NYC Gifted and Talented Program and Testing


A parent tells their story at gifted and talented testing site
January 17, 2013, 3:21 pm
Filed under: NYC Gifted and Talented Program | Tags: , , ,
A parent tells their story at gifted and talented testing site in New York City when her son took the test!
“My son took the NYC gifted and talented test today and although he has not give any feedback on the questions (I’ll try to probe more over the coming days) here is an initial set of observations on the NNAT-2 test and OLSAT test itself:
  • Although the Principal said that the gifted and talented test was supposed to last one hour, and maybe a bit longer most of the kids were out by 40 minutes. This is true for the kids testing in the session before us, and also for our session.
  • My son went in at 10:40 and was out at 11:20- that included climbing up and down 2 half flights of stairs to the next floor and getting into the classrooms where the test was being administered.
  • He was not the only one- about 4-5 other young boys that had gone a few minutes before him, all came back out together after taking the OLSAT test and the NNAT test. The girls were still inside when we left 5 minutes later.
  • When I asked him about the gifted and talented test, he said some questions were hard so he said “I picked the wrong answer”. When I asked why he did that, he said the teacher did not say anything or tell him to try again.
  • He said he had never seen any puzzles like this before (He has an almost photographic memory of the questions. One he has done some, he tends to remember them).
  • He also did not remember the name of the teacher (test proctor) with whom he went. It is highly likely that they did not engage with the kids even while walking them up.
In my opinion this is the most challenging test situation he (and I) have even encountered since he is a child that thrives on interaction and expected some with this teacher (having take the Hunter and ERB tests). Also, the teachers at school give feedback so to be in a room with a stranger who does not interact, remains stone-faced and just keeps to “business” is possibly one of the most uncomfortable experiences for a 4 year old. I assume it would also be for an adult.
I am not sure how he will fare on the test, but my personal opinion is that whatever the result, the test administration process is biased towards older kids, kids with stronger and longer attention spans, and those who are just good test-takers. That may fit the bill for most learners or certainly some types of learners but not all.”
Do you have a testing story about the NYC gifted and talented? Email me at skipper646@gmail.com. For free  OLSAT and NNAT-2 practice questions go to Testing Mom.
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NYC Gifted and Talented Testing Starts Today
January 5, 2013, 7:49 pm
Filed under: tests | Tags: , , ,

As many of you know, NYC gifted and talented testing starts today! (Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013).  It’s hard to believe that another year of the New York City gifted testing has arrived.  This year, the BSRA test (aka Bracken School Readiness Assessment) has been replaced with the much more difficult NNAT-2 test that uses progressive matrices when the child is testing. The NNAT test (Naglieri Non-verbal abilities test) was designed  for a culturally neutral evaluation of a child’s nonverbal reasoning and general problem-solving ability, regardless of the primary language, culture or socioeconomic status.

We’ll see if this change to the Naglieri test has an impact on the number of students qualifying for a coveted seat in the New York City gifted and talented program.

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