What should I know about standardized testing?

[mo2]

We've never done it before. Dd is 9, so age-wise, she would be in 4th, which would mean I should order the 5th grade test. But, most of her work is at a late 3rd/early 4th grade level, so is it okay if I order the 4th grade test? I'm looking at the CAT since no degree is required to administer it. Has anyone used the online version at Christian Liberty?

 

http://www.shopchristianliberty.com/california-achievement-test-online-version/

 

Any advice for my dd, who has never taken a standardized test before? Anything we should do to prepare?

[ElizabethB]

Why would you think you need the 5th grade level? 9 should be 4th grade, and you normally give the test for the grade the child would be in unless you want to compare to a year ahead for some reason.

 

For practice, I would teach general test teaching techniques and also give a few pages of tests from state tests online. Texas has a nice selection:

 

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index3.aspx?id=3839&menu_id=793

 

The main things to emphasize are paying attention to boring stories and boring questions, filling out bubbles, and understanding how and why to narrow down answers and make a best guess. Also, to understand that there will be things on the test that are above grade level to help them score the tests.

[mo2]

Why would you think you need the 5th grade level? 9 should be 4th grade, and you normally give the test for the grade the child would be in unless you want to compare to a year ahead for some reason.

 

For practice, I would teach general test teaching techniques and also give a few pages of tests from state tests online. Texas has a nice selection:

 

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index3.aspx?id=3839&menu_id=793

 

The main things to emphasize are paying attention to boring stories and boring questions, filling out bubbles, and understanding how and why to narrow down answers and make a best guess. Also, to understand that there will be things on the test that are above grade level to help them score the tests.

 

 

Well, the websites that sell the CAT say that if you administer it in the spring, choose the grade level that the student will be going into, not the one they are currently in.

 

Thanks for the link.

[ElizabethB]

Well, the websites that sell the CAT say that if you administer it in the spring, choose the grade level that the student will be going into, not the one they are currently in.

 

OK, that makes sense.

[Love Home]

Last year I chose the first grade test for my first grader. I would choose the 4th grade level if I were you. There's no use frustrating our dc.

[almondbutterandjelly]

My dd took that CAT test online last year (end of her 4th grade year). I just got whatever test they said (so that would have been 5th like you said.) I think it would depend on why you are taking the test as to if you want to do the "4th grade" test as opposed to the recommended one. I am not required to test, so I was just doing it for practice and to see where my dd would fall in the normed scores.

 

I do think test-taking is a skill, and since last year's test, we have gotten the following items to work on those skills: Editor in Chief software by Critical Thinking Company, Building Thinking Skills software by Critical Thinking Company, Core Curriculum Vocabulary Cards by Super Duper Inc.

 

That said, my dd won't be testing again for another couple of weeks, so I don't yet know how much my test-prep has helped.

[JDages]

I agree - just choose the 4th grade test.

[pahansen]

We just did our online tests on Friday. I tested both my 1st and 3rd grader, although PA law only requires results for 3rd grade.

 

My experiences were mixed. As far as administering the test, CLP was the way to go. I didn't need to have a proctor, because the computer did it for me. (In PA, a parent cannot proctor the standardized test.) I thought that the test was challenging, so I have no complaints about the 1970 edition. My oldest is gifted, and while he scored quite well, there were parts of the test where he ran out of time. You may want to warn your child about this. Because he still scored well on that section, I assume that the timed nature of the test is checking for mastery, rather than just understanding, of the subject matter. Nevertheless, simple test taking skills -- like answering all of the questions you know and skipping difficult ones -- could make a difference. The online test does allow you to return to previous questions. Also, if you have a child who has to work at using a mouse easily, the timed nature could be a problem.

 

I did have a complaint about the reading section, in that there were no spaces between paragraphs in the story my son was reading. He was getting quite frustrated trying to search for answers in a large block of oddly formatted text.

 

My main complaint was about the test results. The good news is that they were immediately available, which is nice, especially if you're in a time crunch. Also, the kids still remembered which sections were which because we reviewed the tests on the same day they took them. The results also include all of the important elements to meet state requirements (stanine, percentile, raw score, and grade level equivalent). However, there was no further information available. Because I was testing for my own reasons as well, I was disappointed in the lack of more specific information. Compared to the test score report on the CATforms website (also for the 1970 CAT), this one was totally bare bones. If you are testing for your own reasons, you may want to know where your child is struggling specifically -- "Reading Comprehension" is a pretty broad subject.

 

That said, I will probably use CLP again. At $25 a test, the price is certainly right, and I'm willing to settle for the broader results to avoid finding a proctor. I just wish that they'd invest in expanding their database to analyze the subtopics on the test.

