Q: Should I have my Child Tested?

Written by Judy Smith

A common question we receive is how to get your student tested to see if they are TAG.  There are several possibilities you can try.  This article can provide guidance.

Q: Should I have my child tested?
Answer:  Parents often have questions about testing for talented and gifted children. If you nominate your child for TAG the school district has an obligation to test your child as part of an identification process.   If your child is currently identified as a TAG student in a public school in Oregon the identification included some type of testing.  Local districts have flexibility in the identification instruments and procedures.  Districts are not required to provide individual IQ tests as part of their TAG identification and due to the high cost many districts use other instruments that meet the requirements of the statutes and regulations. A single test score cannot be used as the sole criteria for identification.   The regulations can be found on the ODE TAG website at: http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=2309.  Your child’s school records should include the results of all testing and you should have been informed about them.  If you did not receive information about the results of the identification process or if you did not understand any part of the information, contacting the designated TAG person at your child’s school or at the district to go over the results and explain them would be a good start.  Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), parents have the right to review the information in their child’s records.  See: http://familypolicy.ed.gov/ferpa-parents-students?src=ferpa 
Some families choose to have testing done by a professional outside of the school district.  Individual testing can provide much more specific information than is usually provided by the testing school district use to determine TAG identification.   General resources on the subject of testing can be found at the Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/    Hoagie’s web mistress, Carolyn Kottmeyer, provides an overview in two articles: Why Should I Have My Child Tested? http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/why_test.htm and Testing and Assessment: What do the tests tell us? http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/tests_tell_us.htm.  
The value of IQ testing, which tests are most appropriate for the gifted population, and the age when testing should be done are all controversial issues in the field of gifted education. Some points to be aware of are: 

• A test is a snapshot taken at a particular time
• All tests have some bias
• Testing conditions can affect results
• Professionals have varying degrees of experience and/or education in assessing gifted and talented individuals

 Furthermore, there is a difference between testing and an assessment.  Julia B. Osborn; in her article: Assessing Gifted Children, http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/assessing_gifted.htm explains how an assessment can provide a wide range of information.  Individual assessments can help parents understand the child’s learning strengths and weaknesses.  Personality factors can also be assessed; such as, persistence when faced with difficulty or problem solving strategies.  The assessment might indicate learning style preferences.  Discrepancies in scores from one subtest to another on a particular test may indicate learning disabilities that could be masking the child’s educational potential. Test scores that would be included in an assessment might provide evidence that could be used when advocating for a change in a student’s program or acceleration to a higher grade level.  
It is important to remember that the term “gifted” includes a wide ability range.  Children at the higher levels of giftedness will probably face more challenges in getting appropriate services in school and may be more in need of assessment to find the best educational fit.  Another article by Carolyn Kottmeyer is: “What is Highly Gifted? Exceptionally Gifted? Profoundly Gifted? And What Does it Mean?“ http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/highly_profoundly.htm .  Deborah Ruf, in her book 5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options (2005), discusses differences between various levels of giftedness and implications for educational placement.   
Children with known or suspected learning disabilities may especially benefit from additional assessment, and need very different educational options to meet their needs.  There are a number of resources for parents of twice exceptional children at the 2e Newsletter website: http://www.2enewsletter.com/ .  
The seemingly simple question of: “Should I have my child tested?”  has no simple answer.  It depends.  Barbara Jackson Gilman devotes an entire chapter of her book Academic Advocacy for Gifted Children to the question. 

Tests TAG kids take

Group
NNAT2
CogAT
Raven
Otis-Lennon
Hemmon-Nelson
Matrix Analogies Test

Individual
Stanford Binet (L-M)
WISC-IV
Woodcock Johnson
Standford-10
​ITBS

Spanish
Supera
Aprenda