Maybe if you're From NJ, Iowa isn't the best test...

[nono]

My dd's been doing the second grade Iowa test. Yesterday she did the Social Studies unit. Generally, I don't notice many of her answers, as I'm sitting away from her reading the test questions. But, I caught a few. What a hoot! Two of her answer make total sense from her world, which is living on a sandbar a couple blocks from the end of the country.

 

One of the questions asked something to the effect of "Which one isn't essential?" There was a picture of shoes, a coat and a jacket (kinda like a varsity jacket). She chose shoes. Which, for here, is the right answer! :D The other one I noticed she blew was, "What's a hill?" I remember thinking, "Well, there's a softball question" as I read it. She had three choices. The equivalent of the Matterhorn, a smaller mountain, and a perfect drawing of a hill. Yep, she chose Matterhorn. :lol: I guess since our elevation only changes about 12' in the county, she's not clear on the difference yet.

 

Yes, I know I don't have to test in New Jersey. However, I like to have proof along the way that I am producing an equivalent outcome. I find that I get a lot of feedback on my performance from the testing as well. I don't think it is necessary for everyone to do so. But it is for us.

[kewb]

And that is why I give my kids the PASS test.

 

 

Also in NJ and I like to test every couple of years just to see how they are tracking.

[Wheres Toto]

Also in NJ and we did the CAT test for the first time this year. No social studies yet but I am wondering about how that will go. :D

[SkateLeft]

The social studies sections on all of those tests (Iowa, CAT/5) seem to be equally bad. I quickly learned to avoid using the complete batteries! :D

 

We lived in CA and now live in the midwest (and I'm from NY!), and my kids would still have issues with the social studies questions. The ones with the pictures are the worst!

[nono]

I thought it was hilarious! I figured she'd totally bomb the "social studies" portion, but not for those reasons!

 

We did CAT last year, ITBS this year, and perhaps PASS next year, esp. if you recommend it kewb. I figured we could get a "taste" of each of them, and then determine which one really works for us. I love having choices!

 

eta: Sailmom, we did the 3 optional, including Social Studies first, as a warm-up. I figured she wouldn't do great in them anyways, might as well get the jitters out.

Edited June 6, 2012 by nono

[Carrie12345]

Funny! I wonder how my kids would answer. We live on a mountain, and I always refer to "going down the hill." Plus, my son thinks pants are optional most days...

[SkateLeft]

eta: Sailmom, we did the 3 optional, including Social Studies first, as a warm-up. I figured she wouldn't do great in them anyways, might as well get the jitters out.

 

Good call! My problem was that I took the testing all seriously our first year, and then I was thinking, "Oh no! I've failed them! They can't tell that's a picture of a waterfall!" :lol:

[GoVanGogh]

I figured she'd totally bomb the "social studies" portion, but not for those reasons!

:lol:

Same here.

We live in the deep south, but take the Iowa test.

 

We don't follow the ps scope and sequence, so are way out of line with traditional social studies/history/geography studies. But I didn't realize there would be so many bizarre cultural questions. Some of the social studies questions truly baffle us.

Like, "How would you dress in the winter?"

Yup. Shorts and flip flops, here. :D No need for that parka-thing you wanted the child to select.

A question from 4-5 years ago asked the child what job his parents would hire done for them. (Like, lawn mowed, house painted...) I was so taken aback by that question... I asked my urban neighbor and she said, "All of the above." I asked my country-born and country-raised father and he said, "None of the above." I don't know how a 1st grader could pick a "right" answer, as it would depend so much on the family!

[nono]

:lol:

A question from 4-5 years ago asked the child what job his parents would hire done for them. (Like, lawn mowed, house painted...) I was so taken aback by that question... I asked my urban neighbor and she said, "All of the above." I asked my country-born and country-raised father and he said, "None of the above." I don't know how a 1st grader could pick a "right" answer, as it would depend so much on the family!

 

Oh my! I just remembered another one, kind of along those lines. It was something about "What do you do to make it easier for the whole family?" My dd filled in the circle under wearing a bicycle helmet. Which is totally correct in her world, because 2x this year, she's forgotten her helmet*, and it disrupted the family, as her Dad had to either drive it over to where we were, or go back and get it while we all waited! Hanging up a piece of clothing on a hook? Shoot, she's not tall enough to reach a hook yet in this house! :D

 

*BTW, I've started to look at the whole rider, not just the feet of our riders before getting off the block! (insert dunce cap smiley for me here)

[Crimson Wife]

My DD missed the word "cellar" on the vocab portion of a standardized test (think it was the CAT but am not 100% sure). Here is CA, few houses even have them, and if they do, they are called "the basement".

