end of year testing (I'm slightly terrified)

[athomeontheprairie]

my oldest is in third grade. and when we first began our homeschool journey we decided we would be testing at the end of 3rd grade. we homeschool for many reasons and one part of that is academics. 90 percent of the time I feel that she is getting a better education at home then she would in school. then there are days like today where that 10 percent trumps.

she took a math test today, and if I was keeping score she would have only gotten 40 percent. every single mistake was a sloppy ones. She KNOWS how to do the problems. and when she goes back and looks at them and walks me through how she solved for answers she can find the mistakes every single time.

I am scared that when we do testing next month, the test results will come in so low! even though she knows it. is anybody else like this? did it all turn out okay?

part of why we homeschool is academic, but if she is not getting a better education than the one school can offer her I need to reevaluate.

 

some days I feel like such a success! couple days ago she told me that "this was the best year ever!" and she has finally gotten multiplication facts down to our goal time. we enjoy school a lot this year!

but I'll be ready for her to take this test and to get the results so I can stop fretting

[Ellie]

my oldest is in third grade. and when we first began our homeschool journey we decided we would be testing at the end of 3rd grade. we homeschool for many reasons and one part of that is academics. 90 percent of the time I feel that she is getting a better education at home then she would in school. then there are days like today where that 10 percent trumps.

she took a math test today, and if I was keeping score she would have only gotten 40 percent. every single mistake was a sloppy ones. She KNOWS how to do the problems. and when she goes back and looks at them and walks me through how she solved for answers she can find the mistakes every single time.

I am scared that when we do testing next month, the test results will come in so low! even though she knows it. is anybody else like this? did it all turn out okay?

part of why we homeschool is academic, but if she is not getting a better education than the one school can offer her I need to reevaluate.

 

some days I feel like such a success! couple days ago she told me that "this was the best year ever!" and she has finally gotten multiplication facts down to our goal time. we enjoy school a lot this year!

but I'll be ready for her to take this test and to get the results so I can stop fretting

 

Well, I would not base my evaluation of how we were doing on standardized test scores, especially not for the first time, for an 8yo.

[kirstenhill]

I would just relax! Even though my DD often makes some careless mistakes, on the standardized tests she always comes out about as I would expect -- high scores in areas I know she excels at, low scores in areas that I know are weak for her.  The only "surprise" was a low score in an area I thought might be "common sense" but it turned out she needs some direct instruction (punctuation).

[Lissande]

I'm sure you'll get a lot more wisdom from people with older children, but I would say this:

 

However the testing goes in the end, keep in mind that it's just a single data point. It's not the ultimate grade on your homeschool. You can take it into account, but also take into account her day-to-day performance, what she can do, what she has learned, the fact that she can FIND those mistakes! It's not just about the score; you can still be providing an academically superior education if she has an off day on testing day. It'll be okay :)

[Starr]

What test is she taking? Are you giving it at home?

[73349]

Remember that standardized tests are designed so that nearly all kids get some questions wrong. They are not looking for how many she can get right, but how her number of right/wrong questions compares to those of other kids in the same grade.

 

And what if she does do poorly? Then you have to consider whether her performance that day reflects what she knows, whether this test was a good instrument to measure what she has been learning, and what you'd like to do about it. But don't worry about that two months ahead of time!

[athomeontheprairie]

Well, I would not base my evaluation of how we were doing on standardized test scores, especially not for the first time, for an 8yo.

Ok. But then what? how do i determine whether or not she is learning as an appropriate rate? if my academics, which I believe to be solid and challenging, are in fact not at all, how do I make an unbiased evaluation?

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

We've done the ITBS (Iowa test) from Brewer Testing each year without drama.  The Brewers are great to deal with.

 

We break it up over about five days, which works out to maybe 2 30-minute sessions a day, or less (sometimes a 20 and a 10 -- it varies).  NJ does not require testing, so this is all admittedly just ego protection for my own abilities.  Start at grade level, or maybe one above, depending on what your gut says.  You can always change levels next time.

