Can you be confident with a high CAT score? [Archive] - The Well-Trained Mind Forums (aka Hive Mind)

GVA

03-06-2008, 08:40 AM

Standardized testing measures your child against thousands of other children. It's one measure, taken at a particular time. As I've posted before, in my experience it's never told me anything I didn't already know, but it keeps me legal with the state and pleases DH.

That said, I'm more concerned about whether my children are truly being educated to their potential. If the quality of my college students who have passed the state exams is a measure, I want more for my children than the norm. I want them to graduate with skills far above the state standards. In our case, my children are truly capable of that. We struggled here and there with certain areas, but I've never had to deal with developmental delays or learning disabilities. On the other hand, I have friends who despite their diligent efforts will graduate children who could not pass the state tests. These children could never get above the 50th percentile on any kind of standardized test no matter what the parent did. So are they homeschool "failures"? I think not.

So yes, test with the CAT or the CAT-E if you want a marker, but please don't consider it to be a final exam for homeschooling. Consider the child's developmental stage and capabilities first. I can name a dozen people that I know personally who put their homeschooled children in a classroom because of "poor" standardized test scores only to find that the child got almost the same or even worse scores there.

Anne/Ankara

03-06-2008, 08:56 AM

Years ago, I gave the California Achievement Test (through Seton Hill) to my kids because it was one I could do at home, easily. But, as I recall, the test was dated something like 1981 or something-- very old in my opinion. Later we moved to the Terra Nova standardized tests because they are more up-to-date (but someone else has to give them). You might want to check the date on the test to find out how old it is.