 

Having grown up in New England, I had to laugh at that mistake because I played "down cellar" all the time as a kid :lol:

[kewb]

We have only done The Pass test. It works for us. It is math and language only. The language portion is broken down into 2 parts. So, I test over 3 days.

[In the Rain]

:lol: That is funny!

 

It reminds me of a book we had when dd was a toddler/preschooler. You were supposed to match Elmo to the outfit he should wear to the beach. My dd chose rain coat and boots. :lol: We lived in the Pacific Northwest, and 9 times out of 10 we were at the beach during storms or in the winter, wearing hiking shoes and jackets. At that age, she probably hadn't yet seen a swimsuit or a beach ball at the beach.

[...................]

Lol! I played "down cellar" in PA as a kid too. Here in Florida we don't have them either. I asked my dd just now, "Do you know what a cellar is?"

 

She said "it's an underground place where people put extra food, and storage and they go there in a tornado and if there isn't enough room for all your guests, they sleep in the cellar.....I would love to be a guest and sleep in the cellar!!!!!"

 

Lol where she got that last idea I don't know!

[Berta]

Formerly from NJ here. When my son was younger his test asked which doesn't rhyme: frog, log, dog and cat. To us, there are two that don't rhyme, dog and cat. We pronounce dog ..dawg.. and dog doesn't rhyme with frog or log!

[nono]

This is cute and all, but its also shows how these "standardized tests" are so culturally biased.

 

Well, on the plus side, our family is 3/4 Chinese, so my daughter slam-dunked the question about someone using something that originated in China (chopsticks). A question that I'm sure was inserted over the years due to charges of cultural bias.

 

Again, my family can approach this lightheartedly because we have no requirements surrounding testing. No offense intended for those who don't have the leeway for other avenues of evaluation.

[nrself]

Its not just school achievement tests though. When my oldest was three (in 2004), he was tested for speech delays. One of the picture cards they wanted him to name was a telephone. It was one of those big, old fashioned phones with a cord to the earpiece and the dialer on the front. ;)

 

Nicole

[Spetzi]

DS took an IQ test once which asked about apple "pips." While I had read that once or twice (in my life) even I did a double take. We call them seeds or I could understand pit (like a peach), but pips?

 

We're also in NJ. I didn't realize there were several of us here. Waving from Union county!

[GoVanGogh]

I remember my son struggling with the "cellar" vocabulary word. He thought they had misspelled "seller" and couldn't figure out why the sentence didn't make sense.

 

Its super interesting to me. There was an interweb uproar about NY state removing references to dinos from state tests but you can actually see from a thread like this how hard it is to eliminate cultural bias.

I made a comment about the children's names used on the ITBS a year or so back and received several private e-mails saying that I was rude/insensitive/not politically correct. :tongue_smilie:

But here I go again...

We live in an urban area with lots of immigrants. We are used to hearing every ethnic name you can imagine. We have friends from many different countries.

I still think standardized tests should use basic names on their tests!

Test makers can still use 'common' names that show up across different cultures, like Anna/Ana, Peter or Alexander.

There was one question several years ago where the child's name had a dozen or so letters with only one vowel. This was on a first grade test, where I would assume most of the children were fairly new readers. My DS didn't even attempt to answer the question because, in his words, he didn't know how to pronounce the child's name so couldn't possibly know the correct answer. :tongue_smilie:

 

When my oldest was three (in 2004), he was tested for speech delays. One of the picture cards they wanted him to name was a telephone. It was one of those big, old fashioned phones with a cord to the earpiece and the dialer on the front.

That reminds me of DS "failing" his vision screening at the doctor's office. I told the nurse he knew how to read and would do better with the letter test, but she insisted DS had to take the vision test with pictures. One of the pictures was a dainty little tea cup on a saucer. DS thought it was a sailboat. :lol: I have always wondered how many children failed their vision tests because they couldn't figure out the obscure pictures.

[nono]

Its super interesting to me. There was an interweb uproar about NY state removing references to dinos from state tests but you can actually see from a thread like this how hard it is to eliminate cultural bias.

 

My mom and dad were huge believers in test taking as a measure of intelligence and my SAT score was anticipated yearly (I had to do it each year from gr 7 on) as a measure of my progress. LOL

 

 

1. Your parents needed to lighten up! :grouphug:

 

2. I think it's impossible to build a perfectly fair test.

 

My dh and I just read her vocabulary portion of her test. We were laughing hard. As my dh said, "So many of her answers aren't correct-right, but they are right for her."

