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We should not explicitly prep our children for the OLSAT. Life experience in the early years are sufficient. What the DOE should do, though, is fix up those darn neighborhood schools everybody tries to avoid so much. Once the zoned schools are are viable choice for every family we don’t have to have the prepping debate anymore. Leave the G&T schools o the children who are indeed G&T on their own. Then we can talk about what to make the admission process fair and meaningful.

When my son was first tested when he was 4 years old (we’re talking 14 years ago), I was determined not to put any pressure on him and did no preparation at all. When the test taker came to take him away, he burst into tears and would not perform at all.

Luckily for us, at that time we had an option to get a private IQ test. This time I knew enough to explain what was going to happen (and sank so low as to give him a minor bribe of a new video). He scored quite high and was subsequently tested for an even more specialized program. Long story short, he (and his sister who also failed the first test) both excelled in the gifted program and every other school they’ve been in–now including top colleges.

The moral of the story? Not to prep kids for testing, but–a pox on testing 4- and 5-year olds!!!! It’s stupid and it doesn’t prove anything. And, it discriminates against kids who have never been in a preschool and whose families can’t prep them.

Ellen

I think it’s okay to test kids at 4 and 5, though I don’t think parents should prep. I think it’s odd when people look down on those FREE tests available to the public and tout the private IQ tests, however.

Ellen, I’m sure that’s the case with ALL tests, including private IQ tests. (As you said, you learned from your children taking the OLSAT and bribed with a video, which made them less nervous for the private IQ test.)It’s also not limited to just preschoolers who have a bad test day. I’m sure there are athletes who are great athletes but didn’t make the team/position because they had a bad day. It’s still not a good argument against testing kids at 4 and 5. Perhaps the g/t tests don’t reflect every child’s true ability, but that doesn’t mean those that did do well aren’t ready for the accelerated pace. I’m not getting hung up on the label gifted but on a challenging curriculum that some kids need.

Ellen, so kids who do well on the test shouldn’t be challenged? What is the debate here exactly? And, of course, I’m happy she did well on the test and is having her needs met. I have another child who will be entering pre-k next year, and I’m thinking he probably won’t be ready for such testing. I don’t think the G/T curriculum is nirvana for all kids and the only way they can be challenged in school. Then again, I’m not a veteran parent of the school system. My daughter is in 1st grade, and my son is three, so maybe I’ve been lucky so far with my experiences thus far.