Category: Assessments

Assessment Considerations

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Hmm…portfolio review or standardized testing? While a homeschool assessment must be done EVERY YEAR for students of compulsory age, which assessment option is best?

The portfolio review option was hard-won back in 1994 to help special needs students and others for whom testing is less appropriate, such as students with test anxiety or pre-readers. For example, there are disadvantages to using standardized testing prior to 2nd or 3rd grade. We recommend becoming educated about the level of reading required for early-level testing. If your student is not yet ready for that reading level, you might consider a different assessment.

As you consider your choices, this article about reading-readiness prior to age seven should be helpful. If you decide that testing is your best choice this year, another of our articles gives prep ideas, many of which need implemented several weeks before testing.

Keep in mind that testing environment matters. While students who are good testers (usually those who easily sit still for book work) do well in almost any testing environment, most students do better when the environment is familiar. That serves well when testing with co-op buddies or homeschool friends, but for those who are heading to an unfamiliar test center, prepare your child by helping them relax and not feel pressured from the stress of the new social situation.

Private testing in your own home is an option that allows a young student to test in an un-rushed manner in a familiar environment. Short attention spans might also benefit from private testing, as a parent could make arrangements with a private administrator to span the testing over additional days.

Using the same assessment option year to year isn’t necessary, as both testing and portfolio review have their own benefits. While portfolio review is designed to compare the student with his or her own abilities, testing does give credible and useful information about how your student compares with other students. Standardized tests are also good practice for testing environments down the line, such as college prep exams and dual enrollment classes. Many parents who use portfolio review in the early years switch to testing by mid-elementary.

Hover over the “Assessments” menu option to peruse all your assessment options. Still have questions? Email testing@chewv.org.

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January 12, 2023
Score Reports from CHEWV

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What score reports can you expect when you test with CHEWV?

First, you will receive the complete IOWA score reports directly from BJUP. The Profile Narrative provides the National Percentile Rank (NPR) for each subtest along with the five scores that must be averaged to obtain the “mean” for WV homeschoolers. The number of items and percent correct can also be quite helpful to the parent.

However, the composite scores are probably the most valuable. More information about how to use this score report can be found here.

*Please note that actual score reports received may look different than the samples shown.

The Performance Profile score report has additional graphs and is basically a synopsis of scores.

While these reports are both very valuable to the parent, neither of the above reports are ideal to send to the county. Both contain additional information that is not required by WV law. We do not recommend submitting information that is not required for a variety of reasons. That’s where the WV-specific CHEWV reports come in handy.

CHEWV testing families can request one of two CHEWV-generated score reports. The first is the County Report which is designed to be turned in to the county for grades 3, 5, 8, and 11. It contains all the information that has been submitted to satisfy the law for the past 30 years.

The other option is our Progress Report. It is designed to help the parent determine the progress of each child according to WV’s standards – helping them determine whether “acceptable progress” – as defined by 18-8-1c2 – has been made for the year. Used with our flow chart, it’s easy to see what the next step is. The Progress Report is appropriate in years when scores must be kept on record but not submitted to the county, i.e., K, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, and 12th.

More information about scores are here and here.

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January 11, 2023
Second Year to Struggle With Assessment Results?
Remember that the second consecutive year that a homeschooled student does not make “acceptable progress” on their annual homeschool assessment, the parent or instructor must submit “additional evidence” of appropriate instruction TO THE COUNTY.
- What is “acceptable progress?”
Acceptable progress is made when the average of the five required test scores (reading, language, math, science, and social studies) falls at or above the 23rd percentile or 4th stanine. Find additional details here.

OR

When a portfolio reviewer makes the statement that the child has progressed according to their abilities.
Find a helpful flow chart here.
- What is “additional evidence?”
While the law does not give clear guidelines for what additional evidence means, it could include remedial plans, additional tutoring, or even evidence of progress. It might also include diagnostic information or statements by medical personnel that explains why low scores might be expected.

