Standardized testing and my dyslexic ds...

[thundersweet]

What are my options for my dyslexic child? He is finishing up 3rd grade. In Ga, we are required to test every 3 years. My dd took the Itbs at our homeschool place but I knew that wouldn't be a good fit so I didn't sign him up.

 

I want something I can administer at home. Has anyone used the PASS test? I've used the CAT-E online with my dd and loved the simplicity of it but it's timed. What does everyone do about this with their dyslexic kids? He hates anything timed! Do you allow accomodations during testing such as using a multiplication chart or calculator??

 

Sandy

[PeterPan]

You can get a paper version of the CAT through Seton or CLP. Does your psych report list the accommodations they recommend?

[FairProspects]

The SAT 10 is untimed and can be done online through Brewer Testing. I do allow a multiplication chart as it was on my ds's 504 plan when he was enrolled in a virtual charter. I also read the questions to him if he wants since he is allowed a reader. Do you have the reports/paperwork with the listed accommodations? I would just use those.

[thundersweet]

We haven't seen an official neuropsychologist yet. I do have a list of acommodations from the Barton screener that we used to diagnose him. I guess I should pull those out. I just wasn't sure about the time thing.

 

Sandy

[Erin]

I second the recommendation of the SAT10 online.  

We're not required to test, but I like the benchmark and that's the one my son uses too.  

[EKS]

I used the PASS test with my dyslexic son when he was in 3rd grade.  It was good because I could customize the level for each subtest and also because it was untimed.  I wouldn't say it was the greatest test in the world, but it got the job done.

 

I didn't give my son accommodations on standardized tests taken at home until he was approved for them through the public school (we participated in a "homeschool school" offered by the local district, so it was straightforward for me to get a 504 plan in place with them).  You don't have to do this though. 

 

The only accommodations I gave were extended time (this was when we switched to the ITBS) and allowing him to circle answers rather than bubble in.  No calculators or other helps for math (except where allowed for all students).  This doesn't mean that you shouldn't, though.  It's just that the further you stray from a standard administration, the less the results have any real meaning.

 

 

[Erin]

I argued a similar point with a principal once.  I had three boys in my 3rd grade classroom who were in Title.  Not actually on IEPs or anything, just remediation via the Title program.  

He wanted someone to read them the entire test!  I pointed out that that would skew the results.  Aren't some kids supposed to be at the bottom of the bell for different aspects of the test?  Isn't that the "standardizing" part of a standardized test? 

[OneStepAtATime]

For now, I agree with others, pick something like the SAT10 to just meet the requirements of your state.  For the long haul, as they get older and testing may become very necessary for getting into college (if that is what the plan is) then I think it might help for you to read a lot about accommodations and try to tweak out which accommodations will help your child to show their true abilities and which could just be annoying, unnecessary, crutches, etc.  I am in this process right now, although thankfully I don't have to give them a standardized test just yet.  I intend to document any and all accommodations we are using at home, though, so that I can have that to help get accommodations I believe may be necessary for the kids to show what they are truly capable of.

 

I know that with math for DD I will be pressing for at least a multiplication table (hoping a calculator will not be necessary although I hear a LOT of even NT kids are now being given calculators).  She understands the math concepts for multiplication.  She cannot keep the multiplication computations in her head long enough to answer a question.   A test of math without that accommodation would not accurately test her understanding of the math.  

 

But I don't think DS will need that.  He cannot write quickly, though.  He just can't.  Not legibly anyway.  So for DS he will probably need either extra time or a scribe.  Otherwise the test will not accurately reflect his abilities either.  In school. when he took timed math tests, he started failing them in 2nd grade.  The teacher took this to mean he didn't understand the math.  I asked her if he missed any of the ones he had answered.  She said "no" but that he must not know the math that well or he would have been able to answer in the time allotted.  I had her ask him to answer the problems verbally and he got every one correct, and well within the designated time.  He just could not WRITE the answers quickly.  

[FairProspects]

I'm not sure the scribe will be necessary for any of our kids under about 14. All the tests are moving towards being computerized which may be good for our dysgraphics at least.

[EKS]

 Aren't some kids supposed to be at the bottom of the bell for different aspects of the test?  Isn't that the "standardizing" part of a standardized test? 

 

No, actually, it is not.  "Standardized" refers to standardized administration and scoring procedures.

[GoVanGogh]

We test using the ITBS, though BJU Press.

Their wording is that you, as homeschool parent registered through them to administer the ITBS, may give accommodations that the child would have in a public or private school setting.

The first time I gave the test that it was an issue (3rd grade), I called to ask for clarification. The people at BJU were very helpful. I seem to remember that they (or ITBS?) had a .pdf regarding allowed accommodations. (ex: scribe, time plus half, reader, etc.)

[Erin]

"Standardized" refers to standardized administration and scoring procedures.

