Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment California Achievement Test

DS(6) just scored in the 96th percentile on the California Achievement Test for 3rd grade (he would only be half way through first grade by age), his lowest grade equivalency was 5.4 and his highest was post high school. This is his first real test and we home school, is this test just easier than most tests?

My kids took that test last year. I think I can help you interpret the scores.

The results don't mean that your son is performing AT a fifth grade level or a 13th grade level. What they mean is that a 5th grade student who was four months into the school year would be expected to get the same score that your son did.

My eldest scored at a mid-12th grade level on the math portion of one of those tests last year. He was barely 9, and he definitely wasn't doing calculus yet! He just got all the questions right, and the people who created the test had decided or found that his score would typically be expected from a 12th grader.

HTH.

Val

Thanks, that is very helpful! I'm wondering if I should have him take the fourth grade test based on these results? Or if it would be better to go with a different kind of test.

From what I've read, the CAT is one of the easier tests. The ITBS is supposed to be a bit more challenging and "if you really want to know what your DC knows" use the SAT/10. Now I put that in quotes b/c that is what someone said at the WTM boards. We may do the SAT/10 this year. I think I've seen the recommedation to keep testing up a level until child reaches 50th%.

There is also the WJIII or the MAP test. The MAP test covers K-2 and at the next level 3-9 I think. As far as I know. It keeps increasing in grade level until DC starts missing enough questions, then it backs down a bit to find the grade level your DC is performing at. That's what I've been told...someone correct me if I'm wrong. The Map test has to be done through an *agent* and most often those are schools who are using it and may let you test w/ them. Also homeschool co-ops may use it so you can check in your area. There is a company in Florida that will let you sign up from any state and test through them. You use your home computer. It's only a finite time....there is a deadline to register buy and there will be a small window in which you log on and take the test. You can call the MAP testing company (Forgetting the anacronyn) and ask what schools in your area are using MAP testing.

hth,
Dazey

Ahh, I didn't realize the WJIII was a test we could use for placement. DS is going to be tested by a psychologist soon and that is one of the tests he will be administering, so I will hold off on placement testing for now and see what happens there. Thanks so much for the test recommendations. I don't think we will be using the CAT again, it was far too easy and took way too long. (he took the complete battery).

Thanks again!

Well the WJIII can't be use for placement per se. It has too few questions per level. But it will give you a ballpark and then pursue further achievement testing after that. Isn't that correct Dottie? 8-)

The SAT/x was criticized in the 1988 Lake Woebegone effect report on how all 50 States score above the national average. As I remember from the paper, the test was normed once on a small, less than average group of students (in TX, I think). That test version and norms were then apparently used for almost a decade which nearly ensured any school district could come out above average. I don�t know how the current version is generally viewed by watchdogs today, but it is still favored by many school districts as the back-up achievement proof to state tests.
I think the ITBS is renormed continually and since it is used by private, homeschools and a good portion of public schools it should have fairly accurate percentile yields.

I think the ITBS that you can do in your own home, is not the current edition. I needed the version and year for our district paperwork and I recall the testing service saying something that that edition was the only one available to HSers. I thought the ITBS was an ok test but the way the test questions were worded was a bit tricky so I was glad I did some test prep. That was for 3rd grade so I don't know what the upper grades were like. I have a test prep book for the SAT/10 for 4th grade and 5th grade and my feeling is that it looks similar to the ITBS, but more straight forward. The SAT/10 is only a few years old.

I really think if you want placement information, something like the MAP test if it accomplishes what it purports to do, will give the info you need.

Thanks, I like the look of the MAP test and its affordable too.

MAP seems like a logical way to go. In the end though, trial and error is about the only way to know what a kid is ready to learn.