What kind of Smart are you?

A few weeks ago, Jordan's entire second grade class was tested for the academically gifted program that will begin next year, in the third grade. Now, Jordan's not a prodigy or anything. I try really hard not to feed into the parental attitude of "my kid is the best at EVERYTHING" cause you know, he's not. And I don't expect him to be. But he is a smart kid. School hasn't really been hard for him yet, and in most areas he has consistently tested a grade level or two ahead of his age. Having said that, I was fairly confident he would test into the gifted program with little trouble and looked forward to any opportunities that would challenge and engage his nerdy little brain above and beyond his regular classroom.

Except, he didn't. My reading like a 7th grader, half way through Harry Potter Book 4, knows all his multiplication tables 2nd grader didn't score well enough on the "talented and gifted" assessment to make it into the program. I'm not overly concerned. I don't need a test to tell me my kid is smart. I have conversations with him at the dinner table - more than enough interaction for me to get a fair idea of his level of intellect. And his teacher, though she was a bit mystified at the results wasn't worried either. She says the test measures a certain way of thinking, focusing more on "abstract" thought processes rather than the literal A+B = C process of reasoning. It's the kind of test that may very well pluck out one destined for greatness in creative expression or musicality, but overlook a potential engineer or a brilliant mathematician.

Jordan will be just fine. I'll make sure of it. I'll talk to his teachers, I'll encourage him to study and to work hard. And when he's been in the third grade long enough for his teacher to have an idea of what he's capable of, I'll ask that he be placed in the program based on teacher evaluation. But this experience has caused me to wonder. What about kids who don't have parent advocates that work with them and encourage them in educational pursuits? I can't help but wonder how many undiscovered gems of genius and intellect are stuck in the dirt somewhere unable to excel because a test overlooks their ability. How many high school students are denied a top notch education because the SAT or ACT doesn't capture the scope of their intellectual prowess?

I'm annoyed with tests, I think. I understand their purpose, but today, I'm still annoyed. Annoyed because "smart" comes in all different kinds of packages and one test certainly can't measure them all.