The difference between the Terra Nova and other National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests
By Inderbir Kaur Sandhu, Ph.D
Q:
I am curious about the differences between the Terra Nova
standardized test and the other NAEP test. How do the two
tests compare at the grade school level?
What is the population for grade school children that take
each test, i.e percentage or number of grade school students
taking the Terra Nova test compared to taking the NAEP test?
A: I would like to refer you to
a very interesting and informative site which will answer
most, if not all of your concerns. Please visit the
following site:
Duke Gifted Letter.
The complete article can be found below:
Benefits and Drawbacks of State-level Assessments for
Gifted Students: NCLB and Standardized Testing
Volume 7 / Issue 1 / Fall 2006
By Michael S. Matthews, PhD
If it seems like students have a lot more standardized
testing these days than when you were in school, you are
absolutely right. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB)
mandates annual testing in math and reading for all students
in grades 3-8 and, at least once more, in grades 9-12. In
addition, many states are piloting standardized testing in
science, because NCLB will begin to require such testing in
the 2007-08 school year.
Rather than developing entirely new standardized tests,
which can be expensive and time-consuming, many states
contract with major testing companies to develop
state-specific versions of existing tests. Generally, these
modifications match the test questions more closely to state
curriculum standards and frameworks. For example, CTB/McGraw
Hill's Terra Nova test is the basis for the Florida
Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT), given to
approximately 1.8 million students annually in Florida. The
FCAT questions are aligned with the Sunshine State
Standards, Florida's K-12 educational framework.
NCLB requires all schools to make adequate yearly progress
toward the goal of having all students proficient by 2014.
The states themselves select the assessments, an arrangement
that inadvertently offers them an incentive to select tests
that demonstrate strong student performance. Although NCLB
requires states to implement accountability systems, the act
does not set national standards for student knowledge level
at each grade. In response to these influences, some states
have set demanding proficiency levels for their students
while others have adopted lower standards that artificially
inflate the performance of students in these states.
Concerns for Parents
The increased emphasis on standardized testing concerns
parents of highly able students. Due to their design, paper
and pencil tests emphasize memorization of facts at the
expense of higher-level academic skills and competencies.
Since these complex abilities are not being tested,
classroom instruction in these competencies may be
minimized. Schools may see little need to support academic
acceleration or enrichment for the child who has been
classified as meeting proficiency, a goal that many gifted
students can achieve with limited effort. In addition, state
funding for gifted programs has been reduced—in several
states drastically—as schools reallocate their resources to
focus on raising the competency of their lowest-performing
students.
Criticism of mandatory high-stakes testing is by no means
limited to concern about its effects on gifted students and
programs. Observers note that when facing rewards or
punishments based on test scores, many schools respond by
devoting additional time to test-taking drills and basic
skills development in core areas of reading and math. The
time set aside for these efforts often comes at the expense
of time formerly spent in academic and enrichment areas such
as science, social studies, art, music, and even recess.
Instruction in test-taking skills may be focused so narrowly
on the requirements of one particular test that students are
unable to apply these abilities to other related areas.
Topics that are not on the test may never be covered in
class, or may be limited to the few weeks of school that
remain after annual testing has been completed. These
troublesome effects are most evident at schools with lower
scores, which often tend to be those schools located in low
socio-economic areas or that have more students who are
minorities or English language learners.
Connecting Testing to Performance
As a parent, how can you determine how rigorous your state's
testing regimen is? One approach might involve examining the
proportion of students who score at each level of
performance on your state's accountability test. This
information is usually available from your state's
department of education Web site, or locally through your
school or district officials. You can compare your child's
performance to other students at the school, district, and
state level to determine how your child compares to other
students in these groups.
For example, you might find that 75 percent of the students
at your child's school scored at the top level of
performance on your state's assessment. This may indicate
that the majority of students are performing well, as might
be the case if your child attends a particularly effective
school. However, it could also mean that the criteria
established for this level of performance are not rigorous.
In contrast, if only 6 percent of students score at the top
level, the test may be more rigorous or, perhaps, the school
is less effective. In either scenario, how can you determine
whether it is primarily the quality of the school's
instruction or the difficulty of the test that is producing
the results you have observed?
In-State versus National Comparisons
As mentioned, the structure of NCLB requirements presents a
strong temptation for states to water down their
assessments. As someone who may not be an educator, how can
you determine whether your state has strong or weak
standards?
Fortunately there is a way to compare student achievement
across states, albeit indirectly. The National Assessment of
Educational Progress or NAEP, also referred to as the
Nation's Report Card, is a nationally administered
standardized test of student ability in various subject
areas. The NAEP has been administered voluntarily to
representative samples of students in both public and
private schools since the program's inception in the late
1960s. Although your child's district or school may not
participate in NAEP testing, the schools that do are
selected in such a manner that the NAEP results can be
generalized to other schools in the same state. The NCLB act
now requires all states to participate in NAEP testing, so
your state will have scores available for comparison.
Unfortunately, NAEP does not release scores for individual
students or schools, so, these data cannot be used directly
to evaluate your child or your child's school. However, the
NAEP does provide scores aggregated by state and region,
which can be used to evaluate the rigor of your state's
testing program. If students from your state score
approximately the same on the NAEP as on the state exam,
this suggests that the questions on the state test are of
approximately the same level of difficulty as the questions
on the NAEP. Conversely, if their performance on the NAEP is
substantially lower than that obtained on the state exam,
this suggests either that the state exam is less rigorous or
that the content of the two assessments is not comparable.
Many experts believe that differences in rigor, rather than
in content, are primarily responsible when performance
differences between the NAEP and state tests are observed.
This suggests that if you find performance differences, they
are likely a reflection of actual differences in the
difficulty level of the two measures. Such comparisons are
reported on from time to time in local media. By keeping an
eye out for this information, you can get a good sense of
how your child's performance compares to other students
around the country.
Discussing test comparisons with your child in a supportive
manner can be beneficial, particularly for the child who
wishes to pursue career interests in a nationally or
internationally competitive field. Repeated exposure to
tests that are too easy may lead students to adopt the
mistaken belief that they do not need to study. Students
with this mindset often experience a rude awakening upon
entering a selective college, when their poor performance
leads to the sudden realization that they should have
studied harder when they were younger.
Explaining test scores from an early age and in a positive
way can help your child to understand that their goals
should be greater than simply being the best student on a
test in their school. For the child who excels in
test-taking skills, such comparisons also may help them to
understand that there will always be a more rigorous test
ahead. Being aware of how your state's tests compare to
national standards can help you and your child to make
informed educational decisions.
Michael Matthews is an assistant professor in the
gifted
education program at the University of South Florida in
Tampa.
|
Checkout these other IQ questions
