Standardized Testing and FSMH

Students in grades 3-8 took a series of standardized tests in November.  I want to share with parents a little more information about why we administer these tests and how the results are used here at Friends School.

The series of tests we administer is named the Comprehensive Testing Program (CTP) and is published by the Educational Records Bureau (ERB).  Friends School administers the CTP in order to receive an objective, third-party assessments of students as well as the effectiveness of our curriculum.  The results of these tests are quite comprehensive and provide insight that is valuable not only for each student but for our school as a whole. We administer the tests in the fall in order to receive the results within a given school year and put them to best use in a timely manner.  Teachers review and discuss reports for their classes and utilize them to make any appropriate adjustments to curriculum and instruction.

Beginning in fourth grade, parents receive a report regarding their child’s scores. The report compares the individual student’s performance to two norming groups:

• National Norm: This is a statistical projection that compares how your child’s performance would compare with the scores that would have resulted if every child in the same grade across the nation had taken the test.
• Independent Norm: This is a more competitive grouping of same-grade students in independent schools that actually took the test over the past three years.  The percentile ranks and stanines can often be lower than those in the National Norm Group, which is to be expected and not always a concern as the Independent Norm Group is a smaller, more selective set of students from peer schools.

While the information gleaned from these reports is valuable, it is also important — in this age when too much weight is often placed on single test scores — to keep the perspective that these tests are one piece of a much larger assessment picture that includes teacher observations and assessments throughout the year.

Matthew H. Bradley
Head of School