Highly Capable Services
How to access CogAT scores
1. Go to the Renton School District homepage: www.rentonschools.us
2. Click on Skyward Family Access.
3. Log on using your Family Access login ID and password.
Page 1
Highly Capable Services
4. Click on Test Scores.
5. Click on “Show Scores” next to CogAT.
Page 2
Highly Capable Services
6. Pay attention to the Percentile Rank (PR) scores: G-PR (Grade Percentile Rank) and A-PR (Age
Percentile Rank).
G-PR
the percent of students in your child’s same grade level group (nationally) whose
scores fall at or below the score obtained by your child
A-PR
the percent of students in your child’s same age group (nationally) whose scores
fall at or below the score obtained by this student
See “Interpreting CogAT Scores” below for more information on what the scores mean.
Page 3
Highly Capable Services
7. To view your child’s nationally-normed achievement data, click on STAR Math (math, grades 1-8),
DIBELS (reading, grades K-3), or SRI (reading, grades 4-8). Pay attention to the Percentile Rank
(PR).
PR
the percent of students in your child’s same grade level group (nationally) whose
scores fall at or below the score obtained by your child
Page 4
Highly Capable Services
How to interpret CogAT scores
The CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) is an assessment of students’ verbal, quantitative, and
nonverbal reasoning abilities. We interpret CogAT scores using a national norm-referenced
perspective; a child’s score that compares test takers to a large group of others in the same grade
level and/or age group across the country.
THE CogAT SCREENING FORM
In the Renton School District, the CogAT Screening Form is the first assessment used to identify
students who show evidence of eligibility for Highly Capable services. The CogAT Screener is a
scaled down version of the full CogAT Form 7; it measures the same reasoning skills in the verbal,
quantitative, and non-verbal domains as the full assessment. To understand which students take the
CogAT Screening Form, or to view the eligibility criteria to move on to the full CogAT, please refer to
the Eligibility Criteria section below.
THE CogAT FORM 7
Verbal Battery
The Verbal Test is comprised of three subtests (Verbal Classification, Sentence Completion, and
Verbal Analogies) which assess a student’s verbal inductive and deductive reasoning skills. These
verbal abilities play an important role in the development of reading comprehension, critical thinking,
writing, and virtually all verbal learning tasks.
Quantitative Battery
There are three subtests that comprise the Quantitative Battery which include Quantitative Relations,
Number Series, and Equation Building. This battery assesses a student’s abilities in deductive and
inductive reasoning when it comes to quantitative symbols and concepts. The Equation Building
assesses a student’s ability to organize, structure, and give meaning to an unordered set of numerals
and mathematical symbols. The reasoning skills that are assessed are related to the high-level
problem solving skills not only in mathematics but also in other subject areas.
Nonverbal Battery
Figure Classification, Figure Analogies, and Figure Analysis are the three subtests found on the
Nonverbal Battery. These subtests use geometric shapes and figures that have little direct
relationship to formal school instruction. The items/questions require a student to use reasoning skills
and not spatial visualization abilities, and so there are no gender differences on the battery.
Page 5
Highly Capable Services
Interpreting Scores
Percentile Rank (PR): A score on a scale from 1 to 99 that indicates the percent of other students’
scores at or below that score. A student’s score at the 84th percentile is regarded as equaling or
surpassing that of 84 percent of the students in the group being tested. It does not mean that the
student got 84 percent of the answers correct, but rather that the student performed better than 84
out of 100 students being tested. Age-based and grade-based percentiles are often very similar,
except if the student is significantly older or younger than other students in the same grade. The
average range on the percentile rank is between the 25th and 75th percentiles.
You can learn more about the CogAT by visiting:
http://www.riversidepublishing.com/products/cogAT7/learnmore.html
You can learn more about how to interpret CogAT scores by visiting:
http://www.cobbk12.org/milford/1482824_CogAT_7_Score_Interp_Guide_v.1_CMP.pdf
Criteria for eligibility for Highly Capable services
The Renton School District uses multiple data measures to identify students who qualify for Highly
Capable services. Students can qualify for services through performance on the CogAT Form 7 or
nationally-normed reading and math achievement assessments (STAR Math, DIBELS, SRI).
K - 2nd Grade
Students who achieve a Percentile Rank (PR) of 95 or above on the CogAT
Form 7 or at/above the 95th percentile on the STAR Math and DIBELS
assessments will qualify for Highly Capable Services (See table below.).
3rd – 8th Grade
Students who achieve a Percentile Rank (PR) of 95 or above on the CogAT
Form 7 or at/above the 95th percentile on the STAR MATH and SRI
assessments will qualify for Highly Capable Services (See table below.).
Page 6
Highly Capable Services
Page 7