Transcript Parents’ Guide to Testing

A Parents’ Guide to Testing
In District 41
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A little assessment humor…
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Why do we test?
The only man who behaved sensibly
was my tailor: he took my measure
anew every time he saw me, whilst
all the rest went on with their old
measurements and expected them to
fit me.
-George Bernard Shaw
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Assessment should:
 Provide diagnostic feedback
 Help educators set standards
 Evaluate progress
 Student, classroom, school
 Motivate performance
 Provide data for decision-making

Grant Wiggins,Ed.D., 2001
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What we would like to avoid…
K. Samples
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Assessment calendar
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Illinois Standards Achievement Test
(ISAT)
 Administered in
March, Grades 3-8
 Content area
achievement
 www.isbe.net
 New parent report
 Lexiles
 National Percentile
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ISAT Samples
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Extended Response
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ISAT
State mandated test for grades 3 – 8
Reading and Math assessed at all grades
Science assessed at grades 4 & 7
Assessment is used to determine if schools, districts and
subgroups are making adequate yearly progress
 Part of the district scorecard
 Test provides an item analysis that we use to compare
against our district curriculum and can help us target
areas
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ISAT cont.
 Like to look at cohort data to see how kids do over time
 Data is not as useful since we get the results after the
children have moved to the next grade level
 This test will go away in 2014/2015 when we will have a
new national assessment. It is projected that this
assessment will occur over the school year (3 tests
throughout the year + 1 cumulative assessment at the
end of the year) Many uncertainties around this so we
are following the information carefully and beginning to
plan now.
 Provides us with one data point on your child
(triangulate this data with MAP and classroom
assessments)
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Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)
http://www.riverpub.com/
products/cogAt/index.html
 The Cognitive Abilities
Test (CogAT)
measures students’
learned reasoning
abilities in the three
areas most linked to
academic success in
school: Verbal,
Quantitative and
Nonverbal
 Not a tool for
measuring IQ
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CogAT (cont.)
 Three subtests Verbal Quantitative
Nonverbal
 The CogAT provides one more view of a child’s
ability to be successful in school and gives
information on dominant learning strengths.
 Administered at grade 2 for gifted
identification/services to begin in grade 3
 Administered at grade 5 for gifted
identification/services at the junior high
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CogAT (cont.)
 After grade 3 the scores become more stable
over time and shouldn’t see a significant
change in scores. Because we administer at
grade 2 we do see some variances by grade 5.
 Assesses cognitive abilities, not what they have
been directly taught
 Scores are placed on a matrix and used in
conjunction with MAP scores when identifying
for gifted services
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MAP
 Grades 1 – 8 (2 – 3 times a year) and at Kindergarten at
least once in the spring, some in the winter
 Test is adaptive so it allows kids to go beyond a typical
grade level test
 Allows us to monitor student progress over time
 Test is used to identify students who need interventions
and/or enrichment opportunities
 Also used for math placement at the junior high – they
have established cut scores for the various levels
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Final thoughts…
 Standardized testing is only one way to measure
student ability and achievement—it’s not the only
way. Human capabilities are much more diverse and
complex than what is measured by standardized
achievement tests or school ability tests. As we learn
more from the fields of cognitive science and brain
research, definitions of human learning are changing.
 Educators consider scores from these tests as one
view of a student. Classroom performance and
teacher assessments are equally important.
 Teachers also recognize that students’ test-taking
skills and attitudes during testing sessions affect their
results.
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Final thoughts…
 We should spend less time ranking
children and more time helping them
to identify their natural competencies
and gifts and cultivate these. There
are hundreds and hundreds of ways
to succeed and many, many different
abilities that will help you get there.

Howard Gardner
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We consider it a privilege to work with
your children!
Thank you!
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