Standardized testing- Group question....

[ZooRho]

I am part of a small group. For many years we have been able to pool our testing with the small Christian school. We do our own testing time BUT we order through them so get thier discount. It has been a great deal. THey are changing this year though and we only had a few days to figure it out.

 

SO last night we decided that we didn't want to do it with them this year.

 

So now what. I'll try to lay out some things we are looking at.

We have kids from 1-12th grades (although I think all the 11-12 will do other testing, but we may have some who will test).

 

There is a group that really want an untimed test. The school had used the Stanford 10. Is there another test out there that is untimed?

 

What other places besides BJU sells them?

 

Has anyone ordered as a larger group-although we aren't terribly large either.

 

Hmm I might think of something else as I go along.

[TXMary2]

You can order the California Achievement Test here: http://www.christianlibertypress.com/services.htm

[ZooRho]

You can order the California Achievement Test here: http://www.christianlibertypress.com/services.htm

Do you know if they offer one that is untimed?

[Candid]

Hmmm, we are going to use the Terra Nova this year with our group testing, but I think it is timed. It has replaced the old CAT test. We get them from http://www.baysideschoolservices.com/home.html

 

One thing you may wish to consider if your group can administer the Stanford. Some tests require folks with college degrees to be the person in the class who administered the test. In our group's case, we did not have enough folks to do that. That's why we used the CAT and now the Terra Nova.

 

We used a testing structure we found at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Myvariousfiles/ It gives you away to divide the work fairly among folks. You'll need to join the group then look in the Support Group files folder for the group testing format.

 

I think this test might work for you as an untimed test: https://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/Testing/tMain.aspx It was developed for homeschoolers. A local group used it here. What they did was place a group order and then had folks pick them up, administer them at home, and then return them to the person in charge who sent them back.

[ZooRho]

Hmmm, we are going to use the Terra Nova this year with our group testing, but I think it is timed. It has replaced the old CAT test. We get them from http://www.baysideschoolservices.com/home.html

 

One thing you may wish to consider if your group can administer the Stanford. Some tests require folks with college degrees to be the person in the class who administered the test. In our group's case, we did not have enough folks to do that. That's why we used the CAT and now the Terra Nova.

 

We used a testing structure we found at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Myvariousfiles/ It gives you away to divide the work fairly among folks. You'll need to join the group then look in the Support Group files folder for the group testing format.

 

I think this test might work for you as an untimed test: https://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/Testing/tMain.aspx It was developed for homeschoolers. A local group used it here. What they did was place a group order and then had folks pick them up, administer them at home, and then return them to the person in charge who sent them back.

Thanks,

What do you know about the Tera Nova. That is what the christian school is changing too. the ones that really cared- didn't want to have a timed test.

 

We have been testing as a group for years so we sort of have it down and we have enough that have degrees to cover that aspect of things.

 

what all does that yahoo group have, I belong to several. Is it just about testing or do they have other things.

 

Thanks for helping me to think through this.

[Candid]

Thanks,

What do you know about the Tera Nova. That is what the christian school is changing too. the ones that really cared- didn't want to have a timed test.

 

I can tell you that with almost all standardized tests you can waive the time limit for children with special needs. I can also tell you that my experience is that the students almost always finish before the deadline, often way, way before the deadline. BUT this comes only from CAT experience as this is the first year we'll be using the Terra Nova.

 

what all does that yahoo group have, I belong to several. Is it just about testing or do they have other things.

 

If you look, it is a "file sharing group," I think it was started before the days of Google documents as a way for the list owner to share files they had created. There are no emails for the group except for announcements of new files which happen less than half dozen times a year. There are a lot of topics covered.

[ZooRho]

I can tell you that with almost all standardized tests you can waive the time limit for children with special needs. I can also tell you that my experience is that the students almost always finish before the deadline, often way, way before the deadline. BUT this comes only from CAT experience as this is the first year we'll be using the Terra Nova.

Thanks,

The families I know that have this concern, know their children won't finish. One did the Cat before and the kids did poorly because they didn't finish. Last year her kid did the Stanford 10 and the kid did great. He is just very distractable.

 

and both families don't have the ability to get the special needs waiver, or at least I think they don't.

 

Within this group. I have had kids that have taken well over 2 hours to do the 55 min reading test. One was just a late bloomer but I think the other has some kind of issues.

 

 

 

If you look, it is a "file sharing group," I think it was started before the days of Google documents as a way for the list owner to share files they had created. There are no emails for the group except for announcements of new files which happen less than half dozen times a year. There are a lot of topics covered.

I did just join, figured I could get out. It has some of the same things we do. we have been at it about 15 years, so much is already set. We just got thrown this curve at the last minute with the change in the test choice.

 

I am just trying to see if others had done something similar.

 

Looks like we will just order the Stanford 10. If nothing else comes up.