SAT test result questions

It depends on what you mean by normal.

If this were my child, I would not like the dropping scores. It means he started out ahead of most of the children, and now isn’t as far ahead as he used to be. This often happens with bright LD children who aren’t getting adequate accommodations and/or remediation. However, it can also happen with non-LD children who start out gung-ho and then get bored and slack off on homework, paying attention in class, etc.

There is probably nothing you can do in terms of the school, since he is still performing above average in these areas. (50% percentile means half the students tested did less well on the test and half did better on the test. 72nd percentile is still doing better than average.)

Nancy

Some tests are tricky because of different age/grade levels. When he got those percentile levels, were those percentiles compared to his age group only, or to all students who took the test? Did he get the higher score on a lower version of the test and now he’s in a higher one? All sorts of things can affect scores. If you are concerned that he’s not being challenged, you may want more testing done to verify, but otherwise don’t let one score worry you too much.

Can you afford coaching? It can be pricy, so shop around. These tests are highly coachable.

Take a look at www.fairtest.org

I wouldn’t like the dropping scores either but may indicate being tired with testing or other factors. These might be increased via coaching.

—des

From what the school has told me, the tests are the same each time, except they are targeted for the grade level. I asssume this means that for grade 3 he took a test to see how much he knew that a 3rd grader should know, and the same type of thing for grade 5. If this is the case, then he has not retained as much this last year as he did the first year. AND the teacher coached the kids all year long (grade 5) to make sure they were ready for the tests!

Targeting the grade level — well, that is part of what I was getting at. Are there really eight different tests Grades 1 to 8, or is there a Grade 1-3 test and a Grade 4-6 test and a 7-8 test? This kind of thing makes a difference.

The material and presentation on a Grade 5 test is quite different from the material and presentation on a Grade 3 test. In Grade 3, the reading level is still quite restricted, questions are usually very direct, and the mathematics would most likely just be addition and subtraction. On a Grade 5 test, it is assumed that the student can read with few limitations, questions are much more complex, and the math willinclude multiplication and division and fractions and often decimals, and much more problem-solving. So the test grades are often not directly comparable.

Coaching is of limited help and, as you have seen, can even be counter-productive. If the time was spent on memorizing test questions instead of learning to reason through things, one tiny change on the test and the time was all wasted. Also the more time spent memorizing for a test, the less time spent learning new things that will be of benefit in the long run.

I think I am thinking of the college entrance SATs.Those are highly coachable. This must be some other type of test from the newer posts listed. Sorry. I wouldn’t recommend coaching for some standardized test for lower grades.

—des