This article should provide additional help.
- Isn’t this requirement only for grades 3, 5, 8 and 11?
NO. This is true no matter what grade level your student is in. However, it is only the second consecutive year that a child is below acceptable progress that this applies.

Questions? Contact Becky at testing@chewv.org.
June 2, 2021
End-of-Year Assessment Questions?

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NO. Assessments are required every homeschooling year! Since this continues to be misunderstood, we appreciate all support group and social media influencers who pass the word.

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YES – IF they are for 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 11th graders, assessment results must be turned in to the county superintendent’s office by June 30th. For those specific grade levels, assessments need to be done by the end of June.

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YES! Even though you may not have to submit the assessment results, you are still required to initiate a remedial program if your child falls below acceptable progress requirements in ANY given year.

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Great question! That’s why we made a convenient flow chart to help.

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It’s always possible to get the assessment completed. Tests can be ordered (and administered online) from BJU Press Testing and Evaluation. Their online testing results are available quickly. Alternatively, portfolio reviewers can be contacted until you find someone available for an upcoming review.

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Besides the official test results, you will also receive a County Report for grades 3, 5, 8 and 11. This is the report that we recommend submitting to the county because it contains only the information required by law. (You will receive this report AFTER you have already received the publisher’s results. We appreciate your patience as we prepare these reports for hundreds of students and families.)

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Becky Price, CHEWV’s Assessment Coordinator, is happy to help. Reach her at testing@chewv.org.

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May 4, 2021
Online Programs and the Annual Assessment

This year, many new homeschool families have opted to enroll in accredited online programs for their students. Unfortunately, many of these program directors have limited (or no) knowledge of the WV homeschool law because they are not WV-specific. Many offer assessments and imply that their assessment is all your student needs. But is it? Chances are…No.

The WV Code is very specific about the type of assessment required for WV homeschoolers. The two most common assessments are a portfolio review (in which a certified teacher reviews samples of your student’s school year assignments and determines if the student has made progress in accordance with his/her abilities) and a nationally-normed standardized test.

If you have enrolled in an online program which offers a testing option, it is YOUR responsibility to assure the test offered:

*has been normed or published in the past ten years

*is a nationally-normed standardized test

*tests the 5 subject areas of reading, language arts, math, science, and social studies

If the online program’s offered test does not meet ALL three criteria, then you are responsible to obtain a test which does or to choose another assessment option. If you are unsure, we strongly suggest you contact our experienced testing coordinator, Becky Price, at testing@chewv.org. She is happy to answer questions about any assessment situation.

CHEWV has over 30 years experience with the WV homeschool law. Remember, we are here to help!

January 30, 2021
Help! I Need a Portfolio Review This Year

But I’ve Never Done One Before!

With all the changes COVID-19 has brought to our lives, you may be wondering how to get your annual homeschool assessments done. If you usually test your students, this year you may find yourself considering a portfolio review instead. Here are some points to help you traverse this new territory.

First, several portfolio reviewers around the state are not only comfortable doing remote reviews but are willing to help parents who have never prepared an “official portfolio.” You can find a list of reviewers at this link.

Second, since a portfolio is simply a gathering of samples, ithttps://new.chewv.org/assessments/wv-portfolio-reviewers/ can be done with less fanfare than you might think. This year most reviewers will not be able to review physical portfolios as they might have done in years past – so you’re not alone! Therefore, portfolios needn’t necessarily be worksheet or paper-based entirely. Creative solutions might include having your child read over FaceTime or Facebook Messenger Video in order to demonstrate their grade-appropriate reading ability. Pictures of science projects or field trips can help substantiate active learning. And if you do need to show workbook pages or math problems, you can easily take a picture of various samples and text them to the reviewer. Everything must be a bit more creative this year. “Samples” of work can also be uploaded to Pinterest, Facebook, Dropbox, Google Drive, and many other options.

