Looking beyond the Achievement Tests
Annual test-taking required by homeschool laws in many states tends to make both parents and students nervous, but it need not do so! Understanding both the test format and the reports help calm those achievement testing jitters.
A nationally standardized achievement test, such as the CAT/5® is designed to help determine how much skill or knowledge students have in a certain area. . . whether students know as much as we expect they should, or whether they know particular things we regard as important. To accomplish this evaluation, test scores must be compared or referenced to something in order to bring meaning to them. That “something” is typically (a) the scores other students have obtained on the test or (b) a series of detailed descriptions that tell what students at each score point know or which skills they have successfully demonstrated. The first of these comparisons is called norm-referenced interpreting and involves comparing a student’s scores with the scores of other students obtained on the same test. How much a student knows is determined by the student’s standing or rank within the reference group. High standing is often interpreted to mean the student knows a lot or is highly skilled, and low standing is often interpreted to mean the opposite.
However, it is important to use care when interpreting test scores. Remember that norms are not standards of performance. Norms (usually reported as Grade Equivalent, Percentile Ranking, Standard Score, Age Equivalent, etc.) simply report how scores are distributed in a representative sample of the population. These scores are simply statistical comparisons of the individual student to the larger group of peers. By statistical definition, one-half of the subjects at any grade or age level must be at or below that grade or age score and one-half of the subjects must be at or above that grade or age score. Therefore, you should avoid labeling or categorizing students based on a single test’s scores.
Careful consideration of the information. . .will result in varying implications for different students. Test patterns will provide information about an individual’s strengths and weaknesses and, in some cases, provide insights relevant to necessary accommodations or appropriate instructional recommendations. However, test performance identifies only relative strengths and weaknesses. They are relative because they are identified comparing the performance of a single student to how he relates to the group. They are not necessarily absolute strengths and weaknesses.
Another important fact to keep in mind is that testing is just one part of the total process. The teacher should compare and integrate test results with information from many sources, including firsthand observation of the student, the child’s daily course work, parental reports, etc., to get a complete picture of the student’s abilities and skills and subsequent application to curriculum needs and teaching methods.
Because test scores are rarely without error, it is essential that parents understand that the scores need to be interpreted as a score range rather than as a precise score point. Many parents have the mistaken notion that test scores provide a comprehensive picture of how well their child has progressed in school. Therefore, one should not use test scores as the only indicator of school achievement.
The scores reported as Grade Equivalents (GE) and Percentile Ranking (PR) have the greatest potential to be misunderstood and/or misinterpreted. Grade Equivalents are usually an indicator of year-to-year growth. However, there are any number of factors that may affect a student’s GE either positively or negatively. GE’s are only an estimate of where the student is along a developmental continuum. They should not be valued as a precise measurement of how much the student has progressed from one grade to the next.
The same can be said for Percentile Rankings. Slight changes in a student’s percentile ranking over time have very little meaning. A change from the 40th percentile in one grade to the 42nd percentile in the next grade may seem to mark little progress. Or a change from 68% to 61% may be regarded as no progress or even regression. Instead, it is important to understand that, because of the statistical nature of the achievement test norms, students who maintain nearly the same rank in their peer group from year to year are actually progressing at a rate that is typical for that grade. It is for these reasons that neither the GE’s nor the PR’s should be used as sole indicators of the student’s overall achievement.
In short, nationally standardized achievement tests and their scores are not precise measurements, but are, rather, simple tools – among a wide array of educational items – that a wise educator may use to craft his teaching methods and curriculum and to guide his students’ academic progress.
Comments
Posted On
Jan 28, 2011Posted By
Homeschool Achievement Testing and You | The Homeschool Show[...] And last of all, maybe you’ve wondered, “Are these achievement tests even necessary and how do I actually apply the testing results to improve my homeschooling experience?” Most states do require some form of testing, but if not, it is certainly your right to opt out of taking them. We’ve made some general observations on this question in a previous post about using and applying homeschool achievement tests results. [...]
Posted On
Jan 14, 2011Posted By
Paula PittmanI am trying to locate a speaker from your podcast. Her name is Misty Spinelli. I used to reach her at the store but that number has been turned off. I would really appreciate it if you can get me her phone number and/or email address.
Thanks you,
Paula Pittman
Posted On
Jan 14, 2011Posted By
GregPaula,
You can reach Misty by going to her website and clicking on her email address she has posted there. If you go to the Ask an Expert tab at the top of this page, her website is listed there.
Greg
Posted On
Dec 03, 2010Posted By
PaulThanks Greg, I appreciate your helping us keep everything in perspective.