Should you have kids tested in years when it's not required??? Some thoughts...

Posted by Susan Richman on October 04 2009 at 20:16:38:

In Reply to: Special 'Surprise Blessing' at each Fall Testing site where we have 40+ students-- one student will get FREE TESTING! posted by Susan Richman on August 27 2009 at 13:05:17:

Many families wonder about this-- should they have their kids take a regular achievement test each year, or just go with the ´regular´ 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade required years?  And if you *do* opt to test each year, should you put those scores in the child´s portfolio or not??  There are things to think about on all sides-- and ultimately each family needs to make their own decision on this. I´d like to explore some thoughts here.

Why might you NOT want to test yearly? Many reasons come to mind right away:

• It´s not required-- so why put myself and my child through this???
• It saves money-- no paying for testing and scoring services.
• It saves time-- we can be learning, not just testing... and no preparation time to worry about either!
• I´m saving gasoline by not driving to a test site an hour away!
• My child hates taking tests and gets really nervous-- why would I want to put her through more of this than strictly required?
• You don´t personally feel standardized achievement tests give such valid information about how a child learns-- so just doing it when absolutely required is all you can stomach.

These are all valid reasons, and if these sound like you, remember that the PA homeschool only *requires* testing in 3rd, 5th, and 8th grades. Take your break the other years! 

And now here are some reasons some families find it useful and even helpful to test on those ´off´ years:

• I know it´s not required, but I like to keep my kids in practice with these types of measures.
• I´m taking my 3rd grader for testing, so I might as well have my 7th and 6th graders test also.
• My kids actually enjoy taking achievement tests-- it´s so different from what we usually do, and they enjoy seeing friends at the group testing day. Maybe it´s the ice cream cones we always get afterwards that makes it a fun day???
• These scores are just for *my* benefit-- I feel more relaxed if I can see concretely that by this measure they are doing well and are ´on target´ with things.
• I like testing in off years, because my kids feel LESS stressed, since they know this testing doesn´t ´count´... it´s lets them *practice* in a low-pressure situation.
• I just like to be ´matter of fact´ about testing-- my kids know it comes up every year, and it´s no ´big deal´ to any of us, just something we do annually.
• My kids like having some objective measure of how they are doing, especially now that they are getting older. And regular yearly testing seems to spur my kids on to reviewing math problem solving and language arts skills in a meaningful way.
• My kids score super on these types of tests-- I love to put their scores in their portfolio, as this is a really good ´quick´ way to see that whatever we are doing, it´s ´working´ just fine. I don´t feel I need really in-depth records (log or portfolio) when I´ve got great test scores to flash.
• My kids are looking at future scholarships-- and many depend upon good test taking skills. I want my kids to feel confident in their ability to tackle these ´events´.
• My son sometimes tests pretty poorly, but I can see that testing each year is helping him feel more ´used´ to testing-- he´s gradually figuring out how to do these types of tests, and the yearly ´test prep´ time with me definitely helps.
• My in-laws appreciate seeing the grandkids´ test scores-- every year.
• My husband, who was a bit skeptical of this whole homeschooling adventure, wants to have things ´verified´ by yearly testing-- he feels it makes us more responsible.
• I didn´t want 8th grade testing to be a ´big surprise´ after two full years ´off´ testing-- we don´t typically do any formal testing in our homeschooling, and so this is our one ´measure´ on our learning.
• My evaluator appreciates (though of course doesn´t require) seeing the kids´ test scores from each year, even if I choose not to show them to the district. She feels it helps balance out her informal portfolio assessment.
• My kids see testing actually as a ´fun break´ from our general routine of homeschooling.
• It´s a convenient location, so why not go? And the fee is low-- it´s no ´budget breaker´ for us.

Hope these thoughts help you sort out what you want to do. Know that we CAN offer accomodate testing in the ´off years´, from 4th grade on up through 12th. We do NOT offer testing for beginning 1st or 2nd graders, as that would necessitate hiring another teacher-- and we also just feel that 3rd grade is ´early enough´ to begin this process. 

Susan Richman, PA Homeschoolers, 3rd grade tester in the Fall :-)

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