age?
law requires the norm based ones. At any rate, a home schooler does not need either test to know how there child is doing. We do want to obey our law, though.
percentiles can cause fear, so I prefer stanines.
They don’t have 8th grade math on the third grade test, so there is no way that a third grade test could tell you that your child was ready for algebra.
correct, so we tend to have problems with percentiles (unless our kids have a very high score). Percentiles also sound more precise then they really are.
My favor indicator is the stanine. Stanine is short for standard nine. The population of students is divided into nine categories based on their scores and given a number 1 through 9. Scores of 9, 8, and 7 are above average, 6, 5 and 4 being average and 3, 2, and 1 below average. A difference of two stanines is significant. For instance if your child scores in the 9th stanine in math and in the 7th stanine in reading comprehension, one could say that your child is above average in both areas but definitely stronger in math skills.
teacher/parent you probably already know this information, but if you are going to test you might as well get something more out of it than a grade equivalency.
Another type of test that homeschoolers some times use in lieu of a standardized test is a diagnostic test. The test that Alpha Omega sells is an example. These tests can be useful in placing a child in a particular curriculum, but these tests are not standardized.
Each spring, I administer standardized tests for several weeks. I always have very mixed feelings about it, but I do this as a service to our community. I think that testing is a part of the real world and I want our kids to be prepared for it. With the younger children I like for them to come in a day early and meet each other and get used to my house. I had four little second grade boys several years ago and they were quite interested in each other’s families, houses, dads. They became friends.
We always try to have a relaxed atmosphere and have snack breaks and usually a kick ball game in the cul de sac each day. (I always try to let my neighbors know in advance what we are doing, but they are used to seeing kids coming and going from my house.) I always emphasis to the kids that there will be things they may have not seen on the tests and that only myself and their parents get the results. I tell them that the test will just help their mom choose curriculum and that it is really more of a test on mom then on them!