Last, think of your reviewer as a fellow homeschool mom! Most portfolio reviewers are (or have been) homeschool moms themselves. They have experienced the differences in individualized teaching at home versus classroom teaching. For example, this encouraging article is a classroom teacher’s comparison of her teaching in school versus her teaching at home. Don’t envision the reviewer as a teacher who is ready to find fault. Instead, view this as an opportunity to chat with another mom who has studied education and may have helpful pointers – or much-needed encouragement.

If you are leaning toward a portfolio review this year in lieu of testing, we encourage you to contact reviewers and chat with them about how they’d like to see your work. That first conversation could allay all your concerns.

Finally, remember that the June 30th deadline applies only to students in 3rd, 5th, 8th and 11th grades. While ALL students must still be assessed this year, you have much more time for students in other grades.

For more details about this year’s requirements, click here.

I always get to where I’m going by walking away from where I’ve been.

– Winnie the Pooh

April 8, 2020
Assessment Considerations

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While a homeschool assessment must be done every year for students of compulsory age, there are two main options to choose from: testing and portfolio review. The portfolio review option was hard-won in 1994 to help special needs students and others for whom testing is less appropriate, such as students with test anxiety or pre-readers. For example, there are disadvantages to using standardized testing prior to 2nd or 3rd grade. We recommend becoming educated about the level of reading required for early-level testing. If your student is not yet ready for that reading level, you might consider an alternative assessment.

As you consider your choices, this article about reading-readiness prior to age seven should be helpful. If you decide that testing is your best choice this year, another of our articles gives prep ideas, many of which need implemented several weeks before testing.

Keep in mind that testing environment matters. While students who are good testers (usually those who easily sit still for book work) do well in almost any testing environment, most students gain an advantage when the environment is familiar. That serves well when testing with co-op buddies or homeschool friends. But for those who are heading to an unfamiliar test center, prepare your child by helping them relax and not feel pressured from the stress of the new social situation.

Private testing in your own home is an option that allows a young student to test in an un-rushed manner in a familiar environment. Short attention spans might also benefit from private testing, as a parent could make arrangements with a private administrator to span the testing over additional days.

Using the same assessment option year to year isn’t necessary, as both testing and portfolio review have their own benefits. While portfolio review is designed to compare the student with his or her own abilities, testing does give credible and useful information about how your student compares with other students. Standardized tests are also good practice for testing environments down the line, such as college prep exams and dual enrollment classes. Many parents who use portfolio review in the early years switch to testing by mid-elementary.

Hover over the “Assessments” menu option to peruse all your assessment options. Still have questions? Email testing@chewv.org.

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January 7, 2019
Stanines, Percentiles, and Freedom

Learning. It’s not just for our students! There is certainly a learning curve for the newly revised law. This is a good thing, however, for through this law we have gained freedom! Nevertheless, with freedom comes responsibility – the responsibility to learn.

Those parents who have chosen testing for the annual assessment are beginning to realize that stanines are quite different from percentiles. Although stanines are less precise than percentiles, in many ways they reflect the bell curve much more. If you recall, the purpose of a standardized test’s norm group is to plot the scores on a bell curve and then draw comparison scores thereafter. The normal bell curve with its distribution can be referenced above.

Looking closely at the bell curve distribution, you will notice that the 4th, 5th and 6th stanines include a large range of percentile scores. This reflects the fact that the bell curve is tallest in that middle range: that those ranges represent the most students. The 5th stanine contains the most scores – from the 40th to the 59th NPR (Normed Percentile Rank). A stanine score of 5 is not very precise, but reflects that the student falls right where the largest group of other students do.

In comparison, the 9th stanine includes only 4 NPR scores: 96-99. The 9th stanine is much more discriminating than any other except the 1st. Only 4% of students are expected to score in that stanine distribution.

