1. What Do All These Numbers Mean? Interpreting Gifted Test Scores

2. Gifted in Georgia
In 1958, Georgia became the first state to pass legislation requiring districts to serve gifted students.
Currently, Georgia is one of only four states to fully fund gifted education.

3. Gifted in Columbia County
In Columbia County, we have over 3,000 gifted students (12% of our population). Our population is steadily growing.
In order to determine if your child qualified for the gifted program we gathered data in four categories:
Mental Ability
Achievement
Motivation
Creativity

4. Testing and Evaluation
Category
Test(s) Columbia County Uses
Mental Ability
Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)
Naglieri
Achievement
Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)
Motivation
Gifted Rating Scale (GRS)
Gifted Evaluation Scale (GES-3 Hawthorne)
Creativity
Torrance Test of Creative Thinking

5. Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)
What does CogAT assess?
Measures general thinking and problem-solving skills
Indicates how well the student uses these skills to solve verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal problems
Profile of these abilities helps teachers better understand how different students learn best

6. Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)
Battery
Measures
Verbal
This measures reasoning abilities which play important role in reading comprehension, critical thinking, writing, and virtually all verbal learning tasks.
Quantitative
This measures quantitative reasoning skills and these skills are significantly related to problem solving in mathematics and other disciplines.
Nonverbal
This measures reasoning using geometric shapes and figures.

7. Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)
The CogAT does not give IQ scores, but it does measure developed reasoning abilities that grow with activities in and out of school that challenge students to reason about their experiences.

8. Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)
Percentile Rank (PR)
The norm group consists of students in the nationally representative group who were the same age as the student.
The age percentile rank of 60 on the CogAT means the student scored higher than 60 percent of students across the nation who are the same age.

9. Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)
Ability Profile
Assists teachers in locating specific instructional suggestions for helping students learn.
Summarizes information about the level and pattern in each student’s scores.
Visit to see your child’s ability profile.

10. Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)
What does the ITBS assess?
Achievement test that appraises skills that are directly taught and practiced in school
Looks at how students are performing in key academic areas

11. Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)
Academic Area
Description
Vocabulary
Assesses student’s breadth of vocabulary and is a useful indicator of overall verbal ability.
Word Analysis
Assesses student’s phonological awareness and understanding of word parts.
Listening
Measures literal understanding but also the ability to make inferences, understand concepts and sequences, and predict outcomes.
Reading Comprehension
Assesses student’s capabilities at all stages of their development as readers.
Language
Tests skills in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, usage and written expression.

12. Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)
Academic Area
Description
Math
Tests the ability to do quantitative reasoning and to think mathematically in a wide variety of concepts.
Social Studies
Tests cover four broad areas: history, geography, economics, government and society.
Science
The four major content areas are: scientific inquiry, life science, earth and space science, and physical science.
Sources of Information
Measures student’s abilities to use information resources and to judge their usefulness. Two sections are: Maps and Diagrams and Reference Materials.

13. Gifted Rating Scale (GRS) Gifted Evaluation Scale (GES-3 Hawthorne)
The GRS is a user-friendly teacher rating scale which yields scores in motivation and creativity.
What does the GRS measure?
Gifted Rating Scale
Motivation
Measures a student’s drive or persistence.
Creativity
Items rate the student’s imagination, creative problem solving ability, and original thinking.
The Gifted Evaluation Scale (GES-3 Hawthorne) is used for students 14 years or older.

14. Gifted Rating Scale (GRS) Gifted Evaluation Scale (GES-3 Hawthorne)
The 9-point rating scale allows the teacher to determine whether the student is below average, average, or above average for a specific behavior compared to other students the same age.

15. Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT)
The Figural TTCT
Uses three picture-based exercises to assess creative characteristics.

16. Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT)
Provides standardized scores for creative strengths
Some examples are:
Emotional expressiveness
Storytelling
Movement or action
Expressiveness of titles
Humor
Fantasy

17. Gifted Eligibility
A student may qualify for gifted education services by meeting both criteria in Option A OR three of the four criteria in Option B.
Option A: Student must meet BOTH criteria
Grade Level
Mental Ability Test Score
Achievement Test Score
K-2
99th percentile by age
Composite or full scale score only
>90th percentile in—
K: Total Math
1st: Total Math or Total Reading
2nd: Total Math or Total Reading or Composite
3-12
96th percentile by age
>90th percentile in
Total Reading or Total Math or Composite

18. Mental Ability Test Score Achievement Test Score
Gifted Eligibility
Option B: Student must meet 3 out of 4 criteria
Grade Level
Mental Ability Test Score
Achievement Test Score
Creativity
Motivation
K-12
>96th percentile by age on a composite/full scale score OR appropriate component score on a standardized test of mental ability.
>90th percentile on total reading, total math, or composite score on a standardized achievement test.
>90th percentile on the total battery score on a standardized creativity test OR
>90th percentile on a standardized creativity characteristics rating scale.
>90th percentile on a standardized motivational characteristics rating scale.

19. Gifted Eligibility Naglieri (Mental Ability)
If a student scores between the 92nd-95th percentile on the CogAT on one of the batteries, then the Naglieri can be administered.
Torrance
The Torrance Test of Creativity can be administered if a qualifying score would make them gifted eligible.

20. Gifted Eligibility
Can you determine if this Kindergarten student would be eligible?
Test
Score
CogAT- Composite
99th percentile
ITBS- Math
93rd percentile
GRS- Motivation
95th percentile

21. Gifted Eligibility
Can you determine if this Kindergarten student would be eligible?
Test
Score
CogAT- Composite
99th percentile- Qualifying score
ITBS- Math
93rd percentile- Qualifying score
GRS- Motivation
95th percentile- Qualifying score
This student qualifies under Option A. They have a qualifying Mental Ability and Achievement score.

22. Gifted Eligibility
Can you determine if this 1st grade student would be eligible?
Test
Score
CogAT- Verbal
94th percentile
Naglieri
85th percentile
ITBS- Reading
93rd percentile
GRS- Motivation
95th percentile
GRS- Creativity
97th percentile
Torrance
83rd percentile

23. Gifted Eligibility
Can you determine if this 1st grade student would be eligible?
Test
Score
CogAT- Verbal
94th percentile
Naglieri
85th percentile
ITBS- Reading
93rd percentile- Qualifying score
GRS- Motivation
95th percentile- Qualifying score
GRS- Creativity
97th percentile*
Torrance
83rd percentile
This student did not qualify for the gifted program. *Although it appears they have three qualifying scores, we are only allowed to use one standardized rating scale for gifted eligibility.

24. Gifted Eligibility
Can you determine if this 3rd grade student would be eligible?
Test
Score
CogAT- Nonverbal
95th percentile
Naglieri
97th percentile
ITBS- Reading
88th percentile
GRS- Motivation
93rd percentile
GRS- Creativity
75th percentile
Torrance
90th percentile

25. Gifted Eligibility
Can you determine if this 3rd grade student would be eligible?
Test
Score
CogAT- Nonverbal
95th percentile
Naglieri
97th percentile- Qualifying score
ITBS- Reading
88th percentile
GRS- Motivation
93rd percentile- Qualifying score
GRS- Creativity
75th percentile
Torrance
90th percentile- Qualifying score
The student qualified in three out of 4 areas. This student qualified under Option B.