What do these tests mean?

[InkyPinkyPonky]

My 9yo has recently had a maths and a non-verbal reasoning test at school. (Not sats related - he doesn't do those.) He completed the maths test perfectly and made three errors on the other test. He came home saying that he was 'off the scale' and that he was over 140.

He has a reading test tomorrow and I wondered if anyone might know exactly what these tests are called and where I might be able to find out more about them on-line. I've googled, but I don't really know what I'm looking for.

My son has always been bright, we have had to do more work with him over the years on social skills rather than 'book-learning'. I'm just wondering what these tests might be called and what they really mean for my boy.

Thanks to anyone who might help. We have parents evening at the start of Summer term but I would like to ask his teacher some educated questions before then really. I feel quite uncomfortable about my child being told that he is off the scale without knowing what that scale is!

[Miggsie]

Non verbal reasoning papers are printed by Bond. Put "Bond assessment papers" into Amazon and the lot will come up.
They are great as they teach reasoned and structured thinking which is what employers look for. Private schools often use them as you cannot be "crammed" in order to do them.

I think 140 refers to IQ.
150 is considered genius. Einstein was 160 I think.

Also type in "mensa games" to Google and you should find some good games for bright kids, and I use "gamewright" games as they are good for problem solving and reasoning.

[InkyPinkyPonky]

Thanks Miggsie, I have saved a few related sites to look at later. Those mensa games look just his cup of tea.

[Bink]

The maths test sounds like it was by nfer - National Foundation for Educational Research, a UK academic research body; and it was probably called "Progress in Maths". You can find nfer online & it will explain the background - but, for summary: the tests are "normed" - children your son's age are expected to score between 70 and 140, so the score shows where your child lies within an expected range (bit like those growth charts in the Health Visitor book).

At 140, all it shows is that the test cannot score him within its own terms - he is "off the scale" (think of the growth charts again) as regards the usual range of maths abilities for his age.

(It hasn't anything to do with IQ, by the way - an IQ test has a lot of other components. Though obviously he is a bright kid.)

The natural next step is to see what plans his school has for extending his maths - as this score is pretty reliable evidence that he has absorbed the curriculum so far and would benefit from a bit of extra interest.

(PS - hope you don't mind if I say, but the nfer tests are not terribly difficult - it isn't uncommon to ace them. )

[avenanap]

My ds's school do this aswell and I have no idea what they are. Is it some mid year assessment. My ds was off the scale aswell. Maybe your child would benefit from having a harder test so that they can find out what level he's working at? My ds has just done mock sats, he was 6 points undr a level 5 maths, over for english and science so they gave him a level 6 maths, he didn't do very well though, I don't mind, he's only 8.

[Bink]

Sorry - you said "over 140", not 140 ... that's how I know it was an nfer test, because if you get a perfect mark of 140 on that, all that you can be told is that your place on the normed scale is 140+ (sometimes people say this as "141").

[InkyPinkyPonky]

I think it's a bit of an odd thing to do to tell the kids their scores (unless it's really obvious at the time I suppose). My boy goes to a school with a specialist department for special-needs support. Nearly half of his class have special educational needs and didn't do well at all. I can only hope that the results weren't read out.

Bink, the NFER test sounds logical and I don't take offence at all if your experience tells you that they aren't too hard. I'm just gathering information.

[LIZS]

Soundn like PIPs or CATs as Bink states. ds has done both - PIPs towards end of Year4, CATs in year 5, school don't do SATs. We were told 105-115 is average and they use the results to benchmark , look at potential vs current performance and earmark future schools. In ds' case we've had a very mixed message !

[Bink]

I expect they'll have told your son privately, as a morale-booster, if he's got other areas (eg social skills) which need extra effort. (PS he sounds much like my own nearly-9yo ds, by the way.)

[flamingtoaster]

If the tests were nfer then there is an explanation of the scores here: www.nfer.ac.uk/research-areas/assessment/standardised-scores-and-percentile-ranks.cfm.

As others have said a full IQ test would include other aspects as well as non-verbal reasoning but to score so highly at this stage augers well. They may be assessing him for the Gifted and Talented Register.

You mention social skills - if this relates to being reluctant to play with his own age and wanting to play with older children/engage adults in conversation then this is often a characteristic of the very able child.

[sylkroad]

May I enquire what is the test used when a child is assessed for the G & T Register? I am from Asia, and it's just of interest to understand what is done outside of Asia.

Is it the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI)?

[flamingtoaster]

Schools use different methods to decide which children go on the G&T Register. Some use the SATs results (national examinations taken by children at 7, 11 and 14), some use assessment of multiple intelligences, if a full Educational Assessment has been done that could be used, teacher recommendations can also be used. It varies from school to school.

[Remotew]

Our school uses CAT tests (Cognitive Ability Tests).

[Bink]

The WPPSI is a full-scale IQ test, as I recall - I'd be surprised if schools had the time & resources to assess every child that way. An ed psych used it for my ds some years ago, and it took over an hour, one-on-one.

As you'll see from the general discussion on here, how the Govt "G&T" policy gets implemented varies by school; it isn't a fixed system.

[sylkroad]

Thank you for all your replies. I'm actually from Singapore, and over here, primary school education is compulsory, and all 9 year olds (Primary 3 equivalent to Grade 4) have to be assessed in the annual September standardised gifted program screening. Only the top 1% is accepted into our gifted program.

Very clearly, we have a big gap i.e. assessing and grooming of preschoolers/kindergarten to Grade 3. Our education standard for preschool needs alot of work, and I can see why our Ministry of Education cannot venture into gifted programs for young children, when the main stream education is patchy.

As a mum of an intellectually gifted son, I am desperate to find a suitable schooling option for him, that he can enjoy, and won't feel like he has to "normalise" to fit in. That would just be so sad.

And yes, he has been assessed using the WPPSI-III by his psycholgist. It wasn't one hour though. But 3 hours, and usually small children are assessed over 2 days. My son was assessed in the one seating because the tester felt he could continue.

Anyway, I have digressed from the subject matter. I am so new here, and need to read up more. Thanks once again.