 

I think as long as the test isn't made into some type of g*d, it can be just one more useful tool for some folks, if they want to use it. I am certainly not in the camp of mandatory testing.

 

Oh, and waving back at Spetzi, from Cape May County. :tongue_smilie:

[Berta]

 

We're also in NJ. I didn't realize there were several of us here. Waving from Union county!

 

I grew up in Springfield, Union Co.

[boscopup]

That reminds me of DS "failing" his vision screening at the doctor's office. I told the nurse he knew how to read and would do better with the letter test, but she insisted DS had to take the vision test with pictures. One of the pictures was a dainty little tea cup on a saucer. DS thought it was a sailboat. :lol: I have always wondered how many children failed their vision tests because they couldn't figure out the obscure pictures.

 

When DS1 was around 3 years old, we had to go to the eye doctor several times to keep up with a potential issue. They used the pictures, and for the birthday cake, he said, "i's". The cake was not a continuous drawing - it was more like a stencil. And the candles did, indeed, look like 3 letter i's. :D

 

The lady adminstering the test took into account the fact that most kids had no clue what those things were, so she accepted any reasonable answer. ;)

[...................]

No way! After I lived in PA until I was 12, I grew up in Cape May County. :seeya:

[amyable]

These posts are making me happy we have used the CAT in the past, although I do like the comic relief of the social studies answers! :)

 

I have nothing really useful to add, just wanted to hop in as a former NJ-ite (also Union county - grew up in Scotch Plains)

[my2boysteacher]

When my sons were three and four they had to do the picture vision screenings. There was a plus sign, but my kids called it a 'Jesus Cross'. Really, how many three year olds know what a plus sign is? :confused:

[Crimson Wife]

I still think standardized tests should use basic names on their tests!

Test makers can still use 'common' names that show up across different cultures, like Anna/Ana, Peter or Alexander.

There was one question several years ago where the child's name had a dozen or so letters with only one vowel. This was on a first grade test, where I would assume most of the children were fairly new readers. My DS didn't even attempt to answer the question because, in his words, he didn't know how to pronounce the child's name so couldn't possibly know the correct answer. :tongue_smilie:

 

I've always assumed that the reason the names Carlos and Maria show up so often in textbooks is because they are ethnic-sounding but very easy to read :lol:

[nono]

But here I go again...

We live in an urban area with lots of immigrants. We are used to hearing every ethnic name you can imagine. We have friends from many different countries.

I still think standardized tests should use basic names on their tests!

Test makers can still use 'common' names that show up across different cultures, like Anna/Ana, Peter or Alexander.

There was one question several years ago where the child's name had a dozen or so letters with only one vowel. This was on a first grade test, where I would assume most of the children were fairly new readers. My DS didn't even attempt to answer the question because, in his words, he didn't know how to pronounce the child's name so couldn't possibly know the correct answer. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

Oh, the first grade CAT survey we used last year did the same thing. Dh and I were talking about that when I had my dd do a few pages of "Test Prep" from a booklet last month. Using the "Test Prep" material, I taught my dd to read, "Someone" for whatever confusing new, lengthly names she encountered in the questions. :) From watching her take those sections of the test, I think the tactic stuck.

 

Can't we use something like "the child/the person" for first and second grade? It eliminates culture and gender in one swoop.

[In the Rain]

When my sons were three and four they had to do the picture vision screenings. There was a plus sign, but my kids called it a 'Jesus Cross'. Really, how many three year olds know what a plus sign is? :confused:

 

Our pediatrician' eye chart had those too. It also had a steering wheel with spikes, such as one would see on a ship. :001_huh: My dd could see it, but couldn't decide what to call it. :lol:

[Wheres Toto]

My kids call the crescent shape on the eye test "the moon" and the plus sign they held up their fingers in the shape of a cross (we're secular and the last cross my son saw he thought it was a sword).

 

Waving from Morris County.

[Maverick_Mom]

Feeling compelled to add: lived 18 mos in Burlington! Exit 5? Can't remember.:lol

 

Exit 5 sounds right. We lived for 4 years at Exit 8 (Hightstown) and 5 years at Exit 12 (Carteret).

 

Just finished reading Diane Ravitch's book The Language Police, and she writes about how some standardized tests have eliminated geographic references because they supposedly discriminate against children who have no first-hand knowledge of them. I'm guessing the Iowa isn't one of them. ;)

[Maverick_Mom]

ts should use basic names on their tests!