Be cautious that you don’t assume that the 1st digit of an NPR is reflected in the corresponding stanine rank because that just isn’t true. For example, an NPR of 93 falls in the 8th, not 9th, stanine rank. A 23 percentile rank falls in the 4th stanine, not the 2nd. For those with high scoring students, you’ll want to realize that both the 8th and 9th stanines cover NPR’s in the 90’s: the 8th stanine for scores from 89 to 95 and the 9th stanine for scores from 96 to 99.

Conversely, scores in the 1st or 2nd stanines are particularly low. Only 11% of the student population scores as low. This is why the articles in the scoring section of our website have been changed to help parents whose children are scoring in those low ranges. We highly recommend that parents identify why their students are struggling and search for strategies to help them reach their full potential.

Perhaps you’ve never aspired to understand statistics or bell curves, and you shudder when you see a percent sign! Although we want to help you understand these things, what is truly important is educating our children. The law is definitely a hoop we must jump through to get that privilege, and CHEWV is here, in part, to help you make that jump as painlessly as possible. You must know how to satisfy the law’s requirements and to do so with integrity. While a rudimentary understanding of stanines and percentiles is needful, understanding our own children and educating them to their God-given potential is the higher goal!

June 2, 2016
Getting Ready to Test: K, 1st & 2nd
Aha! Testing time! Moms may worry about how their littles are going to do and so may head over to Barnes and Noble for the Test Prep workbook, but there are actually many (and perhaps even better) ways to prepare.

In the earliest grades, many of the questions are read aloud and the choices are shown in picture form. Exposure to many different environments and situations can actually help these students figure out what the picture choices represent. Besides, these are good foundational learning experiences.

For example, going to the library together and picking out books about animals, their habitats, and their young for read-aloud and discussion is a great way to learn and prepare. Measuring things (the length of a toy, the weight of the dog, the height of the doorway) and discussing how to do it and perhaps making a nice list of comparison sizes (dog versus elephant) can help. Which is longer? Heavier? Observe things in everyday life – how ice cubes are bigger than the water before it is frozen, or how it’s more difficult to walk uphill the steeper it is.

Just gradually teaching your child to attend to his or her daily work is also a big help. Can they sit and follow directions for a couple hours? Usually that means that you’ve taken a few weeks to gradually increase the amount of time that they can sit and work. Start with ten minutes of read-aloud time with a couple questions afterward. Slowly increase that time, watching for their ability to attend. When their mind wanders, stop for the day. Then see if they can work for one or two additional minutes tomorrow.

In these years, children are not well designed to sit for extended periods of time and usually do not yet have the ability to stay focused on book work for all that time. Even if they’ve been taught to sit politely and not cause trouble, that still doesn’t mean that they can keep their minds focused after two hours of testing. If you know your child is not developmentally ready to do that, perhaps you should consider private testing so you can lengthen administration over more days. Or, switch to a portfolio review until about 3rd grade. At the very least, you should hold the test scores lightly. And remember, a child who is unable to attend for that long at these ages is not a “bad” child nor necessarily a “slow”child. Perhaps he is just not developmentally ready for this type of testing environment. The experience may help him become more familiar with testing, but the scores may not accurately reflect his knowledge.

To hold the test scores lightly, you and your spouse must put the scores in perspective. For instance, if the math score is lower than you would expect, you know that this may or may not actually reflect the math that your child knows. Therefore, it doesn’t necessarily reflect what you will see in later testing. Encourage your child to do his best, but don’t put undo pressure or value on testing, especially in these years.

What should you tell your child about testing? We think it’s important to be firm about behavior expectations, but light about results. In other words, it may not be wise to talk about how they should do their best so that they won’t fail. It can be very counter-productive to say things such as if they don’t do well they might have to repeat a grade, or worse, flunk, or especially that they need to do well so that the county thinks they are doing okay. All of those types of statements put too much pressure on a young child – placing the responsibility for the success of his schooling on his testing performance. No wonder such a child might be nervous before testing, learn to dread it, and not then feel well enough to really do his best. Instead, put the emphasis on sitting quietly, listening carefully, and doing his best. “Sweetheart, you will have to work hard today to listen carefully to what the teacher says and do your best to follow the instructions.” Remind him that there will be questions that he does not know the answer to, and that it’s okay. A second-grader might be able to understand how to eliminate some answers and then guess between the ones left. But don’t stress if your child does not yet understand that concept.

