Assessment

     I.Q. tests and standardized achievement tests are commonly used to evaluate students. I.Q. tests are more often used to assess aptitude and potential whereas standardized achievement tests assess subject matter mastery.

I.Q. Tests

     I.Q. tests assess potential and general intelligence. Young children can be tested with the WPPSI, and kindergarten and older children can be individually tested with the WISC. Children who top out on subtests on the WISC are sometimes tested with the old form of the Stanford Binet. 

     Individual I.Q. tests are generally administered by private psychologists or authorized school personnel.  A pediatrician, local public school or a school for gifted children can refer a parent to a licensed psychologist who will do testing. For example, children applying to the Nueva School in the San Francisco Bay Area are tested by a licensed psychologist, and parents receive the results of the I.Q. test.   Parent organizations also provide resources. For example, Lyceum in Santa Clara County, California, is a parent run organization providing classes and resources for gifted children.  This group provides a list of psychologists who do I.Q. testing.

     Some schools choose a nonverbal, spatial reasoning test and do not test verbal skills. Sometimes children are tested in group settings and not individually.

     For more information about differences and types of I.Q. tests, see the articles at the Davidson Institute website.

Standardized Achievement Tests

     Standardized achievement tests, such as the CAT, CTBS or ERB assess knowledge and skills commonly expected at grade level, and they inform about how students compare to their peers.

     Publishers of standardized achievement tests give the test to an extremely large sample of students before they make the test available to the public.  The publisher plots the raw test scores of each student in the sample group on to a bell curve and assigns each raw score a percentile ranking.  When the test becomes available to the public, new test takers' raw scores correspond to the percentile ranking of the sample group.

    Besides the nationally normed group, student scores are given as a percentile ranking in relation to a other groups that were previously normed, such as the suburban norm, parochial school norm and the independent school norm.

     Some achievement test scores also provide a grade level equivalent.  This means that the child tested as another child in a higher or lower grade level would have tested on the same test.  For example, if a fourth grader has a grade level equivalent of grade 10, it means that his or her test results are similar to those of a tenth grader taking the fourth grade test.  It does not indicate how a child would do on a tenth grade test. 

       Students with very high results on standardized tests are invited to take out of grade level tests to qualify for a national talent search.  Students who qualify for a national talent search take an out of grade level test, generally two or three grade levels ahead.  Students who do well are invited to special programs. 

State-Wide Testing
California Example

     Since NCLB, (No Child Left Behind), all states have participated in end of the year testing. 

     Some tests do not provide a percentile ranking; instead, they have cut scores that indicate whether students have mastered grade level content.  The state determines what percentage correct indicates grade level proficiency. 

     In California, standardized achievement tests are part of the statewide STAR testing system. The end of the year tests are called California Standards Tests, and they align to California grade level Content Standards. These tests differ from national achievement tests because they purport only to test California's grade level content, the subject matter that is assigned to be taught over that school year. 

     The state's interest is whether students have mastered grade level content and skills, and student results are calculated in terms of the number of correct answers. Scores are reported with a number and state whether the student is Advanced, Proficient, Basic, Below Basic and Far Below Basic. A score of Proficient indicates grade level proficiency.  Basic, Below Basic, and Far Below Basic indicate below grade level proficiency. 

     The public can view sample test questions on the California Department of Education website and see what percentage correct a student needs to be Proficient. (about 70%).

     Parents can also see how well students at their children’s school performed on end of the year testing. This information is available by grade level and by demographic characteristics.