ISEE Question (Elementary School) (Dallas: moving to, teacher, area)

[BayAreatoTx]

Hi - We are moving to Dallas and applied our daughter to Hockaday for 2nd grade. We completely understand the chances are incredibly slim given it's a non-entry year. That said, have our fingers crossed since we're coming from a "top tier" independent school in our area and hope for a similar school going forward.

Unfortunately, our daughter just took the ISEE and ended up scoring two 6s (the 2nd grade test is just two sections).

This was our first test experience ever and she didn't do any formal prep, so not entirely shocking that she didn't excel, but - it doesn't match up given she scored 90 on the Weschler (CATS equivalent IQ test) a few years ago and has glowing progress reports / teacher recommendations through Kinder and 1st.

Any insight as to whether this ISEE result totally knocks us out at Hockaday (if there ever even was a spot!)? Anything else we could do at this point? I imagine sending the older CATS score wouldn't be welcome, and we probably just need to ride it out, but any thoughts would be welcome as this is new to us!

[livingdallas]

90 you mean 90%?

[BayAreatoTx]

Sorry yes! That wasn’t clear. She got a 120/90th percentile a few years ago.

[arkroyal2223]

Did you only apply to Hockaday ?

[barnicles]

Originally Posted by BayAreatoTx

Hi - We are moving to Dallas and applied our daughter to Hockaday for 2nd grade. We completely understand the chances are incredibly slim given it's a non-entry year. That said, have our fingers crossed since we're coming from a "top tier" independent school in our area and hope for a similar school going forward.

Unfortunately, our daughter just took the ISEE and ended up scoring two 6s (the 2nd grade test is just two sections).

This was our first test experience ever and she didn't do any formal prep, so not entirely shocking that she didn't excel, but - it doesn't match up given she scored 90 on the Weschler (CATS equivalent IQ test) a few years ago and has glowing progress reports / teacher recommendations through Kinder and 1st.

Any insight as to whether this ISEE result totally knocks us out at Hockaday (if there ever even was a spot!)? Anything else we could do at this point? I imagine sending the older CATS score wouldn't be welcome, and we probably just need to ride it out, but any thoughts would be welcome as this is new to us!

Hi Bay Area-
I would encourage you to send those Weschler scores over if you have them in a transcript form (what I mean to say is not just your word for it but a document from the tester).

We moved from LA to TX and I was completely unaware of this ISEE. Thus I didn't really have my kids prepare for it until just before the test when I learned that this was something that is done. My middle son had recently had testing at his (at the time) current school, which was a test similar to the Weschler. His ISEE scores were not great. I asked the admissions assistant if they would like these other test scores. She said yes--- that every input of info on the kiddo would help them determine if he would do well at their school. Which was the goal.
This wasn't Hockaday (obviously) but if I were you, I would send those scores over and let them know that you are hoping to give a more well rounded picture of your daughters academic level. At the very least, send them an email ASKING them if they'd like the scores rather than just assuming they won't. As your scores are a few years old, they might tell you "no". But it's probably worth the effort. Just my two cents.

[BayAreatoTx]

Thank you so much for this advice. Very helpful - and nice to know someone else is in the same boat. Admissions here in CA is just geared a bit differently, so the focus on standardized testing and test prep is a new world. Fingers crossed