Duke 7th grade Talent Search

[Glenn Wiebe]

Curious if anyone has had experience with the 7th Grade Duke Talent Identification Program. Have you found it to be useful?

What can we can we expect after our student takes the test, next steps, really any information would be very appreciated.

[Glenn Wiebe]

Ginger,

Son is 10th grade and has been taking it since 8th grade. This year adding 7th grade daughter with the Duke thing, learned some along the way with son. (Didn't know about all of this sort of stuff with him.)

We're really struggling with best approaches . . . daughter hasn't seen gifted teacher since before Thanksgiving. Have had some success with classroom teachers but still frustrating. Hoping we can still salvage something for her in middle school. Have basically thrown up our hands with son's situation at HS. Basically working with him on our own and trying to focus on college prep.

Thanks for the offer of helping out! We do need to talk and get some ideas.

glennw

[Ginger Lewman]

My kids have LOVED the experience of taking the SAT. I always recommend they take that since they're more likely to feel more success with that than the ACT, which is more curricular based (Chemistry, Trig, you know...things they've not taken) and the SAT is more reasoning based.

I've been taking kids every year for 7 years and when several have come back to visit, they always have a Duke TIP story to tell. Yes, it's nice to be recognized for the accomplishment and it's nice to be invited to costly summer programs, but I think the real value is getting to know the feel of the test, the environment, and realizing what your teachers say about prepping is true.

Nevermind the non-real-world-applicability of the test to non-academia pursuits. It comes down to scores, colleges, and scholarships.

[Lynette Breedlove]

I am a fan of Duke TIP. Probably the foundation of my opinion comes from own personal experience, but my professional work has contributed to it, as well. I think out-of-level testing is a wonderful opportunity for gifted students to see their relative strengths and to see where they fall among their gifted peers. In the districts where I've worked, Duke TIP is the only way to get out-of-level testing. I strongly encourage parents to participate just for this information.

I see the summer opportunities as a special BONUS! Summer opportunities are expensive, but SO worth it to many gifted kids. The connections they make, the mini college experience, all good!

And like Ginger mentioned, the mail from every college under the sun can be really beneficial. There are many many many different colleges and universities from which students can choose. But if you're in Texas, you've only heard of our great big state schools and/or where your parents went (if they did). The college mail outs come from all over the country and from all different kinds of schools.

Unfortunately, we don't do anything with the score information except tout the number of participants. Occasionally I'll use the scores when I'm working with a specific campus administrator on trying to accelerate a student. In general, however, the district pays little attention to the program.

[Rhodna]

My son is in 7th grade and he just took the ACT and received a 20 comp, 20 math, 19 reading, 17 english and 23 science. He goes to a private catholic school. The only advanced class they have is for Math and I am not sure how good it is. Do you have any advice? I spoke to his Science teacher about him having a B average. Is it normal for a child to test out so high, but only have a B in the class? Her excuse was that it was a good grade and I should not expect more. Please help???

[Kevin_K]

Based on the results in the Results Summary pointed to by http://www.tip.duke.edu/resources/parents_students/interpreting_SAT...
those scores correspond to 76%ile comp, 89%ile math, 62%ile reading, 47%ile English, and 92%ile science, where the percentiles are among the 7th graders taking the ACT through Duke TIP.

The scores are all respectable, but not superstar. The science score is very good, though, so a B in science class would seem to be underachievement, a fairly common phenomenon among gifted students.

There could be several reasons for a B in science class: not turning in all the homework, missing some vocabulary on quizzes, doing sloppy work because he already knows most of it, not following instructions in lab, giving one-word answers when full sentences are called for, ... We can't really tell from here. The discrepancy does seem large enough to be worth investigating, both with the kid and with the teacher.

[Nancy Bosch]

Thanks for that link, it may come in handy. Interpreting scores on all kinds of tests can be problematic when thinking about how it relates to giftedness. We are struggling with MAPS (achievement) scores and whether high scores discriminate at all for giftedness.

[Glenn Wiebe]

Kevin,

Thanks for the link. Don't think I would have found that page! It was useful comparing daughter's scores to other 7th graders. Also like the suggestions on the last page for next steps.

glennw

[Christina Arrechavala]

I was enrolled in the Duke TIP 7th grade talent search last year and I took the ACT. I passed it with a 20 at only 13 years old. I also got a cool medal because my scores were so high they were recognized at the state level. After the test you will receive some booklets and information about different camps in states like Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Kansas. I found it useful because it showed me what I will soon learn, how smart I am now, and gave me confidence that even I, a small town girl, am noticed for my grades.

[Kathy Ray]

My students all are given the opportunity to take the Duke TIP as 7th graders (I have gifted K-8 & don't take advantage of the 5th grade opportunity). Many take it as a first practice in what to expect from this test format. We go through a quick "how to take a test" unit & I have books & software if students want to preview the test. If your school only tests grade level achievement & doesn't give you feedback on what students know beyond grade level, you may find the information of interest. We have used it as a justification for students to take advanced classes when teachers, parents, or admin weren't sure. Students have appreciated the feedback as well. I have had students every year who qualify for state level recognition, Duke level is harder though I have had a few students qualify to attend summer sessions there & have felt their experiences were top notch. There is cost involved so for some parents, this may not seem like a good use of their resources. Others believe that allowing students to feel comfortable with the format & getting a reading on what their students' real strengths are is worth the time & money. In our building, we also allow students who are not in gifted to take the test if they have qualifying scores. This is always of interest if you haven't screened these kids for gifted or aren't being asked to help with enrichments for them.
All students receive a thick resource of all programs in the U.S. for gifted/talented kids. Because I have a military population that moves frequently, they find this resource of value.
Hope this helps.

[Ruth Poovey]

I've had parents tell me that when their sons took the ACT in 7th grade that it helped assuage their fears about taking the test later. It inspired them to learn even more so that they could better their score as juniors, and Duke sends newsletters that the parents thought were helpful in choosing colleges and majors.

On the other hand, it's also an expensive way to show parents how smart their offspring are, which they already know. However, an ACT score of 19 (or higher) as a 7th grader should be helpful if needing to defend your position that "stronger" services are needed for that student.