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Most of the tests your child will take are designed by teachers. They help measure a student's progress. The results tell the teacher and the student whether he or she is keeping up with the rest of the class, needs extra help, or may be ahead of the students. These tests are associated with the grades on your child's report cards.
STANDARDIZED TESTS:
These tests use the same standards to measure student performance across the state or country. Everyone takes the same test according to the same rules. This makes it possible to measure each student's performance against that of others.
Standardized tests are designed to give a common measure of students' performance. Since the same test is given to large numbers of students throughout the country,a common yardstick or "standard" of measure can be derived to tell evaluators whether school programs are succeeding or to give them a picture of the skills and abilities of today's students.
Standardized tests are usually created by commercial test publishers. Some familiar standardized tests are the California Achievement Test (CAT), the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT), the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale.
REMEMBER:
Standardized tests have limitations. They are not a perfect measure of what the student can and cannot do; they only give a picture of your child's strengths and weaknesses. Many factors can affect a particular test score - whether your child gueses, receives clear instructions, follows the directions carefully, is comfortable, etc. Children's scores on a particular test can vary from day to day.
Teachers combine the results of many methods of assessment to gain insights into the skills, abilities and knowledge of your child, including:
~ observation
~ evaluating day-to-day work
~ homework assignments
~ conferences with parents
~ keeping anecdotal records of how students grow and change during the year