We used private tester but told DD only that she would be doing some work so that we could find out how she learns best.

Did your child feel comfortable with the testers at GMU?Why did you tell your child they were taking the test?These are just a few things I am working through right now.

We used GMU a few months ago. They don't tell you the scores right away. At the end of the test they set up an appt. with you to come back and get the scores and the write-up (which are together). The written part explains how your child worked, reacted or things they might have said during the testing.

We are having our dd tested (WISC) next week at GMU can anyone tell me about their experiences there. Do they explain the test scores to you and do they write a written evaluation?If so how much emphasis is put on this written part or is it just the test results.Thanks for any information I am just trying to figure this all out.

To the poster above I am curious what was you dc GBRS score?

I am not on the committee but guess that 125 should be ok . It is just a guess.

Anonymous wrote:125 is my guess

Would this be the FSIQ number? On what do you base your guess? How much of a factor would the written portion of the WISC evaluation be?

Curious as DS got a 126 as the FSIQ, but the feedback we received (and was included in the written portion of the evaluation) was that his verbal scores are likely much higher as he didn't reach a ceiling on the verbal section of the test -- apparently a flaw in the WISC is that they ask a series of increasingly-difficult questions, giving points for each correct answer along the way. Once three questions in a row are incorrect, it shows where the child's abilities have peaked. DS got a pretty high score in the verbal section, but never reached that ceiling/got three in row wrong, they just ran out of questions.

oh, and 130 is on one subtest to get in the pool. it does not guarantee getting.

absolutly not. WISC is a more reliable test than either.

So you don't think it has to be 130 like the NNAT or COGAT?

125 is my guess

Does anyone have a guess at what the magic number you need on a WICS to get your appeal approved?

After we send in the appeal how long does it take to get the results back?

1:07. One test score may be one point in time, yes. Any child can have a bad day. But our kids are given tests on 4 different days. One day for NNAT and three days for CogAT. If a child takes WISC for appeal then that is five different points in time. If a kid is consistenly scoring in the 85% percentile, it's time to realise that the scores are not an anomoly.

Most kids who score a 136 were not coached or did not take test prep. It's highly doubtful that these children truly have 116. In the same regard, how do we know a child with a 120 doesn't really have a 100 and wasn't coached? For the poster who said he coached his kid, it didn't sound like he took a test prep course. Even if he did, I'm leery of the claim that a test prep course could raise a child's score 20 points. Where did that claim come from and how true is it?

The GBRS is much more subjective. There are hundreds of different teachers and educaters coming up with this score. Are they given training on how to do this score so there is consistency across evaluators? In some schools the 2nd grade teacher does the score alone. In other schools there is input from the 1st grade teacher. In still others the AAP resource teachers does the scores. It seems like a crap shoot. Some schools/teachers are more open in their interpretation of what "gifted behaviours" mean. Others are not. Some 2nd grade teachers have been teaching for 3 years. Others have been teaching for 30 years. I'd say their interpretations are probably different.

I think it's good that FCPS gives weight to all of these factors since none of them is perfect. Most school districts look alone at test scores.

I'm getting more hopeful, reading the above posts. We did the WISC and are going through appeal not because of a low GBRS (it is 12, which I understand is the low end of "strong") but because of low CogAT scores (NNAT was the only score to put her into the second grade pool). She has a WISC Full Scale of 130, which I thought was way too low to get in (seems like most people who post here have kids that score in the mid-to-upper 130's at least). Now I'm hoping that those ultra high WISC scores are necessary only when confronting a low GBRS. My little borderline gal is nothing if not consistent, with all her scores in the low end of "strong" (NNAT, PRI, and VCI are all around 130) and I'm now cautiously optimistic that she might actually succeed on appeal. Can anyone offer insight on this type of profile? Much appreciated.