Test Results

After a mix-up with scheduling, Dad and I went to talk to the Gifted coordinator about J's testing scores. Wowza! Of course, we knew he was smart, but we had no idea about just how strong some of his strengths are.

For many of the academic subjects, he maxed out the test about 5th grade. His lowest scores were in math and general knowledge. The math sort of surprised me, until I realized that I haven't really taught him how to do much math. I'm not sure how to teach math, in fact. It was never my strength, although I held my own in classes. But Dad the engineer should probably get involved with J's math education. And for general knowledge, well, he just hasn't had that much exposure to all that stuff.  Even so, he tested above the 90th percentile in both. As the Gifted coordinator said, while they were his weakest scores, they're not exactly weaknesses!

The rest of his scores were 99th percentile or above. I wish I could have memorized all the statistics, or that I could have a copy of the test. There were reading comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling in there somewhere, but I was too shocked to remember which was his highest. That's because he maxed out the test at 11th grade. Hello, an average high school junior could do as well on that part of the test as my 6 year old??? Crazy!

I have no idea what my IQ score was when I was tested in 3rd grade. I had to look up the ranges of scores to determine what J's score meant. Without publishing his actual score for everyone to know, I'll say that his composite score is in the moderately gifted range, with some of his individual scores reaching into the highly gifted range. What surprised me most about my research into scores is how high some people have tested, and how high the score has to be for a genius status. If my J tested above 99th in all his subjects (as we're sure he would test if he'd been exposed to everything) and he's only "moderately gifted," wow, how much smarter do you have to be to have a(n) (estimated) score of 160 like Einstein, or 220 like Leonardo DaVinci?  It's mind-boggling.

The school had, without hearing our decision about skipping 1st grade, set everything up for J to move up. I had the feeling that if we hadn't been on board with skipping, they would have tried to talk us into it. They were duly impressed by his scores and consider him an excellent candidate for grade acceleration and the Gifted pull-out program.

Since we're knew to the school scene, I was surprised to discover that the four classes per grade level are separately by general ability. Of course, J was placed in the top classes in kindergarten and 1st grade. When I met with his school the first time, they said that the top 2nd grade class was full, so J would have to go to another. That was disappointing, because all the other gifted kids who would be attending pull-out would be in the top class. And it's always easier to go along with some other kids than to be on your own. I believe that there was some divine intervention in the weeks since my first meeting, because several kids were shuffled around among 2nd grade classes, leaving a spot open in the top class. This had nothing to do with J moving up, it was all independent of us. I know the Lord clears the way for us when we are making the best choice.  I'm so glad that J will be in a classroom with (get this) eleven other gifted kids.

I thought it quite considerate of them to suggest that he not move immediately, but to let J finish out the week with his current class. They're having a harvest party this week, when they get to wear costumes they made in class. The pull-out class will be starting a new unit next week, and I'm sure both J's new and old classes will be finishing their units, too. So a new month means a new class for J. He starts 2nd grade in Mrs. K's class on Monday! 

We feel really good about this. We've encountered quite a bit of opposition from acquaintances, especially those who are teachers. I don't understand why they think the school would recommend this move without considering all their points of contention. We hear, "I worry about socialization" the most. And before I started my research, I worried about that too. Now that argument makes no sense to me at all. It's not like we're yanking him out of a good educational and social environment and putting him into solitary confinement. He's going to be with kids. He's going to learn to fit in with those kids. And it will maybe be easier for him to fit in, since they'll likely understand those 11th grade words he knows (well, maybe!)