Q: Do I have to give standardized achievement tests?
A: It depends on the state in which you live. In TN, FL, and CO the answer is No. As a private (or "non-public") school the voluntary rule for testing of HLA students has been set by our Board of Directors for reasons listed below.
NOTE: HomeSchool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) endorses the position of voluntary testing for grades K-12 as Option 3 in TN and defends this legal position for church-related schools when it is needed. HSLDA sent a letter to an attorney at the Tennessee Department of Education, explaining the reasons for their opinion when this issue was first raised six years ago. Some states require testing regardless of your enrollment with HomeLife Academy. Visit www.hslda.org for more testing information in your state. In many states, if you ARE registered with the state then you ARE required to administer standardized testing in certain grades.
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For The Limits of Standardized Tests for Diagnosing and Assisting Student Learning
Scroll down to read "Three things to consider before you test:"
Testing is optional because there are several things to consider before administering a standardized test (please read below). However, if you choose to test your student(s) there are several options:
1. CAT test (California Achievement Test).
2. Order from Seton Home Study: The test costs $25 dollars and is not as long as the Stanford. Inexpensive, only $25 each for test
and scoring
Administer at home, at your convenience
A year-round service
Quick results; Test scored and returned usually in two weeks
Spring, Fall and Winter norms
Easy to administer; Full instructions included
Available for Grades K-12
3. You may also click here to order from Bob Jones University. The Stanford is one of the most common but BJU has requirements for administrators. This test may be administered by you or by a friend for more objectivity.
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More resources:
http://www.test4free.com is a FREE Reading Aptitude Assessment Test for home use!
Finally, check out these great lists of options from Ann Zeise of A to Z Home'sCool.
Three things to consider before you test:
Home educated students have consistently scored 20-30% higher on standardized tests than their public school counterparts (Read the Recent Home School Statistics ). Therefore, we feel that there are three things to consider before you test:
First, standardized testing is not always the best measurement of a student’s actual knowledge and abilities. Remember "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Some incredibly intelligent individuals competed on that show. But they had to know answers to the specific questions on the test to win the cash. They may have been a Nuclear Physicist but it did not matter. What mattered were the timed responses to the select questions chosen by an unseen panel. The same is true of so many students in regards to standardized testing. The student may know a great number of things, however, what matters is that he or she know what is going to be requested on the test.
Furthermore, many factors can produce low scores from a very intelligent and educated student. Unfortunately, there is a lot riding on those tests. At the school I worked at for several years before starting HLA, a guidance counselor from a local public high school once called to ask if one of her seniors could register and graduate in one month. The reason? Even though she was a straight-A, honor-roll student, she failed the final exit exam for graduation due to a stomach ache. Since there were no make ups, she was going to have to repeat the entire 12th grade and retake the test. This problem is outlined well in a recent article by Cathy Duffy, The Education Standards Movement Spells Trouble for Private and Home Schools: “The new tests must be what are called ‘high-stakes tests’ (you lose a lot if you fail to pass), otherwise the national standards won't have any influence.” Click here to read full article.
Secondly, the loom of standardized testing can curb the way you teach. Standardized testing falsely assumes that kids themselves are standardized. But God made us all different. We should accept that there is a range in which a child learns all subjects the same as we accept there is range in which a child learns to walk. President Woodrow Wilson was nine before he mastered the alphabet and did not learn to read until he was eleven. If he were given a standardized test at age eight he likely would have been placed in special education classes and never have become president. If a student is not quite ready for multiplication, give him or her another year and they most likely will be. Failure on a test can discourage and wound a young learner for life. We recommend only testing if it will be a positive reinforcement to an appetite for learning. To understand more about how to nurture an appetite for learning read A HEART FOR LEARNING.
Third, standardized testing is not required because they are designed to measure the “standards” in a large school system, not a small home. A classroom of 35, school of 5000, and district of 40,000, must administer standardized tests. A home of five, however, is a much different place. I worked at Wal-Mart for a couple years, saving money for college. They require standards for their international chain. From top management to stock boy, the standards must be enforced to ensure Wal-Mart’s continued success. It would be inappropriate to make the “mom and pop” grocery store on the corner meet the same standards and pass the same “tests” as the super Wal-Mart. The “mom and pop” grocery has different tools for measuring standards.
At home you do not need a long test to tell you if your student(s) are reading well, or adding properly, or enjoying science. Since you live with them, you simply know these things. If you are feeling pressured by culture, family, friends, church, etc. (or your own standards ) to produce "proof" of your student(s) success remember that God does not measure us against one another. We are entrusted with the academic and spiritual education of our sons and daughters and are accountable only to God in the end. Sure, there are times to test in order to "keep the peace." However, pray for wisdom and if you do decide testing is in the best interest of your students we encourage the approach that one mother takes. She tells her little students, "Ok, we're going to take that great big test again this year but just like I told you last year, IT DOESN'T MEAN A THING!" She's found that by taking the "high-stakes" completely out of the equation her kids are scoring higher than they ever have!