 

exactly.

 

And because everyone is supposed to start at the same baseline, they can be expected to shake out on a typical bell curve.

[EKS]

exactly.

 

And because everyone is supposed to start at the same baseline, they can be expected to shake out on a typical bell curve.

Except that since humans themselves aren't standardized, it doesn't quite work out that way.  For example, a blind person can't see the exam--does that mean their <1st percentile score on the math exam is indicative of their math achievement?  No.  So that's why people with disabilities that aren't as obvious as blindness are granted accommodations--*appropriate* accommodations make it so the test is testing what it is supposed to be testing and is not simply a measure of the person's disabilities.

 

For kids who need extra time, my preference is to use tests that are untimed for everyone.  That way everyone is being tested the same way.  Unfortunately, some of the most important tests are timed and they are timed mostly for convenience (IMO).

 

Here is the definition of "standardized" from Daniel Koretz, professor of education at Harvard, who wrote the book Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us (which I highly recommend reading, BTW):

 

People incorrectly use the term standardized test--often with opprobrium--to mean all sorts of things: multiple-choice tests, tests designed by commercial firms, and so on.  In fact, it means only that the test is uniform.  Specifically, it means only that all examinees face the same tasks, administered in the same manner, and scored the same way.  The motivation for standardization is simple: to avoid irrelevant factors that might distort comparisons among individuals.

 

And here is what he has to say about accommodations:

 

Even though accommodations are a deliberate violation of standardization, they share its primary goal: to improve the validity of conclusions based on test scores.  ...When students have certain disabilities...their scores on a test administered in a standard manner may be misleadingly low.  ...Accommodations are intended to offset impediments...in order to level the playing field--to make a score obtained from a student with a disability more comparable to the same score obtained by another student tested under standard conditions.  ...Thus the purpose of accommodations it not to help students score better but to help them score as well as their actual proficiency warrants, and not higher.  In other words, their purpose is to improve validity, not to increase scores.

[Erin]

:huh:  

Are you sure you're responding to my post? 

 

 

I wasn't talking about people with disabilities, not even mild ones.  I was talking about three boys who weren't even on an IEP.   They were merely in a Title reading program.  

My principal was trying to pad his scores.  

[EKS]

Yeah, but I kind of went off on a tangent... I agree that reading the whole test, especially the reading part, would not be an appropriate accommodation. But reading the math part might be. And it is not necessary to have an IEP to get accommodations. My son never had an IEP but was granted accommodations on both the SAT and the ACT.

[thundersweet]

Thanks everyone! At this point, the two acommodations my son needs are extra time and a multiication chart for math.

 

When I get to the point where he is testing outside of the home, how does it work? Do you approach the test admin about your acommodations? Do these always need to be in writing from a psychologist?

 

Thanks,

Sandy

[OneStepAtATime]

Thanks everyone! At this point, the two acommodations my son needs are extra time and a multiication chart for math.

 

When I get to the point where he is testing outside of the home, how does it work? Do you approach the test admin about your acommodations? Do these always need to be in writing from a psychologist?

 

Thanks,

Sandy

I'm no expert but I have heard that it depends on the test center and the test being taken.  Some require documentation from parents showing that they are using accomodations at home.  Others require something from someone official, and within 3 years of the test (so something relatively recent).  Others just expect you to write a formal request.

[EKS]

When I get to the point where he is testing outside of the home, how does it work? Do you approach the test admin about your acommodations? Do these always need to be in writing from a psychologist?

 

We had an evaluation done specifically for the purpose of getting accommodations (this was after the other three evaluations he had had previously that showed LDs, and, actually, we had two done).  It's pretty easy to get accommodations from the public schools, at least in our experience.  My son also had an ADHD diagnosis and that was enough to get him extended time and reduced distractions.  We went to the school counselor (my son was enrolled in a public "homeschool school" where he took classes and standardized tests), and she wrote up a 504 plan based on what the doctor and psychologist recommended.  When he went to a private school for a year, they had a similar document there.  And when he went to the community college, we brought in the report from the evaluation with the psychologist as well as copies of his 504 plan from the public school and the accommodations plan from the private school and they granted all the accommodations we asked for.

 

But an ADHD diagnosis by itself would not have been enough to get SAT/ACT accommodations (at least that's what I've been told).  For that it is very helpful to have an evaluation done by someone experienced with SAT/ACT accommodations specifically.  One thing you're going to need is to show a history of disability because they don't want to see people suddenly getting "diagnosed" right before needing to take the test.  They also want to see processing speed scores in the 1st percentile for extended time (or so I've been told).

 

So this is my long winded way of saying that getting testing accommodations at school is relatively easy, but don't let that lull you into a sense of security about getting them for the SAT/ACT.  For that, you need a documented history and also a more recent evaluation done to their specifications.