Understanding Your Child’s Assessment: What Do Those Tests Really Tell You?

1. Understanding Your Child’s Assessment: What Do Those Tests Really Tell You? Victoria B. Damiani, Ed.D., NCSP Center for Rural Gifted Education Indiana University of Pennsylvania

2. First, some terms you should know • Achievement-Score on a test of academic content such as reading, math, or science • Intelligence/ability/aptitude-Score on a test of problem solving/reasoning not based in an academic area

3. More terms • Standardized test-A test that is administered the same way each time it is given. Also, a test on which a person’s score is determined by comparing his/her performance on the test to that of the norming group

4. More terms • Norming group-The group on which a test was originally developed • Normal curve-A graph representing the theoretical assumption that most people’s test scores (for example, on a test of intelligence) are in the average range with only a few scoring very low or very high. Most standardized tests are based on this assumption.

5. More terms • Standard score-A score based on a comparison of one student’s performance to that of the norming group. This score does NOT show the number or percentage of items the student got correct.

6. More terms • Percentile rank-A ranking of a student’s performance based on the percentage of those whose scores were lower (usually in comparison to a norming group for the test, but percentile ranks can also be based on a group taking a test currently, such as a class) Does NOT tell what percent of items a student got correct.

7. Rating Scale-A list of characteristics or observations that the rater, usually a parent or teacher, will check as present or absent. May also include the degree to which the characteristic is present or absent.

8. Your child’s assessment is likely to include • An individual test of intellectual ability • A group or individual test of academic achievement • Rating scales completed by the teacher & the parent • A review of existing achievement test data (for example PSSA or 4Sight)

9. What is intelligence? • Several theoretical formulations of intelligence do exist • Different tests of intelligence represent different theories

10. But, most theories include • Verbal ability • Quantitative ability • Visual/spatial problem solving • Memory • Speed • Some also include planning/attention

11. Most achievement tests will include at least • Reading • Math • Some also include social studies & science, but that is less common

12. Some Tests of Intellectual Ability • Wechsler Scales (WISC) • Binet Scales • Woodcock-Johnson Cognitive • Ravens Progressive Matrices • Test of Non-verbal Intelligence (TONI)

13. Some Tests of Academic Achievement • Woodcock-Johnson Achievement Tests • Wechsler Individual Achievement • Curriculum Based Measures

14. Standard score interpretation 90-109 Average 110-119 High Average 120-129 Superior Over 130 Very Superior

15. All scores are not created equal • Standardized tests are more reliable than rating scales • Curriculum-based assessments relate better to what has been taught in the student’s school • Standardized achievement tests have only a few items at a given level

16. Some FAQs • Does the psychologist who administers the test affect my child’s score? • Should my child be re-tested? • How young is too young for testing? • If one of my children scored in the gifted range, is my other child likely to do the same?

17. What are your questions?