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Q: Can you tell me what tests can and cannot do, and give more information on tests in general?
A: I think it is most import to first recognize what testing cannot do, in order to not put too much emphasis on test results.
What Achievement Tests Can't Do
- Tell you if your child has achieved academically to the level of his ability.
- Measure your child's many other skills and abilities not on the test.
- Replace your own informed evaluation of your child's knowledge and skills, gained from your daily observation of his work and more thorough and frequent review questions.
Test results are just ONE of MANY aspects of your student's performance. Do not be lured into the high stakes testing craze which America is currently engaged in. See http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/articles/010499.htm for more information.
With that in mind, here is an article called “What Tests Can and Cannot Do” clipped from The Teaching Home by permission:
Standardized Tests and the Christian Worldview
The ACSI/SAT Custom-Made Test
Steve Deckard, Ed.D., Assistant Professor, Institute for Creation Research states, "One aspect of education where evolutionary theory has had a stranglehold is standardized testing. This is especially true for standardized science achievement tests. These tests have been written from a secular, humanistic, and evolutionary world view. Because of this inherent bias, young people educated in evangelical Christian private or home schools which teach creation science are at a distinct disadvantage.
“This situation is changing. Association of Christian Schools International, in cooperation with the developers of the Stanford Achievement Test series, introduced in the fall of 1995 a special Christian School Edition of the Stanford Achievement Test.
“The ACSI/SAT Christian School Edition is known as a custom-made test. The non-core questions use a Biblical and traditional-values approach with illustrations, examples, and stories." Also included in the ACSI/SAT is a Bible Assessment subtest.
Home-school families may have access to the ACSI/SAT by:
- Testing at a ACSI-member Christian school.
- Your support group can become an ACSI member if it has a paid administer and meets other criteria (call 800-367-0798) and can then order the tests.
Recommendations
Inge Cannon, of Education PLUS, observes, "As the culture moves in the direction of secularism and away from any demonstration of Biblical values, Christians will find the gap between what they are teaching and what the tests measure to grow increasingly wider."
Inge goes on to recommend that homeschoolers:
- Take only the basic battery (reading, math, language arts) and avoid the additional tests that make up the complete battery (science, social studies, and at lower levels, the environment) if they must take a standardized achievement test.
- Strive to change state home-school laws to reflect this option or to allow for other forms of evaluation.
What Achievement Tests Can and Cannot Do
Remember that a standardized achievement test cannot measure the sum total of your child's progress. It is only one assessment tool with limited value.
What Achievement Tests Can Do
- Measure your child's ability to recall certain facts, basic skills, and concepts common to the grade tested.
- Compare your child's scores with other students' scores.
- Assess your child's year-to-year development of learning, if the same test is used for several years.
- Help you determine your child's academic strengths and weaknesses, as well as the effectiveness of your curriculum, teaching methods, or emphasis, when results are combined with your own observations. What Achievement Tests Can't Do
- Tell you if your child has achieved academically to the level of his ability.
- Measure your child's many other skills and abilities not on the test.
- Replace your own informed evaluation of your child's knowledge and skills, gained from your daily observation of his work and more thorough and frequent review questions.
Common Standardized Achievement Tests
Following are the most commonly used standardized achievement tests. For more information about each test, see the test publisher's website links below. Check with your state or local home-school organization for local sources of tests and testing services.
- California Achievement Tests (CAT/5, CAT/6); California Achievement Tests, Fifth Edition (CAT/5); TerraNova, The Second Edition (CAT/6)
- The sixth edition of the California Achievement Tests (CAT) is also referred to as TerraNova CAT.
- See Interpreting Results.
- Published by CTB/McGrawHill
- California Achievement Test, 1970 Edition is available from Christian Liberty Academy School System. CLASS uses this edition as a consistent benchmark for comparing student abilities because it is more demanding than recent editions.
- Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)
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- Published by Riverside Publishing.
- Available from Bob Jones University Press Testing and Evaluation.
- Stanford Achievement Tests (SAT), Version 10
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(Not to be confused with the SAT college entrance exam which was previously called "Scholastic Aptitude Test" and then "Scholastic Assessment Test." Now the College Board who publishes the test says, "The SAT is not initialism; it does not stand for anything.")
- Published by Harcourt Assessment.
