Millennium Charter Academy

What Standardized Testing Does MCA Offer?
Millennium Charter Academy utilizes two types of
assessments: achievement and aptitude. Each looks at a
different aspect of cognitive development. All achievement
tests are created from content specific material, such as
reading and math, and they measure knowledge and skills
explicitly taught in schools. Aptitude tests, on the other
hand, evaluate reasoning skills that are developed indirectly
through various life experiences.

Under achievement tests, MCA administers the nationally
standardized Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) and the End
of Grade Test, commonly known as the EOG, developed by
the State of North Carolina. The ITBS is based on national
curricula, while the EOG is derived from the NC Standard
Course of Study. The ITBS looks at reading, language,
mathematics, social studies, science, and sources of information. The EOG only looks at reading and math.

In the fall, MCA gives the ITBS to all students in first grade and up. This provides feedback that can beneficially impact the current school year. The State mandates that the EOG be given within the last three weeks of school. This information, according to the State's guidelines, is used to help determine promotion/ retention and to improve the instruction during the upcoming school year.

Regarding aptitude testing, Millennium Charter Academy typically administers the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) to all third graders. As stated above, this measures reasoning abilities and is not an indicator of innate intelligence. With their statistical correlations, the CogAT can also be a predictive tool for the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.

What Is the Value of Testing?
Achievement and ability tests can help paint a picture of the academic progress of individual students and the school itself. All tests, though important in and of themselves, gain more meaning when compared with subsequent testing. Looking at one frame in a comic strip makes some sense, but seeing the strip in its entirety provides a context and a better understanding. Imagine your best - or worst- snapshot. Remember the one that caught you with some wild contorted face. Or maybe that glamour shot that made you think, "Now that is the way I want to be remembered!" Neither one of these is inaccurate, but with additional photos, a truer picture could be developed. All test scores are best understood in the broader context of experience.

How Do I Understand the ITBS and CogAT?
On each of these assessments, the testing service includes a few paragraphs to help parents interpret the scores.

The ITBS, an achievement test, is broken down into the sub-tests of reading, language, mathematics, social studies, science, and sources of information. These are, in turn broken down into smaller components. The most helpful scores are the "Percentile Rank of Average Standard Score" and the "National Stanine of Average Standard Score." The former allows you to compare your child's performance on various areas of the assessment to other children at the same point in life. The latter gives you a similar view except from a broader perspective.

Since My Child Has Been Given Both the ITBS and the Cogat, How Do I Interpret the Predictive Score?
Under the ITBS/CogAT section, note the "Difference (SS-PSS)" and the "Difference (NPR-PNPR)" scores. Only those cases in which observed and predicted achievement differ markedly are flagged on the combined score report. Furthermore, for a child whose scores are not flagged do not assume that he/she is doing as well as can be expected. All students can learn more if instruction is better geared to their strengths and needs and if they assume a greater responsibility in the instructional process.

If the scores are positive (+) and flagged, then the ITBS scores were significantly higher than the CogAT. In other words, the achievement scores are higher than predicted by the assessment of reasoning skills. Your child performed relatively better on tasks similar to those he/she performs in school than on unfamiliar tasks that require more adaptation of old knowledge and strategies or require the assembly of new problem-solving strategies. If your child's CogAt Nonverbal scores are lower than the CogAt Verbal and/or Quantitative Battery, then your son or daughter has most likely applied him/herself well to school tasks. If the CogAt Verbal and/or Quantitative batteries are lower than the Nonverbal Battery, then the student's problem solving strategies may be relatively context bound.

If, on the other hand, your child's scores are negative (-) and flagged, then the CogAt scores are higher than the ITBS. This means the achievement scores, a measure of knowledge and skills explicitly taught in school, are lower than predicted by the reasoning abilities evaluated through the CogAT. If the CogAT's scores on the Nonverbal Battery are higher than the Verbal and/or Quantitative, this could mean that your son or daughter has not applied him/herself well to school learning. If the Verbal and/or Quantitative are stronger scores, then your child is particularly good at applying him/herself in unfamiliar, unpracticed contexts.

As explained in the second section of this article, always remember to interpret standardized test scores in a context larger than any single test or score. Consider teacher observations, the educational goals of MCA, the level of curriculum delivered by the school, your own judgments, and other standardized test evaluations.