South Carolina gifted and talented CogAT guide.

South Carolina runs gifted screening differently from most of the country. Rather than each district choosing a test and a date, the South Carolina Department of Education administers the same assessments to every second grader in the state, in a window the state publishes.

That makes this one of the few places where a parent can know, in advance and precisely, which test their child will sit and roughly when.

What the state actually administers

The SCDE's September 2025 memorandum on identification of gifted and talented students is direct about it: all 2nd grade students are administered the CogAT, which covers Dimension A, and the Iowa Assessments, which cover Dimension B. Those are described as the required universal screeners.

The state's grade 2 testing page goes a step further than almost any district in the country and publishes the exact edition: CogAT Level 8, Form 8. Most districts publish neither the level nor the form, so families are left guessing which version of the test their child will see.

How a child qualifies

State Board of Education Regulation 43-220 sets out three dimensions, and a student generally needs to meet the criteria in two of the three:

1. Dimension A, reasoning abilities. High aptitude at the 93rd national age percentile or above, in verbal, quantitative or nonverbal reasoning, or a composite of the three. This is what the CogAT measures.
2. Dimension B, achievement. High achievement at the 94th national percentile and above in reading or mathematics. This is what the Iowa Assessments measure.
3. Dimension C, intellectual or academic performance. For grades 2 to 5 this is a Performance Task Assessment, with a qualifying score of 16 or above in verbal or nonverbal for 2nd graders.

There is also a single-test route. The regulation provides that students meeting the 98th national age percentile composite for placement in grades one through two, or the 96th for grades three through twelve, qualify automatically.

Three things South Carolina parents often do not know

Scores last longer than one year. Aptitude scores under Dimension A remain effective for five years, and achievement scores for two. A strong second-grade CogAT result therefore carries a child well into middle school rather than expiring in the spring.

Identification travels with the child. The regulation states that students identified in one South Carolina school district are eligible for services in any South Carolina school district, so a family that moves within the state does not start over.

Private testing does not substitute. No private testing will be accepted for eligibility, although those results may be considered for referral purposes. Paying for an outside evaluation will not replace the state screen.

After second grade, the rules change

The statewide uniformity applies to the 2nd grade screen. For students in grades 3 to 12 who were not identified through it, the SCDE publishes a list of approved alternatives that districts may choose from, which includes the CogAT but also the NNAT3, the Naglieri General Ability Test, Raven's 2, the WISC-V, the DAS-II, the Stanford-Binet 5 and the Woodcock-Johnson IV. So a third grader being assessed in one district may not face the same instrument as one in the next district over.

Questions South Carolina parents should ask

1. Which day inside the October 5 to 27 window is our school testing?
2. Will my child take both the CogAT and the Iowa Assessments, or only one?
3. When will results be sent home, and in what form?
4. If my child is close but does not qualify on two dimensions, is the Performance Task Assessment used?
5. Is there a make-up date if my child is absent during the window?
6. What gifted services does our school actually provide to an identified student?

Our broader questions to ask your school guide can help you turn those into one clear conversation with the office.