s/o CAT testing - Do you test every year?

[funnygirl]

For those of you who are not required to test, do you still give your dc's a test to assess their progress each school year? If so, what test do you recommend?

[Tokyomarie]

With my son's quirks I didn't want to test him myself. Since we are not in a high regulation state, it's not always easy to find someone else to test inexpensively & we didn't end up testing every year. I was able to have him test several times with a local homeschooler who administered group testing using the Stanford 10. One advantage that the Stanford 10 offers over some tests is that it is untimed. This is helpful for our kids who are dyslexic or have slow processing speed which affects how quickly they work. I felt that we were able to get a pretty good estimate of my son's achievement when we used that test. I didn't test until he was able to read well enough to comprehend the passages on the grade level test.

[dtsmamtj]

I do even though we are only required to test at grades 3, 5, 8 & 10. At first I had to have him tested privately but now he can function in a group testing which is a bit less. Right now our state accepts the CAT 6.

[Halcyon]

We are not required to test at all (umbrella school) but we test every year starting in 3rd. 3rd grade is CAT test for confidence, and then we move to ITBS.

[AHASRADA]

We do the CAT every year through FLO. It is reassuring to have a recognized, objective proof of their level and progress.

 

It came in handy when we did a psycoeducational evaluation. They asked for standardized test scores for the past few years, and we had them. Also, when ds wanted to take some HS-level courses at Keystone, they required proof of completing 8th grade. I almost discounted the school because of that, since the amount of paperwork and reverse recordkeeping involved was ridiculous. Then they said standardized test scores might be acceptable proof. His scores being well above 8th grade level, he was accepted immediately.

 

All this to say, you never know when test results may come in handy.

[Tokyomarie]

It came in handy when we did a psycoeducational evaluation. They asked for standardized test scores for the past few years, and we had them.

 

All this to say, you never know when test results may come in handy.

 

Highlighting these two comments to add my agreement. We did not do any psychoeducational/neuropsychological assessment until my son was 15yo & his academic & behavioral gaps were growing rather than closing. We had speech/language testing from preschool years because of his speech delay, but no speech/language or psycho-ed assessments from elementary or middle school years. When I went back to his SAT-10s from Gr. 3-5 and the one short assessment we did at Sylvan during his 2nd grade year, I found lots of documented history of his literacy difficulties: very low spelling and low average to average reading & language mechanics contrasted with high listening comprehension, social studies, and science scores. Very useful history from a non-mom source.