Standardized testing - which grade to order?

[diaperjoys]

We're transitioning the kids' grades, and I'm not sure what grade to order for testing. 

 

11yo boy - half a year in 5th at a classical school, he's home now, and we're calling this semester 6th, the upcoming year will be 7th. He's super strong with language, and math is difficult - he's about three quarters of the way through TT6 for math right now. 

 

9yo boy - half a year in 2nd at classical school, he's now home, and we're calling this semester 3rd, and next year he'll officially be 4th. When we brought him home I put him in Apples & Pears Spelling, level B, and Fast Track reading. He's excelling in both, but we're shoring up weak spots. For math he's doing TT3, easily completes two lessons in less than 30 minutes, and he's working his way through CLE 2nd grade for review. 

 

So what grade IOWA tests do I order? I want the tests to contain useful information, yet not totally overwhelm them with content. We're required to test every year, and I need the test to happen within the next month or so, so I need to pick something and run with it.What test level would you choose??? 

 

 

 

[kateingr]

The Iowa tests give their percentiles based on children in a certain grade, so I'd go with the grades that you have "placed" your kids for right now, 6th and 3rd. That way, you'll get a clear-eyed assessment of where they're at for the grade that you have placed them in and see if there are any particular trouble-spots that need a little extra attention. 

 

I understand your concern about them not being overwhelmed with content they haven't seen yet, but that could happen with whatever grade-level test they take, so I wouldn't sweat it. Different schools obviously teach topics at different grades, and the tests have their own scope and sequence, so they're not really aligned for anybody. Just make sure to prep them by telling them this so that they don't feel discouraged when they see unfamiliar items. 

[Ellie]

We're transitioning the kids' grades, and I'm not sure what grade to order for testing. 

 

11yo boy - half a year in 5th at a classical school, he's home now, and we're calling this semester 6th, the upcoming year will be 7th. He's super strong with language, and math is difficult - he's about three quarters of the way through TT6 for math right now. 

 

9yo boy - half a year in 2nd at classical school, he's now home, and we're calling this semester 3rd, and next year he'll officially be 4th. When we brought him home I put him in Apples & Pears Spelling, level B, and Fast Track reading. He's excelling in both, but we're shoring up weak spots. For math he's doing TT3, easily completes two lessons in less than 30 minutes, and he's working his way through CLE 2nd grade for review. 

 

So what grade IOWA tests do I order? I want the tests to contain useful information, yet not totally overwhelm them with content. We're required to test every year, and I need the test to happen within the next month or so, so I need to pick something and run with it.What test level would you choose??? 

 

The purpose of standardized tests is to compare children of a certain grade to the normed group for that grade. So IMHO, when we test our homeschooled children, we should order the grade level our children would be in if they were in school, according to their date of birth and the cut-off for our state. The levels of any materials we are using is irrelevant, especially since most of use different levels for every subject.

 

Standardized tests do not tell us what our children know. They don't necessarily even reflect what we taught during the year, as it is entirely possible that we taught something different than the normed group was taught. And that's ok. We don't need a standardized test to tell us how our children are doing academically, because we were there all the time. :-) We are strictly comparing them to the normed group.

 

Most 11yo children are finishing up sixth grade, and so that's what I would order for him. Depending on his date of birth, he could be finishing up fifth; if that's the case, then order that.

 

Most 9yo children are finishing up fourth, so that's what I would order for him.  Depending on his date of birth, he could be finishing up third; if that's the case, then order third.

[EKS]

I would go with whatever grades you're calling them.  Based on their percentiles this year, you can move up or down next year as necessary.

[displace]

Order based on what grades they are now (assuming you'll be testing "now"). They are normed to students taking the test in the same grade. For us it was normed to time of year as well and I guess they do that for all ages but I don't want to give false info. For instance we tested in fall and for first, and it was normed for first graders in the fall, not spring or another time.