If testing time is not dreaded by your child, he or she will tend to do better. For our family, we calmly talked about how it would be nice to see our friends and we did not do additional school when we got home. Between those two things, it was a welcome break for everyone! In fact, we purposely did fun things in the afternoons after testing!

Think of these years as setting a solid foundation for later testing. If your child learns to like testing and to be comfortable in testing situations, that will go a long way in helping him later on.

Below are a few developmental milestones and the usual ages that children attain them. Notice that several of these could affect test performance. Note, too, that although children usually progress through the same order of milestones, each child grows and gains skills at his own pace. Therefore, milestone ages (such as the ones given below) are just averages. At this age, being behind or ahead of these averages does not usually indicate anything about intelligence because normal rates of development vary so greatly.
1. Uses future tense: 5 years old
2. Speaks sentences with more than five words – 5 years old
3. Better understands the concept of time – 5 years old
4. Can ignore minor distractions and if alone, will focus on an interesting activity for 10-15 minutes or an assigned task for 4-6 minutes – 5 years old
5. Personal interest is the most important motivation for a 5-year-old. It will double their attention span.
6. A normal attention span is sometimes said to be 3-5 minutes per year of age.
7. Directions should be given in chronological order. They can’t turn them around at age 5-6.
8. Pictorial directions are better understood than verbal directions at age 5-6.
9. By age 6 most children understand the concept of “10.” For example, they can count 10 objects (which is harder than rote, verbal counting to 10 or beyond).
10. By around age 6, children are beginning to understand cause and effect relationships.
11. By around age 6 they can read simple words and can describe a story.
12. Can follow 2- to 3-part commands by around age 5. For instance, “Put your book down, brush your teeth and get in bed.”
For more information about learning during the preschool years through about age 5, see our preschool section under “Helps.”

For parents who want to use test prep materials, workbooks can be purchased at many bookstores such as Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million. Or they can be purchased from our test distributor, BJU Press Testing, here. Materials are also available from Amazon via our Amazon Smile (see right sidebar). Once at Amazon, search for “standardized test practice.”
February 3, 2016
Preparing for Testing

It can be tempting to think that a test will accurately assess how we are doing as teachers and how our children are doing as students. But it can do neither. Standardized testing is only a tool to determine how our children compare academically with other students in the same grade level at the same time of the school year. The resultant scores are percentile rankings.

On the other hand, nationally normed tests can help us find relative strengths, weaknesses and learning gaps. For many families, they can be a wake-up call when busyness has pushed schoolwork into the background, for we want to be faithful with our God-given role of educating our children. Besides, testing can hone our children’s skills in group situations, as well as in test-taking strategies, both of which are necessary for future endeavors like college.

So what are practical ways to prepare? Simply learning a little strategy and becoming familiar with the format can make a big difference.

Understand the Directions

Children need to understand the directions before they begin the test. Although they feel free to ask for repetition at home, they may be less likely to do so in an unfamiliar situation. The administrator can restate the directions and clarify as long as no answers are implied, so encourage your child to ask if he doesn’t understand the directions.

Choose the Best Answer

*Good guesses
*No penalty for wrong answers
*First hunches are usually best

Your child will thoroughly understand and readily know the answer to many of the questions. He will be hesitant and confused by others. Prepare him for this and teach him to make good, but not wild, guesses. Teach him to eliminate obviously wrong answers and make reasonable guesses from the others. Since there is no penalty for wrong answers, so encourage him to answer all questions as best he can, and avoid leaving any blank if there’s time to finish. Unless he has confidence that his choice was not a good one, discourage him from switching answers. First hunches are often best.

