CogAT

The #1 Measure of How Students Learn

The #1 Measure of
How Students Learn

Explore Recommended Assessments

The #1 Measure of
How Students Learn

CogAT is the most trusted assessment for
measuring students' capacity to learn.

CogAT is the most trusted assessment for measuring students' capacity to learn.

CogAT is the most trusted assessment for measuring students' capacity to learn.

What is Ability Data?

Chances are, you already have an idea of what your students have learned. You’ve got benchmark tests, chapter quizzes, portfolios of student work – any number of data points that demonstrate what your students have achieved. But do you know how your students learn? 

Ability, also called aptitude or student potential for learning, provides insight into students’ readiness to demonstrate creative problem-solving skills and learn in different situations and learning environments.  

Multiple Domains

CogAT offers detailed information on students’ Verbal, Quantitative, and Figural (Nonverbal) reasoning in less than two class periods through multiple, engaging measures that reflect student potential for learning. 

Individual domain scores, partial composites, and complete test composites are available for every student that finishes the test, providing a multifaceted view of student ability unlike any other test on the market. 

Measure Reasoning for All Students

With the growing number of English learner (EL) students in many schools, educators have been struggling with how to appropriately adapt assessment systems to their needs. When it comes to ability testing, many educators believe they need to switch to a “nonverbal,”—for example, figural or reasoning—task alone.  

CogAT provides reliable, valid, and accurate data for all students, regardless of language, ethnic background, and socioeconomic status. 

Teach How They Learn

Differentiation has always been part of U.S. public education, going back to the one-room schoolhouse. But now it is receiving renewed attention that threatens to overwhelm teachers with untenable demands to tailor each lesson to each student. 

CogAT’s unique Ability Profiles™ allow educators to differentiate instruction for all students based on how they learn.  

Data for Every Student

CogAT’s multidimensional battery provides educators with a key means of differentiating instruction. 

Its Ability Profile can provide educators with a general sense of student abilities, including specific strengths and weaknesses. They then may use this information to identify and select specific strategies for differentiating instruction. 

Minimize Planning Time

Powered by Ability Profile data, CogAT's Differentiated Instruction Report can be run by teachers and building-level users. It groups students by their learning styles and offers suggestions for building on strengths, scaffolding, and other instructional recommendations. 

Equitable and Effective

Since 1968, CogAT has assessed general, abstract reasoning skills following the universally accepted CHC theory on human cognitive abilities. The latest generation offers a new test design with fresh content, up-to-date national norms, age-based local norms, and much more. 

Industry-Leading Data

An Education Week Research Center report shows 54% of districts surveyed use CogAT as part of their gifted and talented identification criteria. 

Getting insights into students’ cognitive abilities opens a whole new realm of possibilities. Teachers can tailor instruction to match how students learn, consider students for enrichment programs that pique their interest and challenge their thinking, and uncover gaps between student achievement and ability. 

Trusted for Fairness and Utility

CogAT’s ease of use, equity features, developmentally appropriate test levels, and more make it the trusted choice of the most demanding gifted programs across the country.

Learn how one district dramatically changed the proportionate makeup of the identified pool of their gifted and talented students while alleviating concerns about over- and under-identification.

Configuration Options

Ideal for:

  • Equitably identifying students for gifted programming or additional testing 
  • Differentiating instruction based on learning strengths and areas of opportunity 
  • Providing a wholistic view of student ability across multiple cognitive domains

Benefits:

  • Two equivalent forms for quick retesting or pre- and post-testing 
  • Age-specific (in years and months), up-to-date national norms and local norms calculated to the same exacting standards 
  • Detailed information on students’ Verbal, Quantitative, and Figural (Nonverbal) reasoning 
  • Individual domain scores, partial composites, and complete test composites are available for every student that finishes the test, providing a multifaceted view of student ability 
  • Reliable, valid, and accurate data for all students, regardless of language, ethnic background, and socioeconomic status
  • Separate test levels for Grades K through 6 and banded levels for Grades 7-12 to ensure that every aspect of the test’s format is developmentally appropriate at each grade 

Grades: K - 12

Admin. Time:

Approx. 90 minutes

Available Options:

Two equivalent forms, ten levels each

Ideal for:

  • A fast, reliable, and valid data point to help determine eligibility for special programs 

Benefits:

  • Two equivalent forms for quick retesting  
  • Age-specific (in years and months), up-to-date national norms and local norms calculated to the same exacting standards 
  • A single data point that can be used in conjunction with other measures to inform readiness for gifted programs 
  • Reliable, valid, and accurate data for all students, regardless of language, ethnic background, and socioeconomic status 
  • Separate test levels for Grades K through 6 and banded levels for Grades 7-12 to ensure that every aspect of the test’s format is developmentally appropriate at each grade

Grades: K - 12

Admin. Time:

Approx. 30 minutes

Available Options:

Two equivalent forms, ten levels each

Ideal for:

  • Online Administration: The Post-Screener is NOT available for paper/pencil testing
  • Completes the Ability Profile, allowing for differentiating instruction based on learning strengths and areas of opportunity 
  • Providing a wholistic view of student ability across multiple cognitive domains 

Benefits:

  • Up-to-date norms for the most current national comparisons 
  • Multiple modes of administration including online and paper-and-pencil  
  • Prediction of SAT®/ACT® scores that begins at grade 6, two years earlier than other achievement assessments 
  • A research-based vertical scale that is a reliable and defensible measurement of within-year and between-year growth in achievement with longitudinal reporting 
  • Reports to next-generation content standards which provides an independent measure of content mastery in preparation for accountability testing

Grades: K - 12

Admin. Time:

Approx. 60 minutes

Available Options:

Two equivalent forms, ten levels each

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