CogAT

The Howard Suamico School District is committed to providing optimum learning opportunities for all students. In an effort to gain more information about students and to help further develop our continuum of services, students will be administered the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT).  This is a screening measure that will be administered to all second grade students in HSSD during the month of February.  

What does CogAT measure?

The CogAT screener provides a snapshot of children’s abilities in the areas of verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal functioning. Students will be taking one test in each of the three batteries. The verbal battery assesses verbal inductive reasoning, problem solving, and verbal comprehension. The quantitative battery measures general abstract reasoning skills, particularly inductive reasoning and specific mathematical reasoning skills. The nonverbal battery assesses inductive reasoning skills. Reasoning skills develop gradually throughout a person’s lifetime and at different rates for different individuals. 

Why is CogAT administered?

The CogAT is just one piece of data that is used as a component of multiple criteria to help determine students’ unmet need(s). Some needs students may have could include additional opportunities to:

• Be creative and think more critically
• Work at a higher cognitive level (i.e., curriculum compacting, acceleration, Bloom’s Taxonomy, Depth & Complexity)
• Pursue independent study and research
• Develop leadership and creativity skills 

If you would like a better understanding of this assessment, you can find information from the publisher at www.cogat.com. Please feel free to reach out with any questions.