Anonymous wrote:My kid was not identified as GT in the screening. Does that mean she's an unlikely candidate for HGC? Her scores were mainly in the 70s with two scores in the 20s and 30s. I was surprised at how low her scores were compared with her school performance.

She would need to score significantly better on the HGC test to get in. I'd guess that most HGC kids score in the upper 90s on these kinds of tests. It's also completely possible she just had a really bad day testing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS got labeled as Gifted as he got awesome percentile in all five areas: 99,99,95,91,91. So, there are no disparity in the score and this test is not useless. I am happy he would not go through the basic instructions in Grade 3 that will save his lots of time in learning more advanced stuff.

This made me chuckle. We're all like this! If my kid does well on the test, it's a good test ("and not useless") If our kid does poorly, it's a bad test. I like your pride in your kid, PP, though I hope you'd love him just as much if he were in the 60th percentile. And that he's happy and healthy too. Your later post made it sound like you felt like it was your own doing that he did so well. I'd just say to remember not to push too hard. I think it's important that kids are challenged at any age, but even more important than high scores is basic happiness and well-being. (I'm not saying we can't celebrate smarts as we do sports! In fact, I'd say the same thing to parents who were doing everything to make a kid excel at a sport. Don't forget the whole person.) It seems to me that the people who do best in life overall are not often those who had the highest scores as young kids.

I totally agree with you. The funny thing we don't push our child. If it were 60% percentile, we still celebrate his success as he is better than many kids. My later post was only meant to explain some people in this forum that they should not blame the system for anything that goes against them instead try to understand why it happens. I am sure all the kids are smart but right direction makes the difference that only can come from parents. I am not boasting that i am the greatest parent in this world but i am trying to be. My son has watched almost all the kids movies and has playing all the video games. He is also a good swimmer. We let him do whatever he wants but there are only few sessions in the week that he needs to listen to us and apply what we are telling.

I'm the PP you're responding to. I'm glad you didn't take offense! And to the other pp who asked where I was getting my data about kids who get the best scores not necessarily being the most successful... I don't have survey data or anything. Just my 45 yeears of observation. And if you can show me otherwise, I'd be glad to see. I was one of those high-scoring kids when I was little. But now I'm a SAHM who hasn't worked in a decade (though I'm trying to get back in.) My son just tested into an HGC. I was partly talking to myself, as I'm always reminding myself that his "grades" at school are not the most important thing. I do agree with the other PP though, that the confidence that comes with being in the "smart track" is valuable. But if' you're not generally happy and emotionally stable, it's not worth too much. And even more valuable than scores and grades is the ability to persist at something, and the ability to fill your own time with creative work.
When I look back at my old elementary school class, I'm surprised to find that so many of the kids I thought were not very smart went on to become lawyers and scientists and all kinds of things. In my experience, how they did in elementary school was not a great predictor of general success.