So... who can tell me about Terra Nova's standardized test results?

[creekland]

In PA we need standardized test scores for 8th grade, and this year we opted to go with Terra Nova. My son scored very well - 98% in the National Percentile and above 12.9+ grade equivalent - so the ps should be happy (I am).

 

What I can't find is any other info on this test. Are they norming it off their test scores alone - or what they feel the average 8th grader can/should do? Is there a place that shows scale scores across a range as the ACT and SAT have? What is the top scale score anyway? Do any ps kids take this test or is it mainly used for hs?

 

Does anyone know? Or any other info you care to share about it? Or a website with this all listed. I googled, but unsuccessfully.

 

Anyway, it pegged his abilities correctly, so I suppose I should just be happy, but I'd really like to know what it's all based on if I could.

[Tullia]

I'm no help, but when my son's school was contemplating a change from ITBS (now ITED) to Terra Nova just before we started to hs, I had no luck whatever finding out anything either on the Internet or from the school. Guess it's classified.

 

However, a friend's daughter told her the next year that she thought the middle grade level test was a lot easier than the ITBS. Could have been that the student just grew into the testing process from one year to the next. I never had any experience with it because the hs groups offered only ITBS and Stanford. I could have chosen the Terra Nova to satisfy state requirements, but would have had to go to the school for testing and there was no way! BTW, New Mexico later dropped testing requirements.

 

If you want testing for your own purposes, I think you can administer the ITED yourself with minimal qualifications through Bob Jones University. BJU offers good support and statistical information, too. Christian Liberty Press offers (or used to) CAT's from the 1970's. Ds found them a lot more challenging than current versions of tests. I've forgotten what they offer in the way of scoring data though.

[Ellie]

I know you asked lots of questions, but I still don't know what you really want. :-)

 

The CTBS is a nationally normed, recognized standardized test. Your dc's scores are compared to a group of students who took the test somewhere in time, and their scores are the norm, not the "average" 8th grader.

 

I'm guessing there isn't a need to have scores across a range like the SAT/ACT.

 

ETA: I'm wondering if your difficulty in finding any information is that you're searching for "Terra Nova" and the test is actually the CTBS (Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills); Terra Nova is the most current one.

Edited May 4, 2010 by Ellie

[Tullia]

It's been so many years since my futile search that I'd forgotten the rest of my story. I can't tell you if it was a conspiracy of silence at our ps (because many parents preferred the Iowa test and the change was unpopular) or just the fact that the teachers were using only Terra Nova and omitting official full name name of the test. Someone on these boards asked a similar question years ago and I remember reading the response to look for CTBS.

[creekland]

Ah, many thanks! I'll search for CTBS when I get home. Mainly we picked this test simply because it was offered and met our state's requirement. Now I'm finding myself curious to know if it's considered a good assessment or if it gets inflated.

 

Plus, it would have been nice if I'd have gotten more of a breakdown than I did. How many questions did my son miss? In what areas? That sort of thing.

 

All I have is scale score (based on # right, but no actual numbers to know what they were), grade equivalent (which I did find out the meaning of), and national percentile (which seems impressive, but do only 2% of kids get 98 percentile or is there that inflation aspect)?

 

It meets our state's requirement, so I can be content with that if need be, but I'll be searching more when I get home (I'm on a short break at work now).