in class or the parents might be asking for differentiated services that the school can't provide.

For some private schools, it might be easier to weed out these profiles. To be more generous, some private school might decline such students because the private school can't provide the differentiated education the kid probably needs.

PP here, to answer your question, yes Dc did hit the 99.9%ile total and "ceiling" on few subtests. Out of a possible total raw score of 148, Dc had 146. That being said, we consider out Dc a normal bright child who is curious about things and wants to learn more. Don't you think a private school can better provide her with stimulation than in an overly crowded public school where teachers are busy playing room monitor and dealing with undiagnosed ADHD children.

[Anonymous]

"PP here, to answer your question, yes Dc did hit the 99.9%ile total and "ceiling" on few subtests. Out of a possible total raw score of 148, Dc had 146. That being said, we consider out Dc a normal bright child who is curious about things and wants to learn more. Don't you think a private school can better provide her with stimulation than in an overly crowded public school where teachers are busy playing room monitor and dealing with undiagnosed ADHD children."

Well, not necessarily. It might be helpful to realize that what you consider a "normal bright child" might be considered a highly gifted, exceptionally gifted, or profoundly gifted child by someone else. (Hoagies gifted has a useful chart: http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/highly_profoundly.htm)

What I do know, is that in addition to the challenges that public school systems have to face, at least some of them (though not DC) have special gifted and talented programs.