Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:59     Subject: It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
Anonymous wrote:What is the purpose of AAP? Why it has to be age adjusted? It is so normal that kids who are older to score higher.

School year starts at September for everyone. You can't ask the school to start at April as your kid is younger and he deserve a fair starting point just as his older classmates, right?


The opposite opinion is the following: until before 4th grade, age does play an important role in kids' performance, hence the need to standardize such tests. This is a well-known and established fact. After that age kids are on par. It's rather simple, and it is the national practice.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:58     Subject: It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If admission were based only on test scores, this argument would have validity.

Chill out and wait for the admission decisions before you freak out. There is an appeal process for a reason.


My child was born in July (young) and scored 93%. He was sick during the NNAT test and scored 130. Did not make the cut off. He has good grades.

We cannot afford the WISC, I cannot appeal with any new test scores. Doesn't look good for us.


If you qualify for free or reduced lunch, GMU will administer the WISC for free. Otherwise, it's around $375. I know it's tough for those in the middle, but there are ways to make up the difference. Ask grandparents, sell some stuff on Craigslist, get creative.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:56     Subject: It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
Anonymous wrote:16:38 I think it looks great for you actually. Your kid is 93% in the county. I have no idea if this is true or not but there are at least some people who claim that CogAt is given more weight anyway since it covers a broader range of subjects and is taken over three days. According to these threads 16-17 percent of 2nd grade goes into AAP. There has been some talk that they may be trying to shrink the program but they still need to have enough kids at each center to justify keeping them open so even if they shrink the program to the top 10-13%, your child's CogAt score is well within that range such that if you got a good GBRS I don't see why your child wouldn't get in. From what I understand in years past 10-15% of second graders were getting into the pool using the top 2% national cutoff. It seems to me that it would be better to have a 93% and be just outside this years much smaller pool than to be at the bottom of last year's much larger pool. Just some thoughts.


Very good points! That top 5-10% is still probably much fewer kids than the pool from last year.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:49     Subject: It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
16:38 I think it looks great for you actually. Your kid is 93% in the county. I have no idea if this is true or not but there are at least some people who claim that CogAt is given more weight anyway since it covers a broader range of subjects and is taken over three days. According to these threads 16-17 percent of 2nd grade goes into AAP. There has been some talk that they may be trying to shrink the program but they still need to have enough kids at each center to justify keeping them open so even if they shrink the program to the top 10-13%, your child's CogAt score is well within that range such that if you got a good GBRS I don't see why your child wouldn't get in. From what I understand in years past 10-15% of second graders were getting into the pool using the top 2% national cutoff. It seems to me that it would be better to have a 93% and be just outside this years much smaller pool than to be at the bottom of last year's much larger pool. Just some thoughts.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:43     Subject: It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
What is the purpose of AAP? Why it has to be age adjusted? It is so normal that kids who are older to score higher.

School year starts at September for everyone. You can't ask the school to start at April as your kid is younger and he deserve a fair starting point just as his older classmates, right?
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:42     Subject: It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If admission were based only on test scores, this argument would have validity.

Chill out and wait for the admission decisions before you freak out. There is an appeal process for a reason.


My child was born in July (young) and scored 93%. He was sick during the NNAT test and scored 130. Did not make the cut off. He has good grades.

We cannot afford the WISC, I cannot appeal with any new test scores. Doesn't look good for us.


Get the support of your teacher so she gives a good write up.

For your parent referal pages, find data on test age norming and the amount of difference it can make to the score. Submit that, along with a note the your child was in the lowest age bracket taking the test, and that if the test had been age norm, the difference to his score could have been xxxx points, according to standard testing protocol.

It will take a little research time on your behalf, but it might very well make the difference. Good luck and keep us posted!
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:41     Subject: It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
Anonymous wrote:If admission were based only on test scores, this argument would have validity.

Chill out and wait for the admission decisions before you freak out. There is an appeal process for a reason.


