Anonymous wrote:My ADHD second grader got a RIT score of 208 in Math and 205 in reading. But the growth between fall to spring was 29th and 24th percentile. I’m not quite sure what to make of this and does that mean maybe not gifted like everyone has always said?
Here's how it works. Look at Table A.1 in this
document.
Find the mean for second grade: it's 189.42 for Spring. Now look for where it says Student SD. That number is 13.44.
Now you subtract 189.42 from 208 and divide the result by 13.44. The result is 1.38. That's your child's z-score.
1.38 is not considered gifted; the MAP test is also pretty accurate in this range (which a z-Score converter will tell you corresponds to about the 91 or so percentile.)
To be considered gifted, the z-Score should be at least 2. Some consider 3 or more "profoundly gifted."
In practice, though, there are more kids that score a high z-score on this test (particularly in Math - DC scored 4.7 SD above the mean one year) - particularly kids interested in Math who do it competitively or recreationally. The accuracy of the test declines past the 97.5% percentile, or about a z-score of 2.
So, overall, your child's result is a bit inconclusive. With some practice, they could probably reach into "gifted" territory the next time.