Standardized Test Results are in: advice please?

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  • June 6, 2011 at 7:24 pm
    Heather
    Participant

    Okay, so we’ve just received our standardized test results for 3rd grade (we used the PASS test) and it was very helpful for me to pinpoint dd’s strengths and weaknesses in detail.  She tested high for reading, avg. in math (surprising since she is below “grade level” in that respect) but the Language area is where we’re going to need some work.  Apparently, her usage is high, but spelling, punctuation, capitalization, composition and study skills are low. 

    I was planning on starting her in the middle of Serl’s Primary Language Lessons in fall plus added dictation.  In your opinion, would these listed areas of weakness be sufficiently addressed with PLL and dictation, or should I supplement with something else as well?  I do not want to exhaust her with repetition, but I want to be efficient.

    Please read this from the perspective of a mom wanting to simply strengthen weakness, rather than one who is fretful trying to make her child “catch up”.

    Thanks!!

    June 6, 2011 at 8:37 pm
    suzukimom
    Participant

    Heather… not sure exactly what you have been using so far… following SCM guide, or some other CM program, or making your own….

    Nor am I familiar with the PASS test…

    But it seems to me the Language area that she needs work in are ones that CM said not to emphasise until about Year 4, but are ones that the current day public school system do spend a lot of time on in grades 1 to 3.

    So assuming you have been doing CM recommendations, I am not surprised that those showed up as week areas in a Grade 3 test.  Nor do I think you need to worry at this point.  Really, I think the test scores just reflect a different timing on when things are taught.

     

    Hope that helps some!

    June 6, 2011 at 8:56 pm
    Sara B.
    Participant

    I agree with suzukimom.  It sounds like she’s right on track for CM (my oldest will be in 3rd grade next year, so your results are what I would expect for her at that point).  Often, CM’s methods do not track with the standardized tests (which is a big reason I don’t like them – but I digress).  So if I were you, I would just continue on where she is or what your plan was all along – she’ll “get it” when the time is right for her.  🙂

    June 6, 2011 at 9:03 pm
    Sue
    Participant

    May I chime in with my agreement, also?  When you look at “standardized tests,” you have to consider whose “standards” they are intended to line up with.  If you are comfortable with the standards you set for your daughter based on CM methods and philosophy, then I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the test results if they line up with a differing set of standards.

    Of course, if certain scores are required by law where you live, then you do have to take the results into consideration. (In that case, I would do whatever possible to change the homeschool law to not require standardized testing as the only option for evaluation….but I, too, digress!) Wink

    June 7, 2011 at 3:30 am
    Heather
    Participant

    Thank you all so much!  I am greatly encouraged by what you’ve all said.  It makes sense that just because the CM way doesn’t focus on technicalities first, doesn’t mean that our children won’t get to the technicalities later.  I was thinking some more about it and realized that it’s much better to have a 3rd grader who can use correct grammer, and recognize incorrect grammer when she hears it, than to have a third grader who speaks terribly, but can diagram a sentence on paper!

    Thanks again for the encouragement ladies!

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