- See Scope & Sequence, Areas of Assessment and Sample Reports.
- Available from Bob Jones University Press Testing and Evaluation.
- ACSI/SAT 10 may be available from ACSI or ACSI-member schools.
Comparison of the Stanford and Iowa Achievement Tests
BJU Press notes that both tests are top-rated, nationally standardized tests that evaluate thinking, and neither is more difficult than the other.
Stanford evaluates listening skills through grade 8, Iowa through grade 2.
Stanford tests are administered untimed, Iowa tests are timed.
- Personalized Achievement Summary System (PASS) Tests
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The PASS Test was developed specifically for home schoolers. As other achievement tests, it estimates student achievement in the subjects of reading, language, and math. Parents may administer this untimed test in their own home. A pretest places your child in the correct test level.
- Available from Hewitt Homeschooling Resources.
Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, TerraNova (CTBS) Now called TerraNova Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS). - Published by CTB/McGrawHill.
- Available from The Sycamore Tree.
Metropolitan Achievement Tests, Eighth Edition (MAT) - Published by Harcourt Assessment.
Interpreting Test Scores
Glossary of Terms
These basic terms will help you understand your child's test results. For the definitions of more terms see: BJU Press Test Interpretation Clarification of Terms
Harcourt Assessment Glossary of Measurement Terms
Types of Tests
- Criterion-referenced tests compare a student's performance to set criteria, such as state standards, rather than to the performance of other students.
- Norm-referenced tests compare a student's performance to a national reference group of students at the same grade.
- Standards-based tests assess students' knowledge and skills in relation to the state content standards.
National Percentile Rank
Percentile does not refer to the percent of questions that were answered correctly. Percentile ranks individuals within a group on a scale of 1 to 99 with 50 being average. A percentile rank of 60 means the student scored better than 60 percent of the other students in his comparison (norm) group, and 40 percent scored as well as or better than he did.
Stanine
This score shows a comparison of student scores, from a low of 1 to a high of 9. It may be thought of as groupings of percentile ranks.
Grade Equivalent
This is the most commonly misunderstood term in interpreting test scores.
The first digit represents the year of the grade level and the digit after the decimal represents the month of that grade level. The grade equivalent is not an estimate of the grade in which your child should be placed! Rather it shows that the score your child achieved was the same as the average score made by students at that grade level who took the same test.
For example a 2nd grade student scoring 4.7 on a math subtest, scored the same as the average 4th grade, 7th month student did who took the 2nd grade test. It does not mean that the 2nd grade student can do 4th grade math work.
Applying the Results
Bob Jones University Press presents the following suggestions.
If your child receives a low score, always compare that information with your own observations. If the low score is consistent with your personal observation and evaluation of your child's skill, develop a plan to strengthen this skill. Your plan could include checking to see if the skill was taught, re-teaching the skill from a different approach, checking curriculum content and methodology, and evaluating the effectiveness of your teaching methods.
Reading Comprehension
If reading comprehension (inferences, analysis, interpretations) scores are low, but mental ability and facts scores are higher, make sure your teaching and curriculum include questions that require interpretation, thought, inference, and other higher levels of thinking as well as literal-recall questions.
See Newsletters #23, 25-26, 28-30 for ways to teach higher-level reading comprehension skills.
Math Problem Solving
If math problem solving scores appear low, make sure your teaching and curriculum include visualization, meaning, and understanding in addition to facts and drills. Your curriculum should provide adequate opportunities for practice in solving story problems.
See Newsletter #38 for many ideas to use in teaching math and how to solve story problems.
Math Computation
If math computation scores are low, check for your child's command of the basic facts and his understanding of mathematical procedures. Also, check for student carelessness while working problems and note how many questions were not answered at all, indicating your child may need to increase his speed as well as his accuracy. Use "Holey Cards" for timed speed drills of addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication facts. Drill facts in related combinations of addition/subtraction or multiplication/division. Print triangular math facts cards or use ordinary flashcards.
Spelling
If spelling scores are low, check for evidence that your child is convinced that spelling is important. (This conviction is developed by emphasizing correct spelling in all subject areas.) Your methodology should teach your child how to spell using spelling principles, rather than just memorizing word lists. Employ a variety of ways to use each lesson's words over the whole week of study.
See Newsletter #32 for information and ideas in teaching spelling.
Maps and Diagrams / References and Study Skills
If these skills are low, check for whether you are taking time to read and interpret maps, graphs, and tables in texts and other sources.
Check that you are teaching of library, reference, and dictionary skills.
Language Usage and Expression
If aspects of language usage and expression are low, make sure you are teaching writing skills and requiring frequent written work. The proofing of writing assignments is excellent preparation for these tests.
