Change to HGC Testing to make it more accessible to a more "diversified" group?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HGC tests in the past seem to have taken 2 hours to complete by 3rd graders. This year, the letters sent to parents specifically indicate that the test will take "one hour". Could it be that MCPS is altering the test to accommodate their new goal of diversification? Perhaps removing some verbal sections? Or maybe a new type of test all together?

Paranoid much? Why not call the school and ask before you assume they are making the test easier to accommodate diversification?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HGC tests in the past seem to have taken 2 hours to complete by 3rd graders. This year, the letters sent to parents specifically indicate that the test will take "one hour". Could it be that MCPS is altering the test to accommodate their new goal of diversification? Perhaps removing some verbal sections? Or maybe a new type of test all together?

Paranoid much? Why not call the school and ask before you assume they are making the test easier to accommodate diversification?

I doubt the school would know the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never get why Fairfax county is so transparent with their testing yet mcps is so hush hush with theirs. When my kid took the Inview in years past, they didn't even bother telling us until the day of the testing. So much for making sure your child gets enough sleep and had a hardy breakfast.

Reading the AAP threads makes it seem awful to me..all the different testing and score comparisons.

AAP is not at all like the AAP forum on dcum.

Dcum's version of AAP is like some weird alternative universe.

+1. The DCUM AAP forum get the 5% of the parents who are militant AAP or die, and the 5% whose kids missed the cut and who cannot cope with that. But it misses the other 90% of parents, who are somewhat sane, and functioning fine in the current system. The nice thing about AAP is that you know the criteria to get in, that everyone is screened, that your kid is there for 5 years, that a kid can enter after third grade if they are a late bloomer, and that everyone who qualifies who gets access. Nothing is perfect, but IRL, it works well for most kids.

[Anonymous]

The school wouldn't know but you could call AEI.

[Anonymous]

Division of Accelerated and Enriched Instruction
AEI logo (small)Focus: Gifted and Talented Policy and Regulation Implementation, Parent/Community Outreach, and Division Administration



850 Hungerford Drive, Room 177
Rockville, Maryland 20850
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Telephone: [phone]

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[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

This is what we did. And I don't feel the tiniest bit of guilt. There were questions in the book that were easy to answer but would be difficult for kids who had never seen that type of question before.

Of course the questions are easier after the child has seen and practiced doing that type of question. The point of the test is to separate out the kids who can understand and answer questions of a type they've never seen before, the kids who can figure out how to do problems without an adult telling them how.

A kid who can figure out those questions without being told in advance how to do them might really need and benefit from a different kind of education. The kid who can't do it on his own but can remember how he is taught to answer a question will probably do fine in a regular classroom.

How do you know prepping a student helps that much? Remember these are not achievement tests but cognitive assessment. What that means is you can't really study for it. Where it likely helps is that kids become familiarized with the format. I don't, however, see the connection with the content.

I didn't say I know that it helps that much, I'm just responding to the quote above in which the poster said that the questions were easy but difficult for a kid who had never seen them before. That is the point of those questions: to see which kids can understand and answer them even though they've never seen questions like that before.

One of the indications of high intelligence is the ability to understand and figure out new problems. Being familiar with the format can make a difference in that it takes away the ability of the testers to see how the child deals with a new type of problem. The content does not matter as much, it is the fact that the child has become familiar with the format that changes what is being tested.

I think the new problem for the kid should be the content itself, not the format of the content.

You are right. The PP argument is thin at best.

I'm surprised that this is so difficult for some to understand.

Once you know how to do a problem, the content doesn't matter, you just plug the variables into the framework or formula that you've learned. It takes much more intelligence to figure out the formula on your own than to have someone teach you how to do it.

You have somehow managed to entirely miss the point of these tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Division of Accelerated and Enriched Instruction
AEI logo (small)Focus: Gifted and Talented Policy and Regulation Implementation, Parent/Community Outreach, and Division Administration



850 Hungerford Drive, Room 177
Rockville, Maryland 20850
Fax: [phone]
Telephone: [phone]

More about AEI
Frequently Asked Questions
More About AEI
Policy, Vision, Mission
AEI is a division of the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Programs (OCIP). OCIP Contact List

Thank you! I didn't even know this existed.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone remember whether in years' past if the December letter stated that the test took 1 hour as well?

[Anonymous]

I do know that students will be taking the test on Chromebooks this year which is new - perhaps that's why the time change? I'm all for it - every student will be given the test and parents who don't know how to navigate the system will be afforded the same opportunities as those who take the time to track down Ms. Casper's contact information.

[Anonymous]

Unless something changed I believe Mrs Casper said only the students in the field test areas (e.g. Fox Chapel and Drew) were getting the computerized test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone remember whether in years' past if the December letter stated that the test took 1 hour as well?

two years ago, the letter stated it would take approximately 2 hours.