A mother I know whose 12 year old took the SAT recently asked me a question about DYS. I don't know much about DYS criteria but told her I'd see if I could find an answer. Her son has been grade accelerated and makes the DYS cut-off if his chronological grade is used, but misses if his actual advanced grade is used. Does anyone know which grade level DYS uses to determine elegibility to their program?

(I know a lot of you are more up on DYS info than I am and hopefully can save me some legwork!)

Now that's an excellent question! When was he accelerated? How close in age is he to either grade? I'm sure the DITD staff would at least take that into consideration, but he possibly loses the "sure thing" aspect pending some details. If he has the IQ scores as well, he stands a very good chance...even better if he has verbal AND math on the SAT. That one's probably worth a phone call though to get it straight from the horse's mouth. I know I still look at all three grade levels to compare DS's scores, LOL!

Hey, CFK, for what trouble are you gearing up? School trouble, or some other kind? Should we be concerned for you?

Dottie,

I don't have a lot of other info, I'll have to ask her. He was in 8th when he took it (sometime in the spring I think) but without the skip he would have been in 7th. He skipped 2nd. I'll see if I can get more info, but it sounds like she should probably call direct since it falls in that grey area.

Kriston,

Just the usual starting a new school year trouble! See how optimistic I am! (I'm envious of Dottie and her Happy Anticipation)

Well, I was overly optimistic and look where it got us! LOL!

Here's hoping you'll be happily surprised!

Hmmm, if he's been skipped since 2nd, I would expect his current grade to hold the most weight, but again....that's one for the Big Decision Makers, not little old Dottie! I have a similar issue with DD13, who started K early. Oh, except for the close DYS scores, ROFL!

If he's still 12 and going into 9th though, isn't that even more acceleration than just one grade? (My age/grade filter is WAY off, but I'm thinking a 12 year old should only be entering 7th.)

( I'm not absorbing any potential negativity )

Does wearing the glasses block out the negative energy? Because I could give that a try!

The boy in question has a late November birthday. Apparently when and where he started K the cut-off was December 31, not early fall like most states. I don't know if that would factor in his favor or not. Is that considered an early start or another skip since he now lives in an area where the cut-off is September 1? She did not give me exact scores so I don't think I'd feel compfortable asking for them. She did say that he "just missed" the advanced grade cut-off. It really does seem like a shady area where she had better go straight to the source. DYS should probably address that in their acceptance criterion since I would imagine there are more than a few gradeskipped kids applying to them.

He sounds like a strong candidate regardless, and I would definitely suggest she call directly for more first hand feedback.

FWIW, most kids his age (across the country) would be starting 7th grade this fall. I would hope that DITD staff takes all this into consideration, as there are so many factors affecting potential scoring that can't be accounted for with just age OR grade.

It gets complicated because some kids have a better academic setting with no grade skips, while others are forced into skips just to get a marginal challenge. And then there are home schoolers. Once again, I would love to sit in for one month's decision making meetings!!!

Interesting question. I'd have to think that since SAT's measure achievement, they'd consider the grade the child is in, as the sliding scale presupposes a difference in what the child has been exposed to. Once you're accelerated, you're accelerated, right? On the other hand, I seem to recall that the WIAT type tests can be scored using either the child's grade or age (as our psych pointed out the difference in DS's report last year). I guess that's the difference in the differrent types of tests.

Huh. I'd assume they'd go with the child's age instead, questions, since I'd think they wouldn't want to penalize a child for being in a more appropriate educational setting.

If a 10yo is in high school and taking the SAT, I can't think that DYS would reject them because the scores aren't in 99.9%ile of the 17yos, you know?

But I realize that's an extreme case...