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Roane County Corrects Math
A Roane County Schools assistant superintendent wrote a Home School Legal Defense Association member family, informing them that their son’s test score was below the 50th percentile and suggesting that remediation would be necessary.
The family called HSLDA for help. Attorney Scott Woodruff then called the assistant superintendent and explained that she had made an error.
State law requires students to be tested in only five areas: reading, language, mathematics, science, and social studies. The family’s son had taken the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, which tests in these five areas, plus an additional area not required, called “sources of information.”
The test listed a “composite” score at the 49th percentile, but this score included the student’s “sources of information” score, which was somewhat low. When this score was removed and only the five required areas factored in, the student’s average was at the 56th percentile, well within the acceptable level.
Woodruff explained this to the assistant superintendent, who readily acknowledged her error and confirmed that the test results were acceptable.
— by Scott A. Woodruff
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