So after all the admissions are done, and the appeals complete, how exactly are you to find out if the lack of normalization of the FATs was a factor in the decision? They have not made any of the data of those admitted public in the past, what leads you to believe that it will all become crystal clear this time?

The time to freak out is now. Not later after the appeal period is over.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:38     Subject: It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
Anonymous wrote:If admission were based only on test scores, this argument would have validity.

Chill out and wait for the admission decisions before you freak out. There is an appeal process for a reason.


My child was born in July (young) and scored 93%. He was sick during the NNAT test and scored 130. Did not make the cut off. He has good grades.

We cannot afford the WISC, I cannot appeal with any new test scores. Doesn't look good for us.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:32     Subject: It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
If admission were based only on test scores, this argument would have validity.

Chill out and wait for the admission decisions before you freak out. There is an appeal process for a reason.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:31     Subject: Re:It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:les and the report cards.


So, sneaking in a misleading score is OK because other scores/reports will correct for that?


Persistent now, aren't we? How the heck is that sneaking in a misleading score? FCPS decided, for whatever reason, that for the FAT test they wanted to pull the top 5% per grade, without consideration for age.

If the older child is in the top 5%, then they qualified, fair and square. Their score is just as valid as the just turned 7 year old late August birthday child who also scored in the top 5%.


The argument is that FCPS goofed up, read the whole thread before responding


I was having a perfectly fine conversation with lawsuit mom, thank you.

She asked a question about something I wrote, and I simply responded to her.

I have read the thread.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:27     Subject: Re:It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Regardless of whether there is a basis for suing, no norming based on age is just another example of how poorly administered the AAP admission process in Fairfax County is. And no, this is not sour grapes, my DC is in AAP, I just think the whole system is a mess.


Did we see you pull your DC out of AAP, because "the whole system is a mess"? Or your DC still enjoying whatever the benefits the "mess system" provide. Please don't beat up the system that serves you.


Just because my child benefits from the program doesn't me the admission process is not a mess. They are not mutually exclusive.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:27     Subject: Re:It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:les and the report cards.


So, sneaking in a misleading score is OK because other scores/reports will correct for that?


Persistent now, aren't we? How the heck is that sneaking in a misleading score? FCPS decided, for whatever reason, that for the FAT test they wanted to pull the top 5% per grade, without consideration for age.

If the older child is in the top 5%, then they qualified, fair and square. Their score is just as valid as the just turned 7 year old late August birthday child who also scored in the top 5%.


The argument is that FCPS goofed up, read the whole thread before responding
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:23     Subject: Re:It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Regardless of whether there is a basis for suing, no norming based on age is just another example of how poorly administered the AAP admission process in Fairfax County is. And no, this is not sour grapes, my DC is in AAP, I just think the whole system is a mess.


Did we see you pull your DC out of AAP, because "the whole system is a mess"? Or your DC still enjoying whatever the benefits the "mess system" provide. Please don't beat up the system that serves you.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:22     Subject: Re:It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:there is no cause of action in law for age discrimination in placement into public school aap programs.
No such thing.
so this whole thread is just dumb and off base.


Regardless of whether there is a basis for suing, no norming based on age is just another example of how poorly administered the AAP admission process in Fairfax County is. And no, this is not sour grapes, my DC is in AAP, I just think the whole system is a mess.


Unless they are working towards simplifying the entire process by just taking the top 5% scoring kids per grade, regardless of age.

I think they should age norm, but this might be occuring by design and not by accident or by screw up.
Anonymous
Post 02/04/2013 16:20     Subject: It's official: CogAT scores are not age-adjusted this year!!!
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:So now with this CogAT, younger ones (say May - Aug) who scored 95%ile are theoretically smarter than those older ones (say Sep - Apr) who also scored 95%ile?


That seems to be a fair statement.


Yes, and they will get the same privilege when they apply for college, apply for job. Or their parents can always sue the college, sue the company, since their parents sued FCPS on not age-norm the CogAT score and got them into AAP.