I saw the Vice Principal yesterday and he'd contacted the test company rep. The rep said the Preliminary Norms were made before they had any large scale test results and not to use it. They'd made it up because schools kept asking for something with percentiles before the large scale testing results were complete.
That's disconcerting in itself, but I'm also amazed that the Principal and Vice Principal could look at the 2 sets of data (Preliminary Norms and RIT Scale Norms for Early Primary Grades) and choose to go with the set that it so out of whack (Preliminary Norms).
For instance, I calculated the Standard Deviation for the Preliminary Norms to be 33 for Math and 31 for Reading. The SD for the RIT Scale Norms is 12 for Math and 10 for Reading. For Math using the Preliminary Norms, 95% of the 1st grade data would fall between 94 and 226. Using RSN for EPG, 95% of the 1st grade data would fall between 140 and 184. To put it in perspective, the K beginning of year mean is 149.5 and 7th grade middle of year mean is 226.4. Which set of data would you choose?
I knew there was something wrong with the Preliminary Norms because I knew my daughter. Does this indicate they don't know their students? How does this impact the planning process for the students?
I brought the MAP issue up at the School Based Decision Making Council. It's an organization made up of the principal, parents and teachers with a number of legal responsibilities including test score analysis. I'm also planning to contact the district testing expert to see what type of oversight there is for test score analysis and if other schools are making the same error.
I'm still waiting to find out when they're going to test DD and what assessment would be used. From your experience, what is the typical time it takes from when a parent requests an assessment and the child is tested?