Test makers can still use 'common' names that show up across different cultures, like Anna/Ana, Peter or Alexander.

 

 

Ds had to edit a sentence yesterday. One of the words that was supposed to be corrected was the name "Joana." According to the answer key, it was supposed to be "Joanna." Not only does ds not know anyone by that name and would not automatically know how to spell it, but I have seen it spelled "Joana." So when he didn't "correct," I just let it go. ;)

[boscopup]

Ds had to edit a sentence yesterday. One of the words that was supposed to be corrected was the name "Joana." According to the answer key, it was supposed to be "Joanna." Not only does ds not know anyone by that name and would not automatically know how to spell it, but I have seen it spelled "Joana." So when he didn't "correct," I just let it go. ;)

 

In this day and age of using "weird spellings" for traditional names just to make it different, that is an incredibly stupid question! :lol:

[garddwr]

But see that's why I hate those tests. They ask too many dumb questions.

 

Although oddly, growing up (in CT) they gave us the IOWA tests. CT has it's own test now, but no for years they used IOWA.

 

I remember almost nothing from my kindergarten days except the test they gave me upon entering. I remember them asking me how many wheels a barrel has. WT?!

 

Could they possibly have been asking about a wheelbarrow?

[nono]

So when he didn't "correct," I just let it go. ;)

 

Oh, totally. And that's how we approach the testing as well. The root of my "pro" testing stance for us is not because I think testing is good or in any way an accurate reflection of my children's abilities.

 

Until our dd came along and I quit work, I used to have to test on new subject material at least 2x a year, sometimes up to 6x. While those tests were better than any academic tests I had taken, there were still so many ambiguous questions that sometimes, I'd fail a test in an area where I was a subject-matter expert! :lol: I want my kids to understand that it's win some/lose some in the arena of standardized testing. We wake up the next day, and the world is still spinning. :)

 

On the other hand, in both the professional testing and academic testing areas, the testing itself does reveal to me some gaps in understanding. And I love finding that out and filling them in!

 

For all those NJ/former NJ folks wondering, no today is not shaping up to be a good beach day...western winds. :thumbdown: (There's a regional question...What's the difference between going "down the shore" and going "to the beach"? Point of distinction that no one asks on a standardized test. :tongue_smilie: A: First one requires a car or bus. Second one requires a bike or feet. ;) )

[ktgrok]

I test for the reasons you do, but skip the social studies sections, lol.

[Testimony]

I live in NJ. My sons have been taking the IOWA test since first grade. My older son always says that they always have a question about Kwanza. We eventually had to look up what it was about because we knew nothing about it. Every year it comes up on their tests. I would never teach it to them otherwise.

 

I started to realize that the science and social studies section are arbitrary or more subjective. If you are not teaching that science that year, your child will not do well. If you are, then he will do well. I remember one year my son did terribly in the science section, then the following year he got in the 90th percentile. That's when I realize that the IOWAs is not a good gage for those areas. I prefer to concentrate on the basics of math, reading comprehension, and language arts. Everything else is fluff.

 

Blessings in your homeschooling journey!

 

Sincerely,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[happyhomemaker]

I live in NJ. My sons have been taking the IOWA test since first grade. My older son always says that they always have a question about Kwanza. We eventually had to look up what it was about because we knew nothing about it. Every year it comes up on their tests. I would never teach it to them otherwise.

 

I started to realize that the science and social studies section are arbitrary or more subjective. If you are not teaching that science that year, your child will not do well. If you are, then he will do well. I remember one year my son did terribly in the science section, then the following year he got in the 90th percentile. That's when I realize that the IOWAs is not a good gage for those areas. I prefer to concentrate on the basics of math, reading comprehension, and language arts. Everything else is fluff.

 

Blessings in your homeschooling journey!

 

Sincerely,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

 

Dd missed a question about Kwanza on the IOWA this year too. She had no idea what it was talking about. She also missed a math question about the lottery because she had no idea what a lottery is. I explained it after the test and she easily got the right answer, but it's just not something that ever came up at home. I like being able to look through the test after the kids are done so I can get a good idea of what they missed that they should have known, what they missed that we haven't covered yet, and what they missed due to something silly like not having the cultural knowledge to answer properly.

[mom31257]

I was convinced that ds would bomb the social studies and science sections of the 2nd grade ITBS test. When he actually took it, he got 100% correct on each. I think the advantage of giving your child any test is, if he or she misses something you can figure out why. There are always going to be questions that they answer a certain way for their own reasons.