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| Date: From: Subject: | 5/14/2009 4:30:50 PM Home School Legal Defense Association HSLDA's Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner Newsletter |
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---------------------------------------------------------------- HSLDA's Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner Newsletter May 2009: Testing: Scores and S'mores ---------------------------------------------------------------------- by Betty Statnick, M. Ed A high volume of calls are directed to HSLDA special needs coordinators at this time of each school year. Many of these calls are related to testing (or other forms of end-of-year progress reports). Therefore, in this "mini-tutorial" I will weave in the concerns HSLDA members voice to me and expand upon my responses to their questions. Some of you may live in a state which mandates that your child be administered a nationally normed standardized achievement test, and those "regs" may require, for instance, that your child score overall at the 23rd percentile or higher. The 23rd percentile is the lowest score a student can achieve to be considered within the average range of performance. Another way to look at the scores is to think in terms of stanines. The word "stanine" comes from standard nine-point scale. Stanines 7, 8, and 9 indicate above-average performance; stanines 4, 5, and 6 indicate average performance; stanines 1, 2, and 3 indicate below-average performance. The 23rd percentile is the lowest score a person can get to be classified in the average category. TEST DEVELOPMENT At this point, it may be helpful for you to have some background information about test development. The test authors develop a standardized achievement test by exploring the specific content in each academic subject area in commonly used textbooks. They do that for each grade level and, based on that research, they develop a pool of test items. Next they administer "their test" to diverse populations in various geographical areas of the United States. As a part of the process, they "toss out" any item which everyone misses or any item which everyone gets right. Through that procedure, they chart statistically how typical students perform in each of the academic subject areas. That is the basis for determining percentile and stanines. Some of you fear that, for various reasons, your child will not "get a high enough score" on the required achievement test. My recommendation to callers is that you prepare your child throughout the school year for taking the test. You can secure test preparation workbooks and, ideally speaking, make sure that you teach those concepts on which your child will be tested. Then, be sure to teach in the test format all year long. That is, use the language of test questions. Consistently use the different types of questions (fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, using visuals/graphs) which are known to be on achievement tests. NOTE: See test preparation resource list at the end of this article. This 2008-2009 school year was the first time my 8-year-old grandson, Micah, was required to take a standardized achievement test. (For the homeschooling years prior to this one, a qualified professional thoroughly reviewed a portfolio of his work and asked Micah and his teacher-mom many questions. Afterward, that professional wrote a one-half page letter stating that, based on her interview with him and a review of his portfolio, he had achieved an acceptable level of educational growth and progress for that school year.) However, about two months before Micah was to have this year's first experience with the state-required standardized testing, his mother administered to him under standardized conditions (that is, according to precise test directions) the CAT (California Achievement Test) as a practice test. Feeling like a pro already, Micah had a restful night's sleep on the eve of his first test date. He also had a nutritious breakfast the morning of the first test date and felt fully prepared for the testing ahead. He remained unperturbed for the three test dates and trusts that he will have as high a score on that test--ITED (Iowa Test of Educational Development) as he had attained on the CAT. NOTE: Your child should be tested in a room with others taking the same level of test that he is taking. It is not in accord with standardized conditions that the test administrator give one set of directions to one grade level of students, get them started and, right after that, give aloud another set of directions to another age or grade group. It is unfair to the group already underway in taking their test to be disturbed by someone speaking aloud in that same room. Test scores could be lowered under that type of setup. INTERPRETING TEST RESULTS Now that we have reflected on test development and test taking, we need to briefly address what to do with the test results. It is important to remember that a test should be a teaching tool. Said another way: a test should help "drive" instruction. To simply get test results and file those results away is really not a productive use of your time or your student's time. For instance, you may have received a computer printout of test results which states that your child missed 3 out of 3 reading test items related to inferential reasoning. That will call for more in-depth probing. I have helped explain that kind of thing to parents and suggested kinds of curriculum resources they can use to help diagnose and remediate their child's apparent weaknesses. Low achievement test scores overall (or in a specific subject area) usually means that more in-depth diagnostic testing should be administered. It may be important for your child to have cognitive ability testing as a part of in-depth probing to help uncover reasons for his lowered performance. I was very impressed by the presentation of a brilliant, world-renowned neurologist at an educational conference I attended in Washington, D.C. some years ago. Before he started speaking in that workshop, he was having great difficulty with getting his microphone to work. So he pled, "I am a motor idiot; would someone please come and help me with this device?" That often-quoted medical doctor whose research and published works have benefited so many is not defined by his inadequacies, and neither should your child's test scores alone define him. Education and learning are represented by so much more than the isolated samples of behavior that test scores provide. Above all else, then, don't let test scores defeat you. Let them serve as a catalyst to spur you on to find the help your child needs in order to achieve his maximum potential. The purpose of testing is to help keep you on the path of effective teaching. REMEMBER that test scores represent your child's current functioning level. You are expecting that under your informed, adjusted home instruction your child's test scores will rise. The three of us HSLDA special needs coordinators are available to help you with these things. Some of you may be allowed to submit portfolios of your child's work instead of achievement test results. Even though it is not the purpose of this newsletter to discuss portfolios extensively, I do want to make some recommendations related to them: 1. You may want to use a loose leaf binder to "house" your child's work samples. Plastic sleeves work well for this purpose. 2. Be sure to date each item; include such items as tests, rough drafts of written compositions/reports plus the finished product. Include items from the beginning, middle, and the end of the year (and points-in-between). The main idea is that you want to show how he has made progress. 3. You can include snapshots of your child at work, of your child in church performances, of your child's work at county fairs: showing livestock, a display of sewing/crafts, other artwork, etc. Include pictures of your child visiting/singing or reading to/performing for residents of senior citizen's homes. 4. Include programs of performances in which your child had a singing, speaking, ushering part, etc. 5. Be sure to have work representative of each academic subject area. You may want to include workbook pages and such things as a snapshot of your child cooking in the kitchen (applying the math concepts he has just been learning). Yearly portfolios can develop into wonderful family keepsakes. Your end-of-year "must do" notes may list either achievement tests, portfolios, or consultant-written reports. Remember, an HSLDA membership perk means that you can speak with one of the three HSLDA special needs coordinators and receive their professional help and encouragement in these matters. SOME TEST PREPARATION RESOURCES: > Curriculum Associates: (800) 225-0248 http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=6537 or http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=6540 Test Ready Series. > Lingui Systems: (800) 776-4332 (These are not listed in their catalog but are available on their website. http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=6538): 125 Ways to be a Better Test Taker (Elementary grades 2-6 ages 7-11) 125 Ways to be a Better Test Taker (Jr/Sr High grades 7-12 ages 12-18) "These books help your students learn the art of test preparation and test taking and how to judge the accuracy of their answers." Quote: "If students cannot determine the accuracy of their test answers, they will not know how to correct them." --from Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth > Spectrum Test Prep workbooks are sold at major bookstore chains including Books-A-Million, Borders, and Barnes and Noble. Seton Center also sells the Spectrum Test Prep workbooks. Their phone number is 800-542-1066 and their web address is http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=6539. Note: You can secure the California Achievement Test from Seton Center. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> What's the shortest distance between two homeschoolers? HSLDA's elert service! When threats to homeschool freedoms arise, you want to be able to respond. We make it possible. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1101 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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