Standardized tests, now typo free!!

byhookorbycrook

(I hope)

The annual thread before someone else starts one:
The Drumcondra Tests cover Irish, English Reading and Maths. There Irish test is compulsory for Irish-speaking schools, there is also a (non compulsory) version for schools that have English as the main spoken language.

The Micra-T tests English reading too, The Sigma T covers Maths.

Tests are not the be of all and end all, they show how a child performed on that particular day.A child may underperform for any one of a number of reasons, just back or getting ready to go on holidays, tiredness, nervousness, feeling unwell etc.

Teachers should not revise for or teach to the test, this totally invalidates any results.
Results must now be included in school reports, they are usually given as STEN scores OR percentiles.
http://ncca.ie/en/Curriculum_and_Ass...d_testing.html

byhookorbycrook

If anyone has queries, I'll do my best to help!

jansep48

My daughter has gotten Sten 10 in maths and english for the past 4 years. Her reports are always excellent and she is happy in school but I'm wondering should we be doing something extra with her. I understand that resources in school are pretty much directed at those with low STEN scores as opposed to high and no one has ever mentioned anything about her scores. She's not bored in school but just wouldn't like her to get too used to coasting along doing well and not working to her potential. If you have any suggestions I would be interested, thanks.

byhookorbycrook

Unfortunately the DES make no provision for high ability children when allocating support teachers to schools. What are her interests? I presume she is 5th class or so by now?

jansep48

She's heading into 5th. She likes music, dance, drama etc. She's a great reader and enjoys it. The only reason I worry about her a little, is that while she gets on great in school, when she is faced with tasks that need more thought or that are more difficult she gets into a total panic. I think she is just not used to having to think too hard!! I'm just a bit concerned that when she gets to secondary and actually needs to work hard she won't have the necessary skills. I am probably overthinking things and should just be glad that she is getting on so well at the moment.

Filed

jansep48 wrote: »

My daughter has gotten Sten 10 in maths and english for the past 4 years. Her reports are always excellent and she is happy in school but I'm wondering should we be doing something extra with her. I understand that resources in school are pretty much directed at those with low STEN scores as opposed to high and no one has ever mentioned anything about her scores. She's not bored in school but just wouldn't like her to get too used to coasting along doing well and not working to her potential. If you have any suggestions I would be interested, thanks.

Hi, My son gets 10's too and was bored in school all year. Teacher not interested in doing anything extra to challenge him (or others, very bright class). We have same teacher next year unfortunately. He is a CTYI student for some years now but not much use to us as we are not in Dublin and the courses are too expensive anyway.
Very frustrating.

byhookorbycrook

Have a look at giftedkids.ie Does she do project work at school?Is she finished work ahead of the rest of the class, or it the work she gets being differentiated for her?Sorry for all the qs, just trying to get a clearer picture.

Filed, is your son interested in coding?Is there a local coder dojo?

muckisluck

jansep48 wrote: »

She's heading into 5th. She likes music, dance, drama etc. She's a great reader and enjoys it. The only reason I worry about her a little, is that while she gets on great in school, when she is faced with tasks that need more thought or that are more difficult she gets into a total panic. I think she is just not used to having to think too hard!! I'm just a bit concerned that when she gets to secondary and actually needs to work hard she won't have the necessary skills. I am probably overthinking things and should just be glad that she is getting on so well at the moment.

You've said it all yourself. Let her get on with it as it is. Sounds like she's doing great.

jansep48

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Have a look at giftedkids.ie Does she do project work at school?Is she finished work ahead of the rest of the class, or it the work she gets being differentiated for her?Sorry for all the qs, just trying to get a clearer picture.

?

They do a few projects over the year and she likes doing them. She struggles a little getting them together as she has loads of ideas for projects but is a bit disorganised! She does the same as most of the class but would find a lot of it fairly easy, particularly maths. In English they use guided readers so suited to their level.
I'll have a look at giftedkids.ie thanks. She's very able but probably not gifted! I just want her to stay interested!

diveout

We were given raw scores. Is there anyway to translate to percentiles?

Big Bag of Chips

How rare is it to actually get 8s and 10s?

I have a son who is s CTYI student who gets 10s. He's in 2nd class. I have a daughter who is in 1st but only just turned 7 last week. She started school at 4. To me she is average. She loves reading but is not as good a reader as her brother at that age. She would make silly mistakes with her tables. If I ask her 10 - 6 she could think about it for a second and then give the wrong answer. I think she is bright. She doesn't struggle, but I would have considered her to be "average" (maybe our standard is high having been set by the older lad??)

