Agenda Item
a. Approval of the Purchase of Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) Assessments (in an amount not to exceed $78,000.00)
Summary: Presented by: Dr. Myisha Warren, Executive Director of the Office of Federal Programs, Office of Continuous Improvement and
Ms. Allison Q. Scott, Director of Assessment Administration, Office of Continuous Improvement
Request: In support of Board Policy II, it is requested that the Board of Education approve the purchase of Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) Assessments for SY 2022-2023 in an amount not to exceed $78,000.00.
The requested purchase is a testing expenditure that does not require bid per the District’s Purchasing Board Policy (DJE).
Why: DCSD students have the opportunity to be administered assessments that are used toward eligibility to receive gifted services. The CogAT is an assessment that is commonly used to determine gifted eligibility for students who qualify in at least three of four areas: Achievement, Mental Ability, Creativity, and Motivation. CogAT measures abilities across the systems that are most highly correlated with fluid reasoning, problem solving, and success in school.
With its separate measures of Verbal, Quantitative, and Nonverbal reasoning, this research-based and proven test provides multiple perspectives on student ability across grades K-12.
Details: The DeKalb County School District (DCSD) utilizes the Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) as the initial achievement assessment towards gifted identification each school year for students in grades K-10. Students who score greater or equal to 90% on the Math or Reading MAP are eligible for further gifted evaluation on the district's mental ability, creativity, and motivation assessments.
The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT), DeKalb's mental ability evaluation tool, is a multiple-choice K-12 assessments that measures reasoning skills with different types of verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal questions.
Each school year, CogAT is administered over a three-day test period after the Fall MAP assessment during the month of November. School leaders have the autonomy to set their test window for any three consecutive days from November 1-30.
Financial impact: The financial impact is an amount, not to exceed, $78,000.00 for FY23. The purchase amount will be paid using general funds budgeted to the Office of Accountability, Department of Assessment Administration, charge code: 100.1000.530010.00011.7540.9990.8010.030.0000 (Purchased Servies/Other Fees)
Contact: Ms. Allison Q. Scott, Director of Assessment Administration, Office of Continuous Improvement, 678.676.0231
Effective: October 2022
Status: Legal approval not required.
Three (3) Year Cognitive Assessment Test (CogAT) Analysis
This report is an analysis of the utilization and overall average student performance by grade level on the
Cognitive Ability Test (CogAT). CogAT test students’ mental ability and is used as a criterion for assessing
gifted eligibility. In the state of Georgia, students in 1grades K – 12 must perform at the 96th percentile
composite or appropriate component score on a nationally age normed mental ability test.
For the purposes of this analysis, the count of students who took the assessment and the average
performance is disaggregated by grade level. Below are some of the observations made, however this list
is not exhaustive:
• In all the years included in this analysis, > 75% of the testing occurred in grades K – 4.
• The number of students who took the test for school years (SYs) 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2021-
2022 were 5842, 3768 and 5587 respectively.
• There was a significant drop in the number of students taking the test during the most restrictive
period of the COVID-19 pandemic, however the SY 2021-2022 numbers increased back to the
trending (relative to student enrollment) overall totals.
• There is evidence that the trending pattern has change, which can also be attributed to the effects
of the pandemic. This change included but is not limited to the postponing of the testing for SY
2020-2021 to the Spring semester.
• In most cases, the average universal composite score by grade, year over year is cylindrical, with
an upward trend in the prominent testing grades with the exception of Grade K.
• Under typical circumstances, approximately six (6) percent of students in district take the
assessment.
Table of Figures
Figure 1: SY 2019 - 2020 CogAT Count of Student Results by Grade Level ................................................... 2
Figure 2: SY 2020 - 2021 CogAT Count of Student Results by Grade Level ................................................... 3
Figure 3: SY 2021 - 2022 CogAT Count of Student Results by Grade Level ................................................... 4
Figure 4: Three (3) Year Comparison of Students CogAT Results by Grade Level ......................................... 5
Figure 5: Three (3) Year Comparison of the CogAT Average Universal Composite Score by Grade ............. 6
1 https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Curriculum-and-
Instruction/Documents/Gifted%20Education/GIFTED%20EVALUATION%20and%20ELIGIBILITY%20CHART.pdf
Source: Riverside Assessments, Tableau 1
August 15, 2022
Three (3) Year Cognitive Assessment Test (CogAT) Analysis
Figure 1: SY 2019 - 2020 CogAT Count of Student Results by Grade Level
Source: Riverside Assessments, Tableau 2
August 15, 2022
Three (3) Year Cognitive Assessment Test (CogAT) Analysis
Figure 2: SY 2020 - 2021 CogAT Count of Student Results by Grade Level
Source: Riverside Assessments, Tableau 3
August 15, 2022
Three (3) Year Cognitive Assessment Test (CogAT) Analysis
Figure 3: SY 2021 - 2022 CogAT Count of Student Results by Grade Level
Source: Riverside Assessments, Tableau 4
August 15, 2022
Three (3) Year Cognitive Assessment Test (CogAT) Analysis
Figure 4: Three (3) Year Comparison of Students CogAT Results by Grade Level
Source: Riverside Assessments, Tableau 5
August 15, 2022
Three (3) Year Cognitive Assessment Test (CogAT) Analysis
Figure 5: Three (3) Year Comparison of the CogAT Average Universal Composite Score by Grade
Source: Riverside Assessments, Tableau 6
August 15, 2022