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standardized tests

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

My 10 yr old daughter in 4th grade just took her standardized tests.I do not need the results.Her report card grades show the results.I met with her teacher today.She deserves a F in math.I was told do not worry if she fails the standardized test.What happens next year I asked? I was told do not worry her IEP will carry her and help her.Personally,I do not put alot of weight on the standardized tests but if she can not do the math or understand the vocabulary..how is she expected to pass?Also,She has been on a IEP since first grade..If she could pass the Standardized test then she would not need help?What are they doing for kids on IEP’s?How do I get a tutor in math,reading,writing and Standardized test? She has been tutored in Wilson for 2 years and basic skills math for 1.Parent paid not the IEP…I believe one step at a time.How do they expect a child who learns differently and slower to achieve all skills within one year?Sorry writing so much…I wonder what others are doing to help children on IEP’s to pass the standardized tests?

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 04/11/2002 - 7:30 PM

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I just asked that same question of my youngest sons teacher. She said the standardized tests do not count for the IEP students because this is not an accurate measure for them seeing they are over the childs head. She says what she does is give the KEY MATH test to check math skills, and the Woodcock Reading Mastery inventory for reading skills. She measures this against the student IEP goals to see if they have progressed. She says this is a better indicator for such students. My oldest sons progress on the other hand was evaluated using a combination of the MAT7 scores from this year and last, the Iowa Algebra test, the MAT8, and teacher input. He is in 8th grade so maybe this is the reason for the different approach. I think both boys are progressing nicely but it really did not reflect in their achievement test-but does show up in their daily work. Maybe they feel the standard tests are good measures because you are not testing at the childs ability level?

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/12/2002 - 3:57 PM

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I meant to say “Maybe they feel the standard tests are NOT a good measure for these students because they are not being tested at thir ability level”.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/12/2002 - 4:42 PM

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Group standardized achievement tests compare your child’s performance on that test to the group that the test was normed on …that group may or may not be applicable to your child’s school; affluent suburban schools often do far better than schools with students from inner cities. You should look at the printout of the MAT7 scores for your school, and compare your child to those scores. Group achievement tests are not meant to be used to diagnose or measure progress for students with special needs.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/12/2002 - 6:25 PM

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On the print out from last year two of my kids had higher national percentile ranks then they did local percentile ranks. My oldest son only had local percentile ranks because the test was given out of level. He had a large rank range from 12th-84th percentile. My daughters scores were clustered closer together with national rank ranges from 73-95 but local ranks of 48-82. My youngest son had national ranks of 8-43, but local of 1-8. Will be intersting to see how they fair this year since they have now been in this school system two years. We were told when we got to this district that the kids tested to be 2 years behind. I think this school district just has higher standards then the one we came from. We moved from ND to IL and it was a culture shock to all the children. The expectations of them were much higher even for the 2 LD ones.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/12/2002 - 8:48 PM

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heather wrote:
>
> My 10 yr old daughter in 4th grade just took her standardized
> tests.I do not need the results.Her report card grades show
> the results.I met with her teacher today.She deserves a F in
> math.I was told do not worry if she fails the standardized
> test.What happens next year I asked? I was told do not worry
> her IEP will carry her and help her.Personally,I do not put
> alot of weight on the standardized tests but if she can not
> do the math or understand the vocabulary..how is she expected
> to pass?Also,She has been on a IEP since first grade..If she
> could pass the Standardized test then she would not need
> help?What are they doing for kids on IEP’s?How do I get a
> tutor in math,reading,writing and Standardized test? She has
> been tutored in Wilson for 2 years and basic skills math for
> 1.Parent paid not the IEP…I believe one step at a time.How
> do they expect a child who learns differently and slower to
> achieve all skills within one year?Sorry writing so much…I
> wonder what others are doing to help children on IEP’s to
> pass the standardized tests?

Does the school have any evidence that your daughter is learning? Standardized scores on those group tests often aren’t a good measure — but that means they should have something else.
It sounds like the school is saying “YOur kid is on an IEP, so she will get passed to the next grade, so don’t worry!” I would stop using the word “pass,” period, because the school *is* right insofar as “passing” is defined differently for special ed kids. However, there should be a way of measuring your daughter’s progress to show whether they’re teaching her anything or not. “Making measurable progress” is what you want. Heck, there are lots of kids who *pass* those stupid tests who aren’t making measurable progress.

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 04/14/2002 - 3:32 PM

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Standardized tests in and of themselves do not truly mean anything. Life is not a standardized test.

What can be important, though, is if graduation is tied to the passing of standardized tests. Is that the case in your state?

If it is, there are other parents of children with learning differences who have faced this challenge. Try to network to them and what has worked for them.

If it’s not, I would consider going on as you have been - focusing on developing her basic skills. I would not have her tutored for standardized tests alone but it can be helpful to get a copy of a similar test and walk her through the directions. Some children do poorly on these tests simply because they don’t really understand what they’re supposed to do with them.

If two years of Wilson has helped her reading skills, it might worth continuing with it. If you haven’t noticed improvement in her reading skills after two years of any tutoring, I’d find a different program or a different tutor. You could take the same money you’re paying for Wilson and pay a tutor to work with her in math and reading. Ask around of your neighbors and friends. Often someone close to you has used a tutor for their own child and can provide a good recommendation.

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 04/18/2002 - 7:28 PM

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As you all have probably seen my name before, I am truly trying to understand this whole testing thing. I do not think that we should discount an LD student’s testing scores because they are LD. How can you say that it does not show a true measure of his ability? When you say this you are lowering your expectations for that child. Wrong mentality for most LD kids. The potential is there, they learn DIFFERENTLY! In the school children are taught a standardized education and we are testing to see if these kids have learned what they were supposed to be taught, LD or not. What have they achieved in the past year, and in the case of SATs, have the state standards been taught and retained. Considering standardized scores are good enough when we want to identify gifted kids, why can we not use these tests to measure the LD student’s achievements/or lack of, as well. The mainstreamed gifted child and the mainstreamed LD child both received the same education. This should show us then that the kids with LEARNING DIFFERENCES were not taught (the same material) the APPROPRIATE way. Please stop using these excuses as a crutch for the school not being accountable. LD kids are absolutely capable of the same achievements as anyone else. These tests are an objective measure of achievement and they should be used as part of the evaluation of progress of individual students. They are not unreasonably gruelling and most LD children are provided with accomodations for testing to try to even out the playing field for them. Please stop selling these children short by excusing them and saying it is above their ability. Nonsense. I refuse to lower the bar for these children. They are not the problem, it is how the education is being delivered to them, proof is in the amount of children being identified every year. The numbers are alarming.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/19/2002 - 11:09 AM

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I have a problem with standardized testing, mainly because my son with add for some reason just cannot do well on them. It is the testing not his knowledge that is the problem. He has accommodations, he does ok on most parts but cannot get out of the below average portions of the lang. arts. Even though he has an A+ in english and is doing well in most of his classes. My son seems to have some problem with testing in general, he retakes them often in class. Math especially.

My biggest concern is with the high school exit exams. I took one in my sr yr of high school. Thankfully they took folks like me that didn’t pass certain parts to the library and let us retake those parts after reviewing. I for one had completely forgot how to divide fractions. Hadn’t even seen them since probably 6th or 7th grade. I remembered how after I was shown a few problems and passed. I was not dxed ld although I had always done poorly in math classes. My last one had been in the 10th grade. Standardized tests are good for those folks who are good at multi choice, which I am one of, but others just aren’t good with the multi choice format. Personally, I hate them.

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