See Newsletters #36-37 for tips on how to teach writing.
Limits of Standardized Tests for Diagnosing and Assisting Student Learning
From http://www.fairtest.org
Standardized tests have historically been used as measures of how students compare with each other (norm-referenced) or how much of a particular curriculum they have learned (criterion-referenced). Increasingly, standardized tests are being used to make major decisions about students, such as grade promotion or high school graduation, and schools. More and more often, they also are intended to shape curriculum and instruction.
Proponents of the expanded uses and consequences of tests claim that newer exams are superior to the flawed exams of the past, measure what is important, and are worth teaching to. These arguments ignore the real-world limits to what standardized tests can usefully do. Repeating such false claims perpetuates test misuse and the dangerous belief that what is worth teaching is that which can be assessed by a standardized test.
Under a new federal law, state assessments of reading and math must be administered for accountability annually in grades 3-8 and once in high schools. The assessments must be based on state content and performance standards, measure higher order thinking, provide useful diagnostic information, and be valid and reliable. While the law does not mandate the use of standardized tests, many states will be inclined administer them to meet the federal law. An examination of each requirement, however, reveals the limits of standardized tests.
Tests are to be based on state standards
State standards are often too long and detailed to ever be taught. Many fail to distinguish what is important from what is unimportant or to separate what all students ought to learn in a subject from what only the most interested might learn. In part because of the level of detail, much of the content in state standards is not assessed by state tests.
Moreover, much of value in state standards cannot be tested with any paper-and-pencil test of a few hours duration. In a high quality education, students conduct science experiments, sole real-world math problems, write research papers, read novels and stories and analyze them, make oral presentations, evaluate and synthesize information from a variety of fields, and apply their learning to new and ill-defined situations. Standardized tests are poor tools for evaluating these important kinds of learning. If instruction focuses on the test, students will not learn these skills, which are needed for success in college and often in life.
Measure higher-order thinking
Standardized exams offer few opportunities to display the attributes of higher-order thinking, such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creativity. Higher order thinking is encouraged and revealed by in-depth and extended work, not by one-shot tests.
Provide useful diagnostic information
Assessments of educational strengths and weaknesses can be useful at the individual, classroom, school or district levels. However, information needs to be sufficiently timely, accurate, meaningful, detailed and comprehensive for the kind of diagnosis being made. The lengthy turn-around time for scoring most standardized tests makes them nearly useless for helping a particular individual, though the information might be of some value to teachers and schools for longer-range planning.
In addition, standardized tests usually include only a few questions on any particular topic. This is too little information to produce accurate, comprehensive or detailed results. Many topics in state standards are not addressed at all in state exams, so the tests provide no diagnostic information about them.
Diagnosis suggests the use of "formative" assessment – assessments that can help a teacher and student know what to do next. Standardized tests administered at the end of the year – "summative assessment" – cannot possible meet this need. Sound diagnostic practices also include understanding why a student is having difficulty or success and determining appropriate action. As snapshots with limited information, standardized tests provide neither an answer to "why" nor little guidance for successful instruction.
Be valid and reliable
Test validity, experts explain, resides in the inferences drawn from assessment results and the consequences of their uses. Relying solely on scores from one test to determine success or progress in broad areas such as reading or math is likely to lead to incorrect inferences and then to actions that are ineffective or even harmful. For these and other reasons, the standards of the testing profession call for using multiple measures for informing major decisions – as does the ESEA legislation.
Reliability, or consistency of information, is sometimes treated as the most important aspect of testing. However, consistent information about too narrow a range of topics, skills or knowledge cannot provide adequate information for credible decisions: a doctor needs more than just reliable blood pressure results to treat a patient. Well-designed classroom-based assessments can provide richer, consistent information that enhances validity, diagnostic capacity, and the ability to assess progress toward meaningful standards.
Conclusion
When standardized tests are the primary factor in accountability, the temptation is to use the tests to define curriculum and focus instruction. What is not tested is not taught, and what is taught does not include higher-order learning. How the subject is tested becomes a model for how to teach the subject. At the extreme, school becomes a test prep program – and this extreme already exists.
It is of course possible to use a standardized test and not let its limits control curriculum and instruction. However, this can result in a school putting itself at risk for producing lower test scores. It also means parents and the community are not informed systematically about the non-tested areas, unless the school or district makes a great effort.
To improve learning and provide meaningful accountability, schools and districts cannot rely solely on standardized tests. The inherent limits of the instruments allow them only to generate information that is inadequate in both breadth and depth. Thus, states, districts and schools must find ways to strengthen classroom assessments and to use the information that comes from these richer measures to inform the public.
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