Anyway she got a 10 in reading and 8 in maths. I'm just wondering are 8s and 10s really not that common or is she better than we are giving her credit for?

muckisluck

She's certainly better than you are giving her credit for. 10, 9, and 8 are not that widespread. However these tests are not the be all and end all. A pattern will develop over the years and you will get a truer picture of where your children really fit in on the overall scales as time goes by. Theoretically standard scores should be the same across all age groups and classrooms but as we are dealing with people rather than machines there are a lot of variaables that can come into play on any given test day.

byhookorbycrook

Diveout, most unusual to be given raw scores, never heard of it and it wouldn't make sense. What class and what test?

byhookorbycrook

She seems to have high ability in English. Giftedness tends to run in families, Big Bag of Chips.

diveout

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Diveout, most unusual to be given raw scores, never heard of it and it wouldn't make sense. What class and what test?

Drumcondra. Senior Infants.

killbillvol2

diveout wrote: »

We were given raw scores. Is there anyway to translate to percentiles?

Contact the school and ask for the STEN score. They should have them to hand.

upinthesky

My son got Sten 8 in sigma T, he loves maths, but he didn't receive an excellent score in maths, he got very good, so i don't know...

byhookorbycrook

In our school, excellent would be a sten 10 usually . Nothing wrong with an 8 or very good though.

killbillvol2

lisar816 wrote: »

My son got Sten 8 in sigma T, he loves maths, but he didn't receive an excellent score in maths, he got very good, so i don't know...

STEN 8 is in the top 17% of his age group which is well above average. Only about one in fifty children should score STEN 10.

On a more general note, an inspector visiting our school recently remarked that the national bell curve for Sigma T was skewed towards the top end (based on 2013 results I think). It didn't seem to occur to her that if it's skewed the standardisation is no longer accurate.

Lisha

Evening All,

My son completed senior infants last month.
He got his report and when I read it initially I was quite annoyed as I felt the comments contradicted each other.

In the sections dealing with learning behaviour and social development she marks him as being very good.

In the sections dealing with his learning she scores him as mainly 3/5, that he is managing comfortably.

He did the MIST test in February. Meet git results in end of yr report.
Here are his results
Listening skills: 14/15
Letter sounds 26/26
Three phenome words 29/30
Sentence dictation 31/36
Words written from memory 6
A note was written that her reversed 11 letters during test. Possibly connected that he was absent with chicken pox following day.

She comments that he is a pleasant self confident little boy who has worked dillegently all yr. I am pleased with his progress.
She said that he would benifit from library membership.

Reasons I was taken aback by this report us as follows:

Twice during the year I asked her how he was doing and did I need to do anything extra at home. Shd said no that he was perfect. I feel end if yr was too late to make an issue of reversals. I was unaware of this and would have done more to try and help him with this.

We go to library every week and he has loads of books. I read to him every night and by day too if he asks me to. From report I feel that I should have been getting him to read to me. I specifically asked her this at pt meeting and she says no that him being read too was important.

I feel the mist results were good but the comments feel a bit stingy put alongside them. Was she just being mean with 3/5 managing comfortably results for him?

I am annoyed that report was poorish when she twice told me during yr that he was perfect and nothing extra was needed. I am willing to be proactive with his education and really feel that the basics are so important going forward.

I feel now that I slipped up by not doing more at home with him.

Am I being too harsh ??

byhookorbycrook

We never put MIST results in reports . It is not a standardized test so doesn't need to be included. 11 reversals would ring alarm bells if the same amount of reversals were always happening in written work to the end of the year, perhaps the reversals only occurred in the test. All the other scores were v good, the written vocabulary was just in the cut off so I wouldn't see a need to worry about those.

A test is just a picture of how a child performs on one day, so if the teacher is happy then I would be too !

Lisha

Thanks byhookorbycrook.
When you say 11 reversals would ring alarm bells , do you mean for dyslexia?
My 2 brothers are dyslexia?
I've asked teacher several times and she is adamant that he is not dyslexic.

byhookorbycrook

Are those reversals a constant? What hand does he write with( sometimes lefties reverse more often than those who write with the right hand) As the other scores are so good but without knowing the child , I wouldn't panic on the dyslexia front just yet, although it can run in families.

Lisha

He is right handed .
Sometimes I feel the reversals are down to a rush to get work done.
With this teacher they have had very little homework often none. Next yrs teacher gives loads ofwork. I don't want him struggling from the off.

Thanks again

joseph61

Reversals in writing can vary and aren't always indicative of dyslexia. It’s helpful to consider which hand the child writes with, as left-handed writers might experience more reversals. Given the child's overall strong scores, it’s wise not to jump to conclusions about dyslexia. However, keep in mind that it can have a familial tendency.