huge disparity in local vs national scores on CogAT

[Anonymous]

Does this reflect parents/teachers doing test preparation locally or are these kids here really smarter?

My child is 67 percentile in the grade scores which are nationally calculated but 42 percentile locally. That's a huge disparity. Especially since FFX county is not all high income high achievers anymore.

Curious what you all think.

[Anonymous]

It is a reflection of a larger portion of highly educated parents. It is not a new phenomenon, it has been this way for two decades or more.

[Anonymous]

Is locally just Fairfax County or are other counties included?

[Anonymous]

So above average nationally but below average locally. Our local score are always higher than national.

[Anonymous]

This happens in every large city with a dedicated GT program. NYC is even more extreme than we are. It's partially that it's a high SES area with a lot of educated parents, and it's partially due to prepping.

[Anonymous]

it should be FCPS only; the cogat given in FCPS is custom for FCPS.

Wasn't there a letter explaining this with the scores? We got that a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does this reflect parents/teachers doing test preparation locally or are these kids here really smarter?

My child is 67 percentile in the grade scores which are nationally calculated but 42 percentile locally. That's a huge disparity. Especially since FFX county is not all high income high achievers anymore.

Curious what you all think.

I think it is the a little of both (the prepping and this area attracts a certain type), the fact that a 96% national composite score translates into an 87% score here is just absurd...I mean honestly. I am also a psychologist and have been blown away by the amount of "over 130" IQs that are reported by my peers for kids in this area. When you are in grad school and complete the testing courses (and internships), you are told it is supposed to be such a small percent of the population...how is it that here it is 20%?

I would hate to think people prep children for IQ tests...because what happens? Well in order to keep the services appropriate, they just raise the bar. The majority of other places a 127 IQ is amazing, 130? Definitely. Here the fact that they require a 132 composite and won't even look twice at turning down a 130 WISC V? I don't even know what that is....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does this reflect parents/teachers doing test preparation locally or are these kids here really smarter?

My child is 67 percentile in the grade scores which are nationally calculated but 42 percentile locally. That's a huge disparity. Especially since FFX county is not all high income high achievers anymore.

Curious what you all think.

I think it is the a little of both (the prepping and this area attracts a certain type), the fact that a 96% national composite score translates into an 87% score here is just absurd...I mean honestly. I am also a psychologist and have been blown away by the amount of "over 130" IQs that are reported by my peers for kids in this area. When you are in grad school and complete the testing courses (and internships), you are told it is supposed to be such a small percent of the population...how is it that here it is 20%?

I would hate to think people prep children for IQ tests...because what happens? Well in order to keep the services appropriate, they just raise the bar. The majority of other places a 127 IQ is amazing, 130? Definitely. Here the fact that they require a 132 composite and won't even look twice at turning down a 130 WISC V? I don't even know what that is....

I agree! I'm a neuropsychologist and I've given hundreds of WISCs. It is very rare to have children score in the 130s and above. I can't believe the scores parents are reporting here. I can count on one hand how many children I've testers above a 140 in the past 10 years.

[Anonymous]

When I started as a school psychologist the kids had to have a Full Scale 140. You can't coach a kid to get that. That was for the Center placement. They lowered the standard and now we have tons of supposedly gifted kids and parents try to squeak their kids in who don't really belong there. One of the worst decisions FCPS has made. I never qualified as a kid in the 1970s because I couldn't get the 140 overall due to relative weakness in spatial/math stuff but very high language based skills. The centers should be for those kids who are really advanced and need much more advanced work. It's a very small percentage, actually.

[Anonymous]

People prep the hell out of kids here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I would hate to think people prep children for IQ tests...because what happens? Well in order to keep the services appropriate, they just raise the bar. The majority of other places a 127 IQ is amazing, 130? Definitely. Here the fact that they require a 132 composite and won't even look twice at turning down a 130 WISC V? I don't even know what that is....

I agree! I'm a neuropsychologist and I've given hundreds of WISCs. It is very rare to have children score in the 130s and above. I can't believe the scores parents are reporting here. I can count on one hand how many children I've testers above a 140 in the past 10 years.

I don't know if people are prepping for the WISC. I can say that my when my kid took the WISC at GMU and scored in the high 130s, the tester seemed very impressed, as if he very rarely sees scores like that. Perhaps a lot of people don't realize that the NNAT and CogAT aren't IQ tests, so they're reporting those scores as IQs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I started as a school psychologist the kids had to have a Full Scale 140. You can't coach a kid to get that. That was for the Center placement. They lowered the standard and now we have tons of supposedly gifted kids and parents try to squeak their kids in who don't really belong there. One of the worst decisions FCPS has made. I never qualified as a kid in the 1970s because I couldn't get the 140 overall due to relative weakness in spatial/math stuff but very high language based skills. The centers should be for those kids who are really advanced and need much more advanced work. It's a very small percentage, actually.

Agreed. I'm the PP with the kid whose WISC FSIQ is in the high 130s, and realistically, that kid only needs GT services in one area of extreme strength. A lot of parents in FCPS seem really delusional about just how "special" their children are and what those children need academically.

[Anonymous]

They are not smarter, just have parents who know the benefit of tutoring, prep and are more vested in their child's education. And who have money to pay for extra educational help. I don't know about FCPS, but agree that in MoCo many parents of younger kids are also delusional how special their kids really are. However, this is not limited to DMV and other very urban centers. My SIL goes on and on about how special the school her DD attends is in Indiana. I am sure it is, yet somehow, she is now on ADHD medication, and I was openly told that at first her DD refused the medicine until she struggled with school work. I wonder how many other kids take medication to get better grades in our area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I would hate to think people prep children for IQ tests...because what happens? Well in order to keep the services appropriate, they just raise the bar. The majority of other places a 127 IQ is amazing, 130? Definitely. Here the fact that they require a 132 composite and won't even look twice at turning down a 130 WISC V? I don't even know what that is....

I agree! I'm a neuropsychologist and I've given hundreds of WISCs. It is very rare to have children score in the 130s and above. I can't believe the scores parents are reporting here. I can count on one hand how many children I've testers above a 140 in the past 10 years.

I don't know if people are prepping for the WISC. I can say that my when my kid took the WISC at GMU and scored in the high 130s, the tester seemed very impressed, as if he very rarely sees scores like that. Perhaps a lot of people don't realize that the NNAT and CogAT aren't IQ tests, so they're reporting those scores as IQs.

This forum threads are full of people with WISC > 130. Saying that, your child does have an awesome score!