Help with DS13's ITBS scores-they just came in

[Halcyon]

Hi

We had my son take the end-of-8th-grade ITBS test about a month ago (he is currently in the 8th grade). We thought we might need a recent standardized test to apply to high schools, and I thought better to do the 8th than the 7th. Then at least I could use it to gauge areas we should focus on for the rest of the year.

 

Anyway, the last time he took the ITBS was 6th. So we have the end-of-6th grade scores and the test he just took to compare.

 

Overall, he did fine. He freaked on the math computation--he hates timed tests and boy, they REALLY don't give a lot of time for this math computaiton component. He didn't finish--I think he left 4 or 5 blank and was almost in tears. So I knew that wouldn't be a great score. 

 

I thought OVERALL his Composite SS would go up more. MY understanding is it should go up about 12 points a year--although this is based on reading things online and I could be wrong. I will focus on Core only since the other scores to me are fine (although HELLO what happened with map reading???---maybe we should work on that)

 

6th

Reading Total SS: 272  GE: 11.6  NS 8 NPR 92

Language Total SS: 295  GE: 13+ NS 8 NPR: 94

Math Total SS 294 GE: 13+ NS 9 NPR: 97

Core Total: SS 287 GE 13+ NS 9 NPR: 97

 

end of 8th grade test taken November 2015

Reading Total: SS 302 GE 13+ NS 9 NPR: 98

Language Total: SS 321 GE 13+ NS 9 NPR: 97

Math Total: SS 306  GE 13+ NS 9 NPR: 96

Core Total SS 310 GE 13+ NS 9 NPR: 98

 

My questions are:

1. If his core total is supposed to go up about 12 points a year, would you want to see a Core SS for 8th of about 311? He's at 310 and not through with the year--am I looking at this correctly?

2. His math computation, which I didn't put above, went from 233 to 270. It was still pretty bad When you drill down, you see that he only got about 55% of the questions right. He was freaking during this portion--how can i help him improve? He's just not fast and I dont know the best way to help him without making him more anxious about it. He is not good at estimating, which i think would help a lot in a couple of areas. Any resources that would help him get better at not only speed, but estimating?

3. I am happy with his Language and Reading improvement. Again, he reads slowly, so time is always an issue. DH wants him to try a speed reading course, but I am not sure. Based on how he did on the test, I feel like he's chugging along and getting better.  Thoughts?

4. what's the upper limit in SS scores for the 8/9th test? I can't find that info anywhere. Somewhere said 250, but that's clearly wrong.

 

Thanks all. 

Edited December 5, 2015 by Halcyon

[Tsuga]

So... he's in the 96th to 99th percentile in every single area?

 

Were you expecting higher for a particular reason, or hoping for higher for a particular reason (i.e. you need a scholarship or admission into a gifted program)?

 

Maybe that would help people give specific suggestions. At this point doesn't it seem like a test-prep issue?

[Halcyon]

We are trying to get scholarships, yes. But at this point, the test is done so there's no point in worrying about the actual scores, persay. My questions were the ones I posed: he gets very stressed and did poorly on the math computatoion, although he is good in math overall.  So my question number 2 I think is my most pressing question. I also want to help him learn to read more quickly--it's a big issue in our homeschool and definitely was a factor on the test--just in terms of how he FELT while taking it--he felt very pressed and anxious trying to read the longer passages required on the test this year. I want to help him feel less anxious by giving him the tools to help him improve. HE did fine on the test, but I could see he wasn't confident in those areas.

Edited December 5, 2015 by Halcyon

[Jean in Newcastle]

Don't most people do these tests at the end of a grade?  I would be setting my 8th grade dd up for stress and failure if I had her take it now.  He doesn't have bad scores but I wouldn't be making any decisions based off of them either. 

[Halcyon]

Don't most people do these tests at the end of a grade?  I would be setting my 8th grade dd up for stress and failure if I had her take it now.  He doesn't have bad scores but I wouldn't be making any decisions based off of them either. 

 

 

Yes, they do. I think I put it in the OP, but if not: we had him take the end of 8th grade test because he needed scores to apply to high school, nad I did not think the schools would look favorably on him taking a 7th grade test while in 8th. He didn't take any end of year standardized test last year. 

 

We told him to not get overly stressed, we told him the test was out of level. It didn't help, and TBH, when I looked at the questions afterwards, they were not beyond him. He just freaked on certain parts of the test.

[Sneezyone]

Like Jean, I was going to ask if this was the end of your year. My DD always tested better in the fall/spring than winter so her trendlines would dip. I'm not sure there's anything to be worried over as the percentiles rather than the raw scores are what matter most for admissions decisions.

