Florida schoolers

[Sasharowan]

Have any of you done the standardized testing yourself? Is it accepted or do you need a certified teacher to administer it? We've always done the evals but my oldest wants to do the test to get used to them for the SAT's. He's going into the 8th grade.

[Renee in NC]

Volusia County info says by a cert. teacher only and a copy of the valid FL license is to be included with the results sent to the county.

[Sunshine State Sue]

If you look on page 5 of this guide, it looks like the FL law says that the test must be administered by a certified teacher.

 

My evaluator uses the KTEA, which only tests math, reading, and spelling. Some evaluators use other tests, some more comprehensive tests. My county sends out a letter with all the evaluators and what methods they use. Does your do the same?

 

At the end of 6th grade, I gave ds the ITBS myself. I bought it through Brewer Testing. I was very pleased with their communication and service. I'm glad I gave ds the experience of the full testing. The results were strictly for our family. We'll do it again at the end of 8th grade.

[Samiam]

You can use as many standardized tests as you can get your hands on, give them all to your student for practice, BUT the only one you can show the county, to meet state requirements, is the one administered by a Certified Teacher.

 

In our area, the Stanford and Iowa are the norms, and we have options to take them in a group setting ,with other HSers, or take them individually with a certified teacher.

 

It's usually cheaper to do it in a group, but there can be that added stress of "being in a group", so some prefer to do it individually.

[BeckyFL]

You won't qualify for state requirements, but there are a couple of other options:

1. Register under an umbrella school so that you don't have the state requirements or

2. Go ahead and let your 8th grader take the ACT (or I think you can also do the SAT) early for practice and then have an evaluator just review those results. Ours charges $15 for such reviews with the letter for the county. DS topped out of the PIAT early and our evaluator recommended this. Colleges take the highest scores anyway and public school students in the gifted program often start taking these in 8th grade.