Intro to Standardized Testing

Ah, the standardized test . . . that fill-in-the-bubble-with-a-number-two-pencil experience you probably remember from your own school days. Now that you’re a homeschooling mom (or dad), it’s time to decide if and how to test your own child.

As with most homeschooling decisions, you’ll start by checking your state law to find out if your student is required to take any standardized tests.

When reviewing your state requirements, also make sure to find out the grades in which your child must be tested and the deadline for submitting scores.

Apart from complying with the law, here are some other reasons to consider standardized testing for your student:

Benefits of standardized tests

Let's get technical

Standardized tests measure students’ knowledge of material that is deemed common knowledge for all children in their grade level. These tests are not cognitive or IQ tests. All standardized tests cover reading, language arts, and math, and some also include science, social studies, and other subjects.

Scoring

Standardized test scores can be confusing because they tell you how your child did in comparison to other test takers. If your student scores in the 75th percentile, it does not mean that he or she got 75% of the questions right. It means that your child did as well as or better than 75% of the students in the norming group who took the same test. This is called percentile ranking.

Stanine ranking is similar. Stanine is an acronym meaning STAndard NINE. A stanine ranking tells where a child’s score falls on a nine-part standard curve (imagine the 99 percentiles divided into nine sections). Thus, the first, second, and third stanines are below average; the fourth, fifth, and sixth are average; and the seventh, eighth, and ninth are above average.

Then there is the grade equivalent—for example, 7.2 GE. This simply means that a child in that grade and month (in the example, the second month of seventh grade) would have done as well as your child did. It does not mean that your child is on a 7th-grade level—unless he or she actually is in 7th grade! It just indicates that a 4th grader with this score is doing well, or that a 10th grader with this score needs some extra help.

Test administrators

Commercial publishers who develop these tests carefully regulate how they are administered because they want to assure the scores are always objective and reliable. This is why, for example, some tests can only be administered by people with certain qualifications. And it’s also why it’s important to follow the timed recommendations of the test in each section, unless your student qualifies for special accommodations.

What about testing young children (below 3rd grade)?

Do you have a 5-, 6-, or 7-year-old? Are you wondering how ready your child is for this kind of formal testing? You might be interested to know that some early childhood experts have questioned whether standardized testing is really appropriate for children younger than 3^rd grade. And they suggest kid-friendly and research-supported alternatives to assessing progress in the early years.

So, even if your state law requires you to test your child before 3rd grade, you might be surprised to discover how much freedom you have—and how many (less formal, less stressful, and even fun!) assessment options you have—to choose the best fit for your young child! Learn about the many possibilities in Part 3 here.

Keeping standardized test scores in perspective

Your child (or you!) can feel a lot of pressure to do well on these tests, and we get that. But we encourage you to hold these scores in perspective and remember that they are more of a snapshot of your child on a given (good or bad) day and less of an absolute fact.

Use the standardized tests as a tool to serve your homeschool, and the learning goals you have for your child, rather than as a pronouncement about your student’s academic abilities and prospects.

So, don’t be too swayed by the actual percentile scores. Instead, pay attention to extremities in scoring, like maybe your child has an average math score but a significantly low language arts score. Compare that to how your child does in their daily and weekly schoolwork so you can get a better idea of how your child is learning overall and whether any changes are needed moving forward.

However, if your state law specifies a specific minimum score or percentile for your child’s required year-end standardized testing and your child doesn’t make that that minimum, that’s a legal issue you should take seriously. If you are an HSLDA member, please contact our legal team immediately (before you turn the test scores in to the state) so that we can come alongside and work with you on the important specific next steps to keep your child and your homeschool moving forward.

If you have a child under age 8, you might want to check out the next post on standardized testing for young children.