Edited December 5, 2015 by Sneezyone

[Halcyon]

Like Jean, I was going to ask if this was the end of your year. My DD always tested better in the fall/spring than winter so her trendlines would dip. I'm not sure there's anything to be worried over as the percentiles ratger than the raw scores are what matter most for admissions decisions.

 

 

thanks, i didn't realize that. 

[Sneezyone]

Consistently being in the top five percentiles is pretty darn good. I tend to think the schools use these test scores more as a weed out than anything. If your kiddo is a good social fit and has strong scores, chances are good a scholarship will be forthcoming. Around here, they admit wealthy/legacy kids w/mediocre scores and middle-class/poor kids with awesome scores to balance it out.

[J&JMom]

Don't know if this makes a difference, but at least with Seton Testing, the norms they use vary with the testing month. So, I would confirm if your testing service Spring (end of year) norms for the reporting percentiles.   BTW - this is from Seton:

 Tests scored between the following dates will be scored with the following norming data. Please order the appropriate test level for these scoring times. If you would like it normed for another period you will have to contact Seton Testing directly and speak with one of our representatives.

September 1 – November 30 Fall Norms December 1 – Last day of February Midyear Norms March 1 – August 31 Spring Norms

 

[justasque]

Consistently being in the top five percentiles is pretty darn good. I tend to think the schools use these test scores more as a weed out than anything. If your kiddo is a good social fit and has strong scores, chances are good a scholarship will be forthcoming. Around here, they admit wealthy/legacy kids w/mediocre scores and middle-class/poor kids with awesome scores to balance it out.

 

This. Also, most private schools here have their own entrance exams, either standard ones or in-house ones.  Sometimes they'll take another test (esp. if the student does well on it), but not always.  Some schools here give merit scholarships based solely on the student's performance on the entrance exam, and others take other things into account.

 

Also - does the ITBS not have the option to norm for mid-year?  Most of the tests we've done have had the option to norm in different ways - for example, we did an end-of-year 7th grade test and had it normed two ways - for 7th and for 8th.  Since the kid did well even with the 8th norming, we went with that instead of re-testing in 8th.  Sometimes they are month-specific - so the same test given in fall and spring will have different norms.

[kathkath]

The percentile ranks are the most important in our experience so it looks like he is doing great!

[MinivanMom]

If all his scores are above the 95th percentile, then I don't think there's any reason to worry at all.

 

If you're going to spend time prepping for a test, then you should be prepping for the ISEE or whichever entrance exam your private school uses for admissions and scholarship decisions.

 

As far as preparing him for a school environment, if he generally feels stressed during timed tests then I think that's probably a really important skill for him to work on between now and the start of b&m school. I wouldn't worry about his skill in estimating unless that's something he's going to encounter on the ISEE. As long as he knows how to estimate, I don't think it matters whether he can estimate quickly in a timed exam, because estimation isn't a skill he's going to encounter much in high school level courses.

[EKS]

When you give an on level test to a kid who scores above the 95th percentile on such tests, you are going to see a lot of ceiling effects.  If you want to see the real percentiles (sort of), you probably need to test at least two grades up--so the 10th grade test.  When I've tested through BJU, I've gotten a score report that reports the percentiles as compared to the above level cohort--so for the 10th grade test, against 10th graders--and for the age-grade cohort--in this case it would be 8th graders.  This will allow you to see how well he does when the ceiling is lifted a bit.

 

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if you can get a report from the ITED (the high school ITBS) for an 8th grader because, while the standard scores are on a continuum from K-13+, there is a format change between 8th and 9th grade.  You'd have to ask.

 

One thing that above level testing accomplishes is that it helps correct for what I think of as bonehead errors--errors that are made for reasons other than not knowing the material.  Both of my kids seem to make a certain number of errors on these sorts of tests regardless of level--so when you raise the level but don't raise the error rate, the percentile rank goes up.  If that makes any sense at all.

 

As for the computation section, my younger son also had problems with at the end of 6th grade (by age).  So we spent last year doing some problems out of Saxon 8/7 every day in addition to Algebra II.  He did *much* better on that section at the end of the year.  One thing that is good to remember is that the only reason to get better at the ITBS computation section is to do better on the ITBS computation section (assuming that computation in general is ok).  The ACT and SAT allow calculators and whatever computation is on them is not as complicated as is on the ITBS.

[PeterPan]

I sorta hinted at this in your other thread, but you might want to get an IQ test (or WJIII cognitive or whatever) to see if that processing speed is a discrepancy and across the board, not just a math fact fluency thing.