What parents should know about academic testing.

When my new granddaughter Nellie Rose arrived this summer, doctors and nurses looked her over, measured her up, and gave her an Apgar score of 9. She no doubt wondered, ”What a world! I’m here 30 seconds and there’s already a test!”

That’s likely how our kids will feel as they head back to school this fall. Just as they’re shaking sand from their shoes and the dust bunnies from their brains, they will be expected to take the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests. Last year, the state moved up the tests to October in order to allow schools to see results earlier than before—in time to make changes to educational plans, if needed.

Testing is a hot topic these days, especially as Congress works to reauthorize No Child Left Behind (NCLB). This federal act mandated annual testing of students in reading, math and science.

“NCLB represented a huge shift in educational testing,” says Gregory J. Cizek, a Traverse City native and now professor of educational measurement and evaluation at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. “In the past, schools were measured by their input—the lessons and methods that should work for most students. But NCLB introduced a new model: measuring schools by their outputs—whether or not all students are actually learning what we say we want them to know.”

That means today’s students are subjected to more testing as schools struggle to meet the challenge to “leave no child behind.” And since “high-stakes” tests like the MEAP often link important consequences to test results—like public scrutiny for schools and scholarship money for high school grads—testing seems to spark more questions and worry than any other topic in education.

Academic Testing: Friend or Foe?
As a parent—and now a grandparent—I care about two things: Does testing really tell us useful things about our kids? And are some tests more useful than others? That depends, says Cizek.

“Any test that gives dependable information about important outcomes can be
useful,” Cizek says.

He names three factors that determine the usefulness of a test: its quality, its purpose, and how schools use the results.

1.Quality: Is the test accurate, dependable, free from bias, and tied to standards of learning that we all agree are important?

2.Purpose: Academic tests have different purposes. Tests like the MEAP are designed to show what a student has mastered, and in turn, how well his school has taught him Michigan’s core curriculum. However, it’s not useful for comparing one child’s performance to other students, for predicting future success, or for telling a teacher exactly what kind of individualized instruction he needs. No single test can do all these things well.

3. Use of results: Presumably, the hospital didn’t use little Nellie’s Apgar score to simply assign a nursery ranking. They used it to determine whether or not she needed special attention and medical action. Likewise, academic tests should do more than just label a child (e.g., learning disabled, gifted, B+, proficient, ADHD, and so on). The greatest value of testing is when the results are used to plan a way to help students achieve the most that they can.

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What Can Parents Do?*
First and most important, ask your child’s teacher early in the year what kinds of tests your child will take. Find out what activities you can do at home to help.

Before testing, ask:

• Which tests will be given and for what purposes?
• How will you or the school use the results?
• What other methods will you use to measure my child’s progress?
• Should my child practice taking tests?

After the test, ask:

• How do students in our school compare with students in other school systems in Michigan and across the country?
• What do the test results tell us about my child’s skills and abilities?
• Are the test results consistent with my child’s performance in the classroom?
• What, if anything, will you do differently in the classroom as a result of seeing these scores?
• What can I do at home to help my child strengthen particular skills?

During the year, try not to raise anxiety about test scores, but do encourage your child to take tests seriously.

Most important, don’t judge your child’s promise on the basis of a simple test score. Success is measured by a lot more than one score on one day.

After all, baby Nellie may have scored a 9 on her APGAR, but to us, she’s a perfect 10. And I can’t wait to let her know that every day.

RESOURCES
Help Your Child Improve in Test-Taking
www.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/hyc.html
Scroll down and click on “archived publications” to find this 1993 brochure from the U.S. Department of Education’s booklet series, “Helping Your Child.” This oldie, but goodie, offers timeless advice on how to help your child learn better and test better.

National Parent Teacher Association (PTA)
www.pta.org
Leave it to the PTA to answer parent questions about testing and offer tips to improve your child’s comfort and performance on tests. Enter “test” or “testing” in the site’s search box.

LET’S TALK TESTING (Web-only content)
This year, talk to your child’s teachers like an expert when it comes to testing. Here are some terms to know when discussing what kinds of tests your child is taking and the scores she earns.

• Assessment—it’s not just a test. This word describes the process of gathering and putting together many sources of information for the purpose of describing or making decisions about a student.

How it’s given

• Standardized—any test that is developed, administered, and scored under controlled conditions.

• Authentic—a test that presents questions to students in ways that are as close as possible to situations in “real life.” Simple addition or subtraction problems used when balancing a checkbook would be considered authentic.

What it measures

• Achievement Test—a test that answers the questions: “What does the student know and what can he or she do?” Examples: teacher-made classroom tests, most state-mandated tests (e.g., MEAP) and national tests like the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills.

• Ability Test—a test that answers the question, “What is the student capable of?” Examples: Otis-Lennon School Abilities Test, the Cognitive Abilities Test, and the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC-R).

How it’s scored

• Norm-Referenced Test (NRT)—answers the question, “How does my child compare to others in age or grade level—his norm group.” Examples: the ITBS, the California Achievement Test, and the SAT.

• Criterion-Referenced Test (CRT)—answers the question, “Has the student mastered specific content?” Most classroom tests, grade promotion and high school graduation tests are CRTs.

• Standards-Referenced Test (SRT)—answers the question, “How does the student’s performance compare to specified content standards?” On SRT’s, a student’s performance is usually reported using an achievement category. (Example: Starting in 2007, MEAP will describe students as Not Proficient, Partially Proficient, Proficient and Advanced.) .

When reading test results

• Raw Score—the number of items a student answered correctly.

• Mean Score—the average score.

• Percentile Rank Score—Tells what percentage of students scored below the raw score of your student. For example, a student who achieves a percentile rank score of 76 has scored better than 76% of the students in the appropriate comparison group.