Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Skills Assessment Options for Kindergarten-Age?

We currently homeschool DS5, who's kindergarten age in our district. I'm happy to continue doing this, but my husband worries that DS isn't learning enough. (Basically, there aren't enough completed worksheets lying around the house and he frequently comes home to find DS playing video games. )

Hubby would like to see some sort of impartial proof that DS is "where he should be". He's defining this as "greater than 50%tile" which is definitely doable. But where to get this done? I've read about the SAT (Stanford Achievement, not college SAT) as a test that homeschoolers give. Is this the best option? Are there other (better) choices? Should I contact the school district and see if he can sit the test (if any) with the other kids?

Any free options?

OK. Don't know if I can complete this post, but seems that my husband is OK with using placement tests for choosing curriculum, so I think that's what we'll do.

We're still debating about K but if we opt for homeschooling, I'd be doing portfolio assessment for documentation purpose, I'd be linking it to CC standards. It can be tedious but it could also be fun.

It sounds like your DH is slowly warming up to homeschooling!

"greater than 50%tile"?

Just have your DS5 say the alphabet and count to 20.

Another option is to find a copy of your school district's curriculum goals and just compare what your dd can and can't do. Our district publishes curriculum goals (by grade level) on the district's website, and there are guidelines on our state education website as well. Looking at percentile might be tough to know what percentile in your particular school area is above 50th percentile - for instance, I know that reading achievement at the end of K varies a LOT by school in the town I live in. Rather than trying to be sure of a percentile, I'd look at where your ds is at or above grade level in achievement.

polarbear

I know. My husband isn't particularly clued in to what kids "should" be able to do at what age, and this is our first, so perception is skewed. He often expects behavior/academics that you might find in a 9 year old.

I understand that performance varies greatly by school, but if my husband wants to set the bar at 50th, I'm fine with that because then he'll be really impressed when DS blows it out of the water. I had feared that he would expect perfection...like, nothing less than 99th, so I'm pretty happy with this.

After a bit of researching last night, I think I've found some things that will serve fine. I've got the Saxon placement test, which I think should place him in the 3rd grade level, a kindergarten skills list that includes things like "knows how old he is" and "others can understand what he's saying", a "readiness for 1st grade" quiz and a few different reading assessments that would put him at 1st grade (at least above kinder; reading's not a strong point). I think the kindergarten skills and 1st grade readiness test is going to be a big eye opener for hubby as to where DS really stands.

I thought about using the school district curriculum, polar, but it's about 5 pages long and does include some things (like history or art) that we haven't actually covered in favor of other similar things. My husband speaks English as a second language, so being presented with this long list would be somewhat overwhelming to him.

Hubby's main interest in sending DS to school is making friends, and he has the belief that if DS were to start in 2nd or 3rd grade, he wouldn't form as close friendships. This is based on his experience in school. But I don't think it applies to schools in America as much.

We're also planning to move and one of the areas we're considering might have schools that are a better fit for DS, so I'm open to the idea (though I feel I've been spoiled by homeschooling a bit...)

I like the PBS development tracker.

Okay-- I think that I know what will satisfy your DH. I am married to a data-driven person as well, and he wanted to see NUMBERS that proved it. When DD was 6, we were homeschooling, and it didn't really seem like we had done much of anything in particular with her... so I had no real sense of how she "should" do on particular skills or anything that might have related to placement... everything that I looked at that reflected what was taught when, though-- it was stuff that she already seemed to know. Does that make sense? So it was quite confusing.

I ordered up an out-of-level CAT-5 complete achievement battery from Family Learning Organization and had DD take it, which she found mostly entertaining in the extreme, except that she didn't like ME reading the directions TO her (as is proper in proctoring such things).

Anyway-- that's what I'd do if you're in the United States, as it might give you a better sense of things without a lot of cost or stress.

That's the magical thing that allowed us to place DD in 3rd grade as a 6yo-- she 99'ed everything on the test (upon reflection, we should have ordered the 4th grade one once the 2nd grade test came back completely ceiling-ed like that-- just FYI, I mean).

I'd be too nervous to order an out-of-level test for DS right now because his reading isn't there yet. He's not the teach-yourself kind and I suspect stealth dyslexia. I did consider getting the SAT one at kinder level with the guess that he'd probably rank pretty high if not get the full 99. (In school, I always "99'ed" -- a phrase I have never heard and I now love -- so my kids might have it hard cuz my bar is set really high. haha.)

Tonight, hubby was giving me a hard time about how he wants DS to go to school at least for high school because he doesn't think that I have the expertise to teach. Aside from the fact that the reality is that homeschooling is more about teaching kids to learn for themselves, I was kind of insulted. Hubby's accusation was, "I know you're good at English, but..." and in my head I'm going, "I skipped a grade. I was valedictorian. I aced the AP calculus test. English isn't even my strong point..."

I suspect that this will ultimately be something that hubby grows into. At this time, it's hard for him to see our kid as significantly different from others, but as DS really starts to come into his own, I think it will be more obvious.

I've noticed before that, like, I'll say something and hubby will disagree, then 2 years down the line, he does a bunch of research and comes to the same conclusion I told him about before, except that he thinks it's his own idea. I let this happen.

LOL-- I am very familiar with that form of parental consensus-building, shall we say.


FWIW, it wouldn't hurt to call FLO and find out if your 5yo needs to be independently reading to complete the CAT-5 battery or not. I suspect not.