Scarlett Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 :confused: He is a K12 ARVA student. He just finished up Grade 2 everything except Grade 3 math, and they tested him at Grade 2. Under the heading of PR-S for reading it says 99-9. And math is 77-7. Does that mean he only scored in the 77 percentile in math? Last year he scored 98 on the ITBS. I can't believe he would have gone down that much in math which is his best subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyThreeSons Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 :confused: I can't believe he would have gone down that much in math which is his best subject. Maybe he got off track on his answer grid? Can you call whoever did the scoring and ask that they check that possibility? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 Maybe he got off track on his answer grid? Can you call whoever did the scoring and ask that they check that possibility? I don't know. I put an email in to the school...the teacher he has last year is 'no longer employed' there. She SUDDENLY disappeared about 2 weeks before school was over in mid May. So he is a child without a teacher at the moment. I dread having to show this to dh. :crying: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 I dread having to show this to dh. :crying: Because.... ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 Because.... ?? Because dh is not 100% supportive to start with and he will see going from 98 percentile to 77 percentile as proof that I can't properly educate our son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam "SFSOM" in TN Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Because dh is not 100% supportive to start with and he will see going from 98 percentile to 77 percentile as proof that I can't properly educate our son. One test isn't indicative of success or failure. Get an IOWA test and have him retested. It is *highly* unlikely that he dropped that far in one year. But I have to say, doing better than 76% of all his test-mates on this level is nothing to be sad about. I understand that this is unlikely to appease your dh. You might want to adopt the attitude that it is what it is, but that clearly, this test is off. No apologies to your dh, no wringing of hands. Just retest him and be done with the guilt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenschooler Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Also, he might have had an off day (in regards to math) on the day of the test. Did he take it all in one day, or spread over several? Was math the last test of the day? It is also possible that some things were covered on the test that he hasn't learned yet. So what? He's going to learn them, right? If you are happy with your math curriculum (I don't know what K-12 uses), and you don't see any major problem areas, then don't worry about it. If you do see weaknesses, fill them in. But it's not the end of the world if he learns a concept next year, rather than this year. It all comes out the same in the end! You should have scores for problem solving and computation, and those two will be averaged for the final math percentile. Dd16 always did well in computation, but dd13 scored higher in problem solving. It ended up putting them close to the same percentile rank in math overall, and those two couldn't be more different when it comes to math! It's a test. It is only a test. I'd take another one if it will make you feel better, but I'd also talk to dh about putting so much stock in one test. That kind of pressure isn't going to make your homeschool successful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 I agree with Pam---get an ITBS test and test him with that. That's the only way to see how he's really comparing to last year. The score could reflect all sorts of things: How he felt that day, the way the wording was put together, whether he was too hot or cold or couldn't concentrate on that part....and many more. Also, at that age, sometimes they start concentrating more on some other aspect so are not as strong in another area as they were the year before. At young ages these tests do vary! Also, another thing Pam said is true---he did better than 76% of all others tested. That doesn't sound bad to me, and is probably, still better than what he would do in ps when he's just more of a number--one of a classroom full of kids! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekanamom Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 I agree with other posters... re-test. :) That said... when we used K12, they had us signed up for Study Island in addition to our regular work... mostly to give the kids practice in test-taking. I noticed that the K12 math really did not match up very well with the Study Island math questions. We couldn't ditch the K12 math, because we were using K12 through a public charter school, and I had agreed to use the materials they provided. So- we still did the K12 math, but I also supplemented with Abeka math. The kids' Study Island scores went up after using Abeka for a few months. And we were one of the few families that scored well in Math on the state Star Test. (I know most families didn't do well on the math portion, because the following year they were really pushing for a lot of math supplementation to "improve math test scores".) Now- I really dislike complaining about curricula, because although something else worked better for us, perhaps the K12 math really does work well for others. I am just not a mathy person and I cannot say whether the K12 math is "good" or "bad". I can just say that my kids did better on the state test compared to other K12 users when we focused on the Abeka math and sort of just went through to motions of completing the K12 math because we had to. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 You might want to adopt the attitude that it is what it is, but that clearly, this test is off. No apologies to your dh, no wringing of hands. Just retest him and be done with the guilt. You (all of you) are right of course. I am better now. :) I talked to my mom just now (she taught 5th grade until she retired) and she said it is a great score and to stop worrying and DO NOT LET dh make ds feel as if it is not a good score. I do understand about percentiles and it just being one test and all of that...and that he did better than 76% of his class mates...It is just the dropping so far that bugs me. OTOH, last year he scored 90 percentile in reading and 99 this year. 98 on Language last year and 99 this year. He did not miss one single question in all of his LA and Reading this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 I noticed that the K12 math really did not match up very well with the Study Island math questions. Ds was only in 2nd grade last year and they dont start Study Island until 3rd grade. But my friends with older kids in the ARVA mentioned how much harder Study Island was than the K12 work. So maybe that is what is going on....it just isn't lining up. Did your kids like Study Island? I hope ds doesn't resist doing it, because I think it will improve his score. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekanamom Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Ds was only in 2nd grade last year and they dont start Study Island until 3rd grade. But my friends with older kids in the ARVA mentioned how much harder Study Island was than the K12 work. So maybe that is what is going on....it just isn't lining up. Did your kids like Study Island? I hope ds doesn't resist doing it, because I think it will improve his score. They loved Study Island! :) I may sign them up independently because they really did enjoy it, and I think it did help with test scores. Yep- the other K12 subjects lined up much better with Study Island than the math did... Abeka Math lined up very well with it. (This was third grade, I can't comment on other years...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 They loved Study Island! :) I may sign them up independently because they really did enjoy it, and I think it did help with test scores. Yep- the other K12 subjects lined up much better with Study Island than the math did... Abeka Math lined up very well with it. (This was third grade, I can't comment on other years...) Thank you. Good to know. He is going into 3rd grade, except 4th grade math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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