Your Kid Might be a Genius, or Not
By: Keith
If there’s one thing I know, among several, it’s that kindergartens that give entrance exams are, more often than not, misguided. I’ve heard mothers (mostly mothers) who sit and yap in the bleachers about how gifted their kids are and all about the placement tests that so infallibly told them this. I’ve got news for these ladies. Those entrance exams and placement tests are crap. The experts know it and the administrators know it. Unfortunately they don’t have any other way of accepting students without appearing blatantly biased. They continue with the charade that these tests prove anything simply because, without them, entrance to these private kindergartens would be completely subjective and leave them open to lawsuits. To be fair, the prodigy level students are almost always selected accurately with intelligence tests. However, the simply gifted kids (there’s a big difference) are routinely either given false positives or false negatives on these tests.
The Problem:
The problem is simple. Kids’ brains grow at different rates, and these tests are, often times, administered only once before a lifetime of privilege is either bestowed or denied. According to a study done by Dr. David Lohman, published in the Journal for the Education of the Gifted, one third of the brightest third graders tested below average prior to kindergarten. Furthermore, in another study done at William & Mary, that looked at third, fourth, and fifth graders who placed into the gifted programs at kindergarten (and were still in the gifted program thanks to their original test scores), 12% of them had only “basic” abilities in Math. 30% of them scored only “proficient” in English. That’s hardly a ringing endorsement for the selection process. It is becoming clear that intelligence is not something that is static; it grows with each kid differently. Kids who appear gifted at kindergarten might just have developed faster at the start. That does not mean they will continue along the same trajectory. Likewise, some kids start of slowly and pick up speed as they age. The real problem is not the test itself, but the failure to retest throughout childhood, as many schools don’t.
The Consequence:
Kids who get placed into gifted programs early are given a golden pass through the school system. Because educators believed, for so many years, that intelligence was unchanging, children, who shouldn’t have, got propelled through the system on education’s version of a bullet train. Others got put on the slow boat who should have been retested. If these occurrences were mere statistical anomalies, I would say it’s no big deal. But, the fact is that there is only a 40% correlation between the early placement intelligence test and later actual achievement (Dr. Hoi Suen, Penn State University). And, the results for gifted students are even worse. Dr. Lydia Spinelli and Dr Betty Baxter have uncovered that “over three-fourths of the variance in the SAT total score was traceable to factors other than early intelligence… .” That means that 75% of actually gifted students wouldn’t have been captured by early IQ testing and placement. The meaning of all this is clear. Gifted programs really do work in educating kids – they work really well. The problem is that the kids who are admitted are not necessarily the most deserving. The schooling is what is giving them their test scores, not their intelligence.
I’m so glad I home school my kids. Young kids routinely bomb intelligence tests and get undeserving relegation to a slower educational track. Then there are the children who either get coached or who develop quicker and who ace the test. They get shuttled into the fast track. Once they are in the gifted program they can, in many cases, stay there all the way through High School without anybody second guessing their aptitude. They get a better education and more opportunities. Their test results bear out that they score higher than other students. It’s too bad that there is little correlation between their early intelligence test and their later test scores. My kids will never have to deal with that. They get a superior education, and they never had to feel the stress of excelling at an early placement test for approval from dimwitted educators who wouldn’t know talent if it hit them in the face. My kids might be geniuses, but I don’t really care. All I care about is that I’m giving them a good education and that they’re learning. No test is going to stop me from giving them the best.
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How sad! Faulty people dish out faulty labels that stick like glue. I had a teacher tell me they decide early which kids are losers and treat them accordingly throughout their entire education. I fear a fair amount of labels are dished out according to the family finances and social standing. They want us to believe they give the “norms” a good education and the gifted a accelerated one when really it boils down to a fair one versus scraps. Every parent wants to believe their kid is gifted according to society standards but there are many gifts never measured.
I thought the same thing. It’s sad that so many truly gifted kids are getting told they’re only “normal” while so many normal kids are being told they’re “gifted”. And, you’re right about the socio-economic biases out there. Some schools have started making special considerations for getting a wider range of kids. But, the truth is that most of these schools are in upper middle class to rich neighborhoods. Thus it perpetuates the myth that upper middle class and rich kids are smarter. The truth is that they get help all along the way while other people have to fight each other for the left-overs. I saw it happen in Palos Verdes when I was a kid. We competed with Compton and Inglewood in Track, and visiting those schools was truly a shock. The differences are alarming — and unfair.
There’s a great deal of helpful data in this, and you realize you’re going against conventional thinking. But that’s part of the problem of course.
I had no idea the stats were this compelling. But I have certainly observed some of this, as my kids have gone through the public school system – including watching the placement in and out of so-called “gifted programs” which, to be frank, do not necessarily challenge kids in ways we might think. There are many types of gifts, not only various rates at which intelligence exhibits itself.
This is a post everyone with kids should read.
.-= BigLittleWolf´s last blog ..Painting over =-.
There’s a PDF with all the research data available, Wolf. I just forgot what the address was :-/ oops. I think you’re right. There are so many gifts that just can’t be measured and what the teachers consider gifted is really nothing more than one aspect of true ability.
Unfortunately, this is all too true. On top of being true, the decision or labeling is often done not by professionals but by administrators who do not deal in reality. I have been told everything from I am a bad parent to I must have had a bad experience previously when I have fought placement for one or more of my children. It is a shame that statements like that pit those who should be advocates together for a child against one another.
.-= Nicki´s last blog ..A Tragedy in Binghamton – Again =-.
Thanks the comment, Nicki! The world of educational placement is cutthroat, and frequently unfair. I think administrators are just working with dull blades. They’re trying to dissect a complicated problem with dull tools, thus making a mess.