[Solved] Year abroad & choice of standardized testing grade level

[luuknam]

Conclusion: I'm just going to continue doing what I was doing, because I might actually not have 3 years because the application would be submitted at a point where 3 years of results would include last year. 🤦‍♀️

 

 

 

My kids (wrapping up 7th & 9th grade) have been taking standardized tests every year for many years, first the CAT/Terranova and last year the Stanford 10 Online (because we needed an online test that year). They have been taking tests out of grade level though because on-level tests are too easy and don't really tell me anything (my then-8th grader took the 9th grade test last year, and my then-6th grader took the 8th grade test). 

A few months ago we got to talking about them possibly doing a year as an exchange student abroad while in high school, and I found out that for homeschoolers, some countries want to see 3 years of standardized test scores. So, I realized that maybe showing tests for the wrong grade levels might be confusing to foreign schools, especially if their English is not so great (I did a year as an exchange student in Thailand, and the English teachers' English at my school was abysmal). 

Now, my oldest seems not interested in going abroad, and my youngest is thinking Japan or Switzerland, though as a homeschooler it seems hard to get a spot in Japan. 

Anyway, question is... they haven't taken this year's standardized tests yet (we just moved to a state where standardized tests aren't even required), so, do I just keep testing them out of grade level, or do I maybe switch to a different test (IOWA?) and put them back to taking tests at grade level?

Obviously, if the oldest suddenly decides he wants to do 11th grade abroad that'd create some oddity, but, if he's going abroad it'd almost certainly be either 12th grade or the year immediately after finishing high school (some countries allow that, some don't). Youngest is unlikely to go abroad before 10th grade anyway due to age requirements, so shouldn't have an issue if I switch test grade level right now. 

Or, if wherever I read that some countries want to see standardized test scores for homeschoolers is wrong, that'd be great to know too. 

Edited June 9, 2023 by luuknam

[kirstenhill]

You could do an adaptive test like the NWEA MAP. You don't have to declare a grade level (there's just a couple of broad bands of level - like elementary vs. Middle/high School level). The test will keep giving questions until they get too many wrong, essentially, and then measure percentile based on others of the same grade level. But you also get a raw score that's comparable across grade levels. 

We purchase it here: https://homeschoolboss.com/

[luuknam]

Thanks Kirsten, I hadn't even thought of that!

[Ellie]

When doing a standardized test that compares grade levels, such as the SAT or CTBS or Iowa Basic, I usually recommend doing the test that child would be in if he were in school, because then he is compared with others of the same grade level, which is the point of such a test. It isn't to help you figure out what you need to do next academically; presumably, you would know that because you were the teacher. 🙂

The PASS test does a placement test first, then the children take the test for those levels.

[luuknam]

2 minutes ago, Ellie said:

When doing a standardized test that compares grade levels, such as the SAT or CTBS or Iowa Basic, I usually recommend doing the test that child would be in if he were in school, because then he is compared with others of the same grade level, which is the point of such a test. It isn't to help you figure out what you need to do next academically; presumably, you would know that because you were the teacher. 🙂

The PASS test does a placement test first, then the children take the test for those levels.

Thanks for the idea.

Well, what grade they would've been in school might very well be a higher grade than what they were in in homeschool, since if things are way too easy skipping a grade or more makes sense in school (most of the textbooks they used were above the grade level I reported them as being in (since I had to tell the district what grade they were in), but what level varied by subject). Giving them a test based on grade level by age (using NY cutoff or the rest of the country? - my second half of November bday kid would be wrapping up 6th grade anywhere except NY public schools, where he's wrapping up 7th... but even the local private schools would've placed him a year lower because they use a June instead of December cutoff, which is one of the tricks they use to show that their students 'outperform' public school students) and having them score at the top in everything doesn't tell me anything worth knowing - akin to what you said about "what to work on next," I already know they're above average.  

Since we were in NY, we had to do standardized tests, and my reasoning was that if I was going to spend $$ and they were spending hours on that stuff, I might as well give them a test that would be mildly informative and would teach them to not just collapse if they encountered a question they didn't know the answer to, which happens to some really bright kids if they're always given tests that are too easy. All they needed to do was score >33rd percentile overall, after all (they both scored at the 94th percentile last year).

I did realize yesterday that I don't really have 3 years, so I can't really switch them back to a lower grade test without things looking odd, because even though they almost certainly wouldn't go abroad until at least 2 years after this year (so, 3 years of testing including this year), the application for going abroad would possibly be done in 1.5 years or so, so before that 3rd year of testing, so, the 3 years of standardized tests to be submitted would possibly be last year's plus this and next year's. 

I also realized that even if whomever at the school's English is insufficient to understand an explanation for why their tests don't match their grade level, any of the reputable programs would surely have a coordinator in that country who could explain it. So... meh. I'll just have them continue doing what they were doing and it'll probably turn out fine. 

[Dmmetler]

Also, usually in high school there's not one test per grade. Somif you have an SAT/ACT and some subject area tests, that would be a lot more commonly seen. I know when we looked at overseas uni's, they wanted the SAT and AP or IB exams for admission, but could care less about the ITBS or whatever. 

[luuknam]

On 6/10/2023 at 9:23 AM, Dmmetler said:

Also, usually in high school there's not one test per grade. Somif you have an SAT/ACT and some subject area tests, that would be a lot more commonly seen. I know when we looked at overseas uni's, they wanted the SAT and AP or IB exams for admission, but could care less about the ITBS or whatever. 

Yeah, for college I'd be surprised if they cared about the ITBS or w/e at all, but for doing 10th or 11th grade abroad there might not be much in the way of SAT/ACT/AP/etc yet (my younger kid kind of wants to go as soon as he's old enough, so probably 10th grade).