Thanks for the feedback Dottie.
I'm not so surprised that reading is an outlier for a couple of reasons. First, it is absolutely her passion and of all areas covered, is the one she has spent the most time enjoying. Of all areas, at least in a multiple choice format, it is probably the least dependent on explicit instruction (of which she has had very little). It would also be the portion of the test where she wouldn't have to make judgment calls about budgeting time, because she would be unlikely to encounter something unfamiliar. The math would have items she wouldn�t know, and this would be the first test that required her to budget her time by skipping some items (which is why we were desperate for the EXPLORE test the first place
). I know she didn�t finish the math portion and would guess that there are items she knew that she never even read, because she stayed too long on items she didn�t know. At first I was surprised by the language arts score (because she loves words and notices the way language is used when she reads), but when I saw the split (grammar vs. rhetoric), it made sense to me. Writing instruction has been sadly neglected in her school (not just for her), and her weakness has always been organization. So�her natural proclivity for grammar/spelling (another favorite past time) is in line with reading, but the lack of experience organizing or analyzing writing at a global level depresses her score.
Anyhoo...I'm gathering from your comments that, based on your experience, the scores appear less ho-hum than the reaction I got from the school? I was first taken aback, and then very excited when we received the NUMATS analysis. Then when the district reaction was so underwhelming....well, it's made me question everything again. So hearing from those of you who are clearer about what is/is not typical is very, very helpful!