 

As for which grade to choose, I would follow the advice on the website. If you are simply unsure about which grade your child would be in at school, keep in mind that if she turned 9 after September 30, many states would place her in the third grade this year. Also, if she turned 9 on or after June 1, you may have had the option of holding her back and beginning school a year later at the beginning of kindergarten/first grade. If you have never done anything other than homeschooling, which is fairly fluid as far as grade level is concerned, I'd suggest taking some time to think about what grade you would have chosen and choose a grade level now, then stick with it from here on out. My oldest is "in third grade" and is doing work on a third to sixth grade level, depending on the subject. I have a 4yo who is able to do most of her sister's first grade work already (but I don't like that much structure at that young an age), but she won't be "in first grade" for another year and a half, regardless of the work she's doing. My first grader is awful with phonics and spelling, through the roof with reading, and trying to hold her own with addition and subtraction. She's still "in first grade" in our house, we're just moving slowly with lessons and we probably won't take a huge summer break with her. It just seems simpler to me to pick a grade and stick with it for formality's sake while providing individualized instruction, although I can understand why some people would disagree.

 

Happy testing!

Pamela

[nono]

We did the CLP CAT online version last year at the end of first grade for my dd. What reeked was the rendering of the reading passage(s) on her 16:9 monitor. It made the story 1 1/2 lines long, very long across the whole screen. Which, it turns out, was very hard for my dd to comprehend. It didn't look like a paragraph or story to her, but just a long, run-on sentence! It unnerved her, and she did terribly in that section. (Eh, such is life. We ended up with good life lessons from it. She retook a reading only test a week later, with better results.)

 

This year, she'll take the next test. I'll be plugging in a 4:3 style monitor into her computer before we start. ;)

[mo2]

We just did our online tests on Friday. I tested both my 1st and 3rd grader, although PA law only requires results for 3rd grade.

 

My experiences were mixed. As far as administering the test, CLP was the way to go. I didn't need to have a proctor, because the computer did it for me. (In PA, a parent cannot proctor the standardized test.) I thought that the test was challenging, so I have no complaints about the 1970 edition. My oldest is gifted, and while he scored quite well, there were parts of the test where he ran out of time. You may want to warn your child about this. Because he still scored well on that section, I assume that the timed nature of the test is checking for mastery, rather than just understanding, of the subject matter. Nevertheless, simple test taking skills -- like answering all of the questions you know and skipping difficult ones -- could make a difference. The online test does allow you to return to previous questions. Also, if you have a child who has to work at using a mouse easily, the timed nature could be a problem.

 

I did have a complaint about the reading section, in that there were no spaces between paragraphs in the story my son was reading. He was getting quite frustrated trying to search for answers in a large block of oddly formatted text.

 

My main complaint was about the test results. The good news is that they were immediately available, which is nice, especially if you're in a time crunch. Also, the kids still remembered which sections were which because we reviewed the tests on the same day they took them. The results also include all of the important elements to meet state requirements (stanine, percentile, raw score, and grade level equivalent). However, there was no further information available. Because I was testing for my own reasons as well, I was disappointed in the lack of more specific information. Compared to the test score report on the CATforms website (also for the 1970 CAT), this one was totally bare bones. If you are testing for your own reasons, you may want to know where your child is struggling specifically -- "Reading Comprehension" is a pretty broad subject.

 

That said, I will probably use CLP again. At $25 a test, the price is certainly right, and I'm willing to settle for the broader results to avoid finding a proctor. I just wish that they'd invest in expanding their database to analyze the subtopics on the test.

 

As for which grade to choose, I would follow the advice on the website. If you are simply unsure about which grade your child would be in at school, keep in mind that if she turned 9 after September 30, many states would place her in the third grade this year. Also, if she turned 9 on or after June 1, you may have had the option of holding her back and beginning school a year later at the beginning of kindergarten/first grade. If you have never done anything other than homeschooling, which is fairly fluid as far as grade level is concerned, I'd suggest taking some time to think about what grade you would have chosen and choose a grade level now, then stick with it from here on out. My oldest is "in third grade" and is doing work on a third to sixth grade level, depending on the subject. I have a 4yo who is able to do most of her sister's first grade work already (but I don't like that much structure at that young an age), but she won't be "in first grade" for another year and a half, regardless of the work she's doing. My first grader is awful with phonics and spelling, through the roof with reading, and trying to hold her own with addition and subtraction. She's still "in first grade" in our house, we're just moving slowly with lessons and we probably won't take a huge summer break with her. It just seems simpler to me to pick a grade and stick with it for formality's sake while providing individualized instruction, although I can understand why some people would disagree.

 

Happy testing!

Pamela

 

 

 

Thank you for this detailed review. Thanks to everyone who replied.