Standardized tests and accomodations

[EKS]

My 12yo son has always done his standardized testing at home until this past spring. In the past I gave him the Iowa with a time limit but allowed him to mark his answers on a copy of the test rather than use the bubble sheet. This last time he did it with our local homeschool group under standard conditions. The test was given over two days.

 

He has been diagnosed with dyslexia, APD, SPD, and ADHD. The dyslexia is pretty much remediated, though his fluency is probably not as high as it could be. The ADHD symptoms have recently gotten to the point where we have decided to use medication.

 

I just got his test scores. All things being equal, his scores should have been either similar to or better than last year as in some subjects he covered more than a year of material. I even would have understood if all the scores were somewhat depressed because of the new testing situation.

 

Here are the changes in his scores (percentiles) from last year to this year (2007/2008).

 

Reading Comprehension -32 (this was at 99th %ile last year)

Capitalization -33

Punctuation -18

Usage and Expression -20

Science -43

Math Computation -47

 

Vocabulary +10

Spelling -10

Math Concepts and Estimation -7

Problem Solving +3

Social Studies +1

Maps +12

 

It seems like half of them are reasonable and the other half are crazy! He is in 7th grade this year and I feel like I need to make a decision about getting him accomodations for the SAT now (because you need to have a record back several years of needing accomodations). I can get the accomodations (all he would need would be extended time and less distracting environment) with his diagnoses and my homeschool situation is such that I can work with our schools here to document everything.

 

Based on these scores, would you persue accomodations? Should I have him practice taking more standardized tests? Should I just chill out :chillpill: and and chalk it up to first time testing jitters?

 

Help! (And thanks!)

[Laurie4b]

There's no harm in asking for accomodations.

Did he take this test medicated or unmedicated? I think puberty can really shake things up. If he's going through puberty and was unmedicated, that may be the explanation right there. Using the bubble thingees for the first time probably also played into it. If he got "off" by even one, that would have messed up his scores.

If you want a better understanding of what affected his scores, you could order one of the standardized tests for home administration. Give it to him under the timed conditions and when he's done, go over his answers and analyze what happened.

[EKS]

He took the test unmedicated (we just started meds last week). And he was starting puberty at the time even though I didn't know it then.

 

If I were to give him the test again, do you think I should give him the exact same test or bump it up to the 7th grade one?

 

Thanks!

[Mom0012]

I would seek accommodations. My son is young, but he tested much lower when I had him tested through the school system. He doesn't have ADHD, but he is HIGHLY distractable when working amongst other children. I don't know if it's because he just isn't used to it or if it is just a problem that he has, but it definitely affected his test scores this year.

 

Lisa

[Laurie4b]

When you retest, test him at his current grade level (whatever that is or will be at the time). Otherwise, you don't have a true comparison. (ie if you use the lower test grade, then his score will be artificially inflated.) Also, we tend to interpret test scores as a certain number ie 56%. In reality, the people who write the tests look at a certain band 44-65% as the probable true range of the score. The group-adminsitered tests are not ideal for comparing one kids' test score to his next test score. They were designed to compare a group of kids' scores to another group's scores (school A to school B; school A in 2006 to school A in 2007). For individual kids, they are only recommended as a screening mechanism: really high scores: get tested for gifted; really low scores, get evaluated for disabilities. So don't put a lot of stock in one particular number on this test. Look for a range and a general trend.

 

The meds should make a huge difference if they are a good "fit" for him.

 

Accomodations can include marking directly in the test book, extra time, and a distraction free environment. It never hurts to ask for accomodations. You can always opt not to use them, but getting them now during testing will make for a better case should he need them when he is in high school for the SAT, etc.

[philda62]

How do you find out about qualifying for special accomodations for the SAT? What are the accomodations they make?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Gilda

[klmama]

Did you have him practice beforehand using an answer sheet with the bubbles? It throws a lot of kids for a loop to have to do that for the first time in a testing situation. Before you have him tested again, you might consider getting a practice test book from the library or bookstore to help familiarize him with putting answers on another sheet with bubbles.

[EKS]

He did practice and he did fine--he said it was easy so I was thinking he would be ok, but that definately could have been a factor. The thing is--I think the "bad" day was the second one.