Understanding Testing 101
What does this stuff mean?
By George Champlin
Understanding Testing
This presentation will hopefully:
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Explain the differences in PASS, ITBS, &
MAP.
Explain the rationale for testing.
Explain how to understand the information
the tests give.
What are the Differences?
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PASS (Palmetto Assessment of State
Standards) is a criterion-referenced test.
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Measures the standard the state believes
students should be achieving in education.
Is one of the highest standards in the nation.
What are the Differences?
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ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills) is a normreferenced test.
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Measures student performance compared to a
national average.
Is administered by Greenville County Schools to
help identify student abilities and performance
levels.
Is used in 2nd Grade to identify students eligible
for challenge and gifted programs.
What are the Differences?
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MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) is a
norm-referenced test.
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Like ITBS, performance is compared to a national
average.
Not only describes achievement level, but also
prescribes ways to improve performance.
Will be used yearly to help identify Challenge and
Gifted Students.
Rationale for Testing
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PASS allows South Carolina to fulfill it’s
responsibility to NCLB (No Child Left Behind)
by:
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Establishing a state standard of achievement.
Measuring the state, district and school’s
performance in achieving that standard.
Establishing “next steps” if those standards are
not achieved.
Rationale for Testing
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ITBS allows Greenville County Schools to
measure how our children are doing,
compared to the rest of the nation.
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Provides an objective measure of achievement for
specialized programs.
Allows us to identify areas of strength and
weakness.
Rationale for Testing
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MAP does many of the same things ITBS
accomplishes. Differences are:
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Results are available the next day.
Can be administered multiple times during the
year to measure progress more accurately.
Provides prescriptive strategies to improve
performance.
What does the Information Mean?
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Your child’s teacher can help you understand
what each of the tests mean.
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If you need further help, the school counselor
can also provide help.
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Each test tells us something different.
What does the Information Mean?
PASS
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Tells us if a child is meeting the State
Standards for English Language Arts (ELA),
Math, Science and Social Studies.
Gives information measured in the following
way:
Not Met
Met
Exemplary
What does the Information Mean?
PASS
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Not Met –
Does not meet the State
Standard.
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Met -
Meets the State Standard.
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Exemplary - Exceeds State Standard.
What does the Information Mean?
ITBS
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Tells us how a student compares to students
around the nation in Reading, Language Arts
and Math.
Gives the information measured in several
ways:
NSS (National Standard Score)
NGE (National Grade Equivalent)
NS (National Stanine)
NPR (National Percentile Ranking)
What does the Information Mean?
ITBS
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Standard Score – a score scale based
students grouped by age.
Grade Equivalent – The score a student in a
particular grade would be expected to make.
Stanine – a nine point scale giving a range of
performance. One being the lowest score and
nine being the highest.
What does the Information Mean?
ITBS
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Percentile Ranking - percent of students
scoring below a particular measure (ex: 50th
percentile means 50% of students scored
below a specific score.)
What does the Information Mean?
MAP
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Like ITBS, tells how students compare to
other students across the nation in Reading,
Language Arts, Math and Science.
Scored by RIT (Rasch unIT) and Lexile.
RIT - Is an equal interval score, like feet and inches. Progress can
be followed through out the year and from one year to another for
school, class and individual averages.
Lexile - a unit for measuring text difficulty that is linked to the RIT
score. It tells the level a student can read with 75% proficiency. It
can help determine a child’s reading ability.
More Information?
Contact your student’s teacher or the school
counselor if you want more information or if
you do not understand the testing
information.