Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How hard is it to figure out that a shoemaker is a person who makes shoes? That one seems pretty obvious.

Love this one! Exactly, it seems hard because we don’t usually see a shoe maker, but smart kids who know the word shoe and maker should be able to figure out what a shoemaker does.

Agreed, but keep in mind that the verbal CogAT doesn't actually use words, but instead uses pictures for everything. A kid might not parse a picture of a guy holding a shoe as a "shoemaker".

Anonymous wrote:How hard is it to figure out that a shoemaker is a person who makes shoes? That one seems pretty obvious.

Love this one! Exactly, it seems hard because we don’t usually see a shoe maker, but smart kids who know the word shoe and maker should be able to figure out what a shoemaker does.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused.. People are complaining that these tests are "culturally biased" on the one hand and yet, Asians are doing extremely well on these tests. Are the Asians creating these tests? Do they have pictures of Samosas and Elephants?

Asians prep. They spend time explaining to their kids what a shoemaker is or a typewriter. White people and non-Asian/non-whites do not.

Were you the creep I saw peeping in my window when I had the “Shoemaker and Typewriters” lesson with my kid?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused.. People are complaining that these tests are "culturally biased" on the one hand and yet, Asians are doing extremely well on these tests. Are the Asians creating these tests? Do they have pictures of Samosas and Elephants?

Asians prep. They spend time explaining to their kids what a shoemaker is or a typewriter. White people and non-Asian/non-whites do not.

Were you the creep I saw peeping in my window when I had the “Shoemaker and Typewriters” lesson with my kid?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea as I've never seen the questions but I know both my older black kids bombed the CogAT and both have IQs over 150. It was odd to us. Our older child is homeschooled but does some college courses. She's 12. Our younger child is in 3rd in AAP. We usually start homeschool at 6th grade. IMO it's all culturally biased based on who designs the test, but there's nothing you can do about it.

If two kids with IQs over 150 bombed the test then that pretty much invalidates the test. That’s worthy of academic publication. Do you think it was all attributable to cultural bias?

Maybe they don't really have 150 IQs

PP here - Maybe. I guess GMU WISC testing is flawed. Man, we got fooled. Please don't tell my 12 year old's college professors or the Davidson Young Scholars. May as well keep up with the ruse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea as I've never seen the questions but I know both my older black kids bombed the CogAT and both have IQs over 150. It was odd to us. Our older child is homeschooled but does some college courses. She's 12. Our younger child is in 3rd in AAP. We usually start homeschool at 6th grade. IMO it's all culturally biased based on who designs the test, but there's nothing you can do about it.

If two kids with IQs over 150 bombed the test then that pretty much invalidates the test. That’s worthy of academic publication. Do you think it was all attributable to cultural bias?

Maybe they don't really have 150 IQs

Anonymous wrote:I'm an ESOL teacher and proctor or TA for so many standardized tests. Most of them are culturally biased or just plain contain content not familiar to modern children. My (least) favorite is the entry test for Pre-K students where 4 year olds need to retell a story about a shoemaker. A shoemaker!

I just asked my 5 year old about how shoes are made and he said "In a shoe factory, of course!". Shoemaker is ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:Because the test is designed for no prepping, and I follow the rules. And DH and I were both in GT programs as kids and now our kids are in AAP, without prepping.

^^^ Adding, if our kids did not score well on the tests or get into AAP, so be it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused.. People are complaining that these tests are "culturally biased" on the one hand and yet, Asians are doing extremely well on these tests. Are the Asians creating these tests? Do they have pictures of Samosas and Elephants?

Asians prep. They spend time explaining to their kids what a shoemaker is or a typewriter. White people and non-Asian/non-whites do not.

Why not? If you don't care to educate your child.. well, your child will not be educated.

Because the test is designed for no prepping, and I follow the rules. And DH and I were both in GT programs as kids and now our kids are in AAP, without prepping.

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused.. People are complaining that these tests are "culturally biased" on the one hand and yet, Asians are doing extremely well on these tests. Are the Asians creating these tests? Do they have pictures of Samosas and Elephants?

And Asians never complain about anything - go figure!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How hard is it to figure out that a shoemaker is a person who makes shoes? That one seems pretty obvious.

To a 4 year old?

Yes, four year olds know what shoes are, they know what it means to make something. So, shoe plus maker equals person who is a maker of shoes.

If we're talking about something like a telephone operator, for instance, I can see that a four year old likely wouldn't know what that job entailed. Receptionist or secretary or IT professional might all be job titles that could be confusing to a four year old. But shoemaker? That seems about as self evident as a job title can get.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused.. People are complaining that these tests are "culturally biased" on the one hand and yet, Asians are doing extremely well on these tests. Are the Asians creating these tests? Do they have pictures of Samosas and Elephants?

Asians prep. They spend time explaining to their kids what a shoemaker is or a typewriter. White people and non-Asian/non-whites do not.

Why not? If you don't care to educate your child.. well, your child will not be educated.

Anonymous wrote:How hard is it to figure out that a shoemaker is a person who makes shoes? That one seems pretty obvious.

To a 4 year old?

How hard is it to figure out that a shoemaker is a person who makes shoes? That one seems pretty obvious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea as I've never seen the questions but I know both my older black kids bombed the CogAT and both have IQs over 150. It was odd to us. Our older child is homeschooled but does some college courses. She's 12. Our younger child is in 3rd in AAP. We usually start homeschool at 6th grade. IMO it's all culturally biased based on who designs the test, but there's nothing you can do about it.

If two kids with IQs over 150 bombed the test then that pretty much invalidates the test. That’s worthy of academic publication. Do you think it was all attributable to cultural bias?

There have already been academic publications saying this. That's where PP got the idea from.

Group tests, whether group intelligence or group achievement tests, have another problem for some of our gifted kids: ambiguity. Since the questions on a group test are all in written format for easy group administration, our kids often see more than one answer to a question. - http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/iq_varies.htm