 

Testing itself is not evil;  placing too much stress on tests, yeah, that's evil.

 

If you want another benchmark, you can google your local town's curriculum guide, which is most likely tied to your state guidelines (with lots of numbers and acronyms).  It will look daunting, but I don't know ANY PS teacher who realistically believes they get through every state mandated bullet point over a year -- far from it.  

[Ellie]

Ok. But then what? how do i determine whether or not she is learning as an appropriate rate? if my academics, which I believe to be solid and challenging, are in fact not at all, how do I make an unbiased evaluation?

 

Were you there with her when she was learning? Did you listen to what she said? Did you see the results of any projects or assignments? Did you see improvement or growth? Yes? Well, why would you imagine that your personal evaluation to be less important than a standardized test? Why would you let a standardized test determine what her "appropriate rate" of learning is? If anything, standardized tests are only one small part of the teacher's evaluation of her students.

 

I want more for my children than to follow along a path decided for them by people who don't my children. i want to be able to challenge my children in areas where they are capable of being challenged, or to let them take more time to master something. Using a standardized test as the primary decision-making factor means that I doom my children to learning the same things other children do, holding them back if they want to learn something that isn't usually taught to children their age, or pushing them to learn things they aren't ready to learn yet and thus assuring that they will fail.

 

And by following the herd, I might miss my children's genius.

 

Is that what you want?

[Beth S]

We do annual testing, like you, starting in the 3rd grade.

One HUGE piece of advice:  make sure to prepare by working through a Test Prep workbook.

Like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Test-Practice-Grade-Spectrum/dp/1620575957/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1392252053&sr=8-2&keywords=spectrum+test+practice+grade+3

Homeschooled kids in 3rd grade really haven't experienced timed-testing, following mind-numbing directions, having to focus on one subject for 10-20 minutes at a time.

One math test is a race for computation in the Iowa Basic Skills Test.

And much of it may not actually be testing what you all have studied together this year (esp. Social Studies).

And to use the scores as feedback to improve your homeschool . . . not an "indictment".

 

If you're testing at home, you can spread the sessions out over several days.

If you're testing with a group, it will be much more intense & concentrated.

It's just good to practice ahead of time.

And realize that it's just another hurdle to cross together.

Test-taking is a good skill to develop over the next few years.

 

:-)

 

 

[ErinE]

The test prep books are good, but I'd also encourage a timed test. One skill I've worked on with my kids, especially for math, was give 10-20 minutes to complete a page. Even if the child finished early, I made them take the full time to double check the work. This way, the child has the practice before the exam to go through the problems twice if there's time.

[G5052]

We test annually because of state laws, and frankly I hate it. I resent the time and money involved because it has never, ever told me anything I didn't already know even after over a decade of doing it every year.  But I can't send in a paper saying, "Kid is about 1/2 a grade behind in math, but keeping on. Kid is doing great in language arts and finally took off reading this year." Standardized testing says the same thing with fancy numbers.  I could also pay an evaluator, but $100+ for an evaluation versus testing.  Testing is cheaper.

 

When my oldest was in 1st and 2nd, it was pure agony to test even with the CAT-E from Seton. DC could not focus and kept telling me that the question were stupid (true, but let's keep going).  Somehow we didn't kill each other, and the results were fine.  If I had the option, frankly I wouldn't test until around 6th grade or so, maybe a little earlier. They were in the middle (around 40-70 percentile in the subjects) in 1st and 2nd.  And frankly I didn't care.  As long as we were in the game and making progress, I called it a success.  Of course DH freaked out because he took that as failing until I explained.  Remember that the testing puts them in a percentile, a rank order, and is not at all like taking a math test.  If you think they're average and the standardized test says they're average, let it be.  The 50th percentile is average, not failing.

 

So take it for what it is.  Just a snapshot, but a snapshot of a young kid who is constantly changing.