amo_mea_filiis. Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 Ds is listed as 3rd this year with the district. 3rd means testing. Our evaluator called him 2nd because of his delays. I've no interest in arguing with the district. I just need to find a test that he isn't going to look "so bad" on. I am working within his abilities and he is making progress. If you're in PA, or can go check out PA regulations, please give me some advice! What do I use? Who can give it? Ds has special needs. He is not reading for a few reasons, one being his eyes. OTOH, on a good day, he's read a few pages of a Magic Tree House book to a dog. So he *can* sort of read, but not consistently and doesn't believe that he can even after he reads. He's not writing at all, again primarily because of eyes. He's doing basic multiplication, addition with carrying, but only basic subtraction. Since including audiobooks, his processing has gotten better. He has an expressive language disorder. Do I need to find out about accommodations, or can I just find a test that he may do better with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 I use the old CAT from Family Learning Organization. I don't think it's on the specific list, but my district has never said anything about it, and I've used it 4 times so far, lol. It's pretty simple. One of my dds pretty much bombed a few sections in 3rd. Not a single eyebrow was raised (but my own!) The state liason DID tell me I needed to test ds1 at his "age-based grade level" rather than the grade *I assigned him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 According to PA state law: "TESTS The Pennsylvania School Code, 24 P.S. §13-1327.1(e)(1) states that the portfolio for home education students in grades 3, 5 and 8 must include the results of the statewide tests for reading/language arts and mathematics or nationally normed standardized achievements tests. If the supervisor of the home education program requests that the student(s) take the PSSA, the school district must allow the student to take the test at the school building the home education student would normally attend or other accommodations agreed to by the school district and the parent. The Department has approved the following nationally normed standardized tests for use by home education programs if they choose not to take the statewide test: California Achievement Test Comprehensive Testing Program (CTPIV) Iowa Test of Basic Skills Metropolitan Achievement Test Peabody Achievement Individual Test – Revised Version Stanford Achievement Test Terra Nova Woodcock Johnson Revised Tests of Achievement III Wechsler Individual Achievement Test III (WIAT-III)" Also, you'll have to find someone else to administer the test. "...parents must pay for an alternative test and its administration. Neither the home education supervisor (parent or guardian) nor the spouse of the supervisor may administer the alternative test." The Special Needs part is tricky. It looks like if your child has a documented/diagnosed special need, which you would need in order to get accommodations on a test, you should also have approval from a state certified special education teacher that your home education program addresses his particular needs. Do you already have this part in place? Answers to some of your other questions depend on your answer to this one. Here is a link to the PA requirements for homeschooling a special needs student. Apparently it would then be up to you to make sure the test you want to use (from the list above) allows accommodations, and that the test is administered with the accommodations properly, even though you can't administer it yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amo_mea_filiis. Posted September 23, 2013 Author Share Posted September 23, 2013 Thanks! Yes, I make sure to have sped sign off on his program. I actually use the head of sped from the local sd. She reviews his portfolio from the previous year, looks at the plan, and writes a sentence to the middle school principal (our superintendent doesn't handle homeschooling). I spoke to a sped homeschooler/evaluator/tester and she gave me some good info. First being that the sd can't legally assign grade levels. I've never given ds a grade level, only age as law requires. Evaluator says we can try the CAT a couple of times at the 3rd grade level and see if he scores well enough to not raise eyebrows. Another option is to just not test, and wait for a letter from sd, and write back repeating that he's not working on that level and his needs are clearly documented. We can also give a test based on where he's working even it doesn't match his sd given grade level. I'm not so scared anymore. Lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 If that is your list I would opt for the WIAT-III the reason being that is the test used when they are testing for LD, so you could presumably use the the results of that test to further your cause in looking for supports and establishing the paper trail to insure he gets accomodations down the line when the tests become more important kwim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.