Make Good Use of Time

*Easy questions first
*Mark skipped questions
*Don’t dally over bubbles
*Practice time constraints
*Dull lead for bubbles, sharp for math

If a question or problem is particularly difficult, it should be skipped and worked after easier questions are answered. There is a hazard, however: students must insure that they do not get off sequence on the answer sheet. Help them work out a system for staying on number sequence and flagging the skipped questions.

Marking the answer bubbles can also waste time. Perfectionistic marking is not necessary for the scoring machine to read the answer – although marking way outside the circles is not wise. Dull pencils are actually better for marking bubbles quickly; math problems are worked more quickly with sharp pencils.

We are not typically bound by time constraints at home, so practicing with time limits might prove helpful. Math is a good subject for timed practice. Math subtests generally allow 20-40 minutes, so within this time frame, have your child see how many problems he can work with attention to accuracy. Children who are meticulous or slow workers will need some training to work within time constraints. Younger children will also need help transcribing horizontally given math problems into vertical form to work. Giving them regular practice on a skill as straightforward as this can be a big boost. And they must learn to sit quietly and not distract others.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: grade 3, level 9, is the first level with a separate answer sheet. In the early grades, most of the test is read aloud by the administrator, and students move along together in their individual, self-contained booklets. The child, then, cannot skip answers and go back on most of the early levels.)

Become Familiar with the Test Format

Completing worksheets with a test format will give your child some practice and help him feel more secure at the onset of the testing session. For example, prepare groups of math problems with possible answers including a “not given” or “not here” choice. Language mechanics requires finding errors in punctuation or capitalization, so sample sentences can be made for practice.

Maps, charts and graphs are included on most levels of the Iowa and are now embedded in the subject tests rather than being a separate subtest. Learning how to read and interpret information presented in these formats is not only an academic requirement but an invaluable life skill. Help your children become familiar with directions on a map, types of legends, and different symbols and labels. Teach them how to make sense of pie charts, bar graphs, and other kinds of graphic representations of data.

Test levels through the third grade contain a listening subtest. Prepare for this by reading short paragraphs and asking questions afterward. Include simple inferences, drawing conclusions, and retention of meanings and details. For example, read a simple paragraph and follow with questions such as, “Which of these was done first,” “What color was the horse,” or “What do you think the child will probably do next?” Offer four choices. On the actual test, these readings cannot be repeated; teach your child to listen and attend the first time.

Finally, practice tests may help many students, especially if they have not tested previously. Practice booklets are widely available online or at bookstores.

Don’t Expect to Know it All

Remind your child (and yourself) that he is not expected to know everything on the test. Some of the test items will be beyond the grade level to accurately cap the higher scores. Students can answer several questions incorrectly or not at all and still do well on their scores because they are comparison scores. Your child’s score will be determined in comparison with other students who also got some answers wrong.

Even the academic subsections can vary from our specific curriculum’s scope and sequence. For instance, Christian homeschoolers often study history and geography intensively. But the IOWA, Stanford and Terra Nova cover only “social studies”. While this may include history and geography, it often centers more on social concepts like community service, minority group progress, recycling, and government and political issues. If we emphasize subjects differently from mainstream educators, we should adjust our expectations and view test results accordingly.

Finally, remember that your work is unto the Lord.

What happens throughout the entire year is a better indication of your faithfulness than what happens during testing week. And your child’s heart condition is vastly more important than his academic performance.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

Rather than worrying, make testing week something to look forward to – with afternoons off or pizza at the end! Wise preparation can help make this a pleasant change of pace!

Note: For parents who want to use test prep materials, workbooks can be purchased at many bookstores such as Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million. They can also be purchased from our test distributor, BJU Press Testing, here. Materials are available from Amazon via our Amazon Smile (see right sidebar). Once at Amazon, search for “standardized test practice.”

January 30, 2016