Whether I like it or not, I live in a world of high stakes testing. I’m thankful to live in a state that does not require my homschooled kids to sit for yearly state mandated assessments. My goals and objectives are different; my scope and sequence is different, thus, my assessments should (hopefully) be different. I have the freedom to teach what I want, when I want, how I want... and I revel in it. However, I do want to prepare my child for the eventuality of standardized testing, and I don’t want to wait until they are 16 to do it. But I am also totally unwilling to pay for one. I see those Stanford Achievement and ITBS tests advertised for homeschoolers, and they can be pricey, especially if you have multiple kids ($50 a pop the last I checked).
Fortunately, there is a way I can replicate this experience for free. Most states (Texas included) post PDFs of their tests from previous years. What’s more, they provide answer keys, rationales for their answers choices, and.... (drum roll, please) raw conversion charts that allow you to figure out your student’s percentile, scaled score, and whether or not they “meet” expectations. Admittedly, I put little weight on whether or not they met the state’s expectations since there are always thing on the test I haven’t taught as well as things I have taught that won’t be tested.
For me, it’s more about giving my students the experience or the practice of becoming comfortable with this type of an assessment. Usually they feel a mixture of anxiety and excitement. They’re frustrated when they come across something they’re unfamiliar with and have to make a wild guess, and they’re thrilled when they find a workaround that lets them arrive at the correct answer when they thought they couldn’t. This past administration, one of my kids discovered a test taking strategy. They didn’t know how find the answer but they sure as heck knew how to reverse engineer that bad boy and figure out which three answers were wrong. This is exactly the kind of result I’m after. Familiarity with the process to make it less intimidating when it actually matters.
This is my 5th year doing this, and the data I get is always fascinating. The same kid who scored in the 43rd percentile in math 5 years ago is now in the 80th percentile. The first time test taker who is nowhere near done with her math curriculum (slow and steady wins the race, y’all)... she “mastered expectations” and got in the 84th percentile. Turns out she is a great standardized test taker. Unlike her math whiz of a brother who can do complicated calculations in his head but barely eeked by with a “meets expectations” and a score in the 51st percentile. He is a pretty bad standardized test taker. And that’s okay. He did better this go round then last when he was in the 40s). Each year I expect he’ll make gains just by sheer force of exposure. It changes nothing about my kid’s day to day, but it does give data, and that data is valuable. And in this case, also free.
You can find "released tests" from most states. I've given my kids ones from New York and Massachusetts just because I can. You can, too!
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