Understanding the Individual Student Report for North Carolina - Grades 6, 7 and 8

End-of-Grade Tests

Grades 6, 7, and 8

During the final three weeks of the school year, your child took the state-required multiple-choice North Carolina End-of-Grade Tests in Reading and Mathematics. The end-of-grade tests are administered to students at grades 3–8 as part of the statewide assessment program. These curriculum-based achievement tests are specifically aligned to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and include a variety of strategies to measure the achievement of North Carolina students.

Student scores in reading and mathematics from the end-of-grade tests are used for computing school growth and performance composites as required by the state-mandated ABCs Accountability Program and for determining adequate yearly progress (AYP) under Title I mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Student scores are also used in determining student progress and proficiency under state-mandated Student Accountability Standards at grades 3, 5, and 8. Test scores are among the many ways to find out how well your child is doing in school. Test scores allow you to compare your child’s performance with that of other students in the same grade at the school and with other students across North Carolina. However, test scores should always be considered along with all other available information provided about your child. Scores on these tests are only one of the many indicators of how well your child is achieving.

End-of-Grade Testing—Individual Student Report

The Individual Student Report for end-of-grade tests provides information concerning an individual student’s performance on the end-of-grade tests in reading comprehension and mathematics. A sample individual student report is provided on page four. The information provided on the left-hand side of the report describes the student’s performance on the reading comprehension test. The right-hand side of the report describes the student’s performance on the mathematics test.

A. The scale score shows the student’s developmental scale score in reading or mathematics. The number of questions 
the student answered correctly is called a raw score. The raw score is converted to a developmental scale score.

B. The developmental scale score depicts growth in reading and mathematics achievement from year to year. Parents may compare the developmental scale scores on the end-of-grade test given during the last three weeks of the 2005–06 school year and the end-of-grade test given during the last three weeks of the 2006–07 school year to determine their child’s growth in reading or mathematics. Parents/teachers should note that the range of reading scores differs from the range of mathematics scores. Because the ranges differ, the scale score for reading cannot be compared to the scale score for mathematics.

C. Achievement levels show the four achievement levels and their relation to the developmental scale. Achievement levels are predetermined performance standards that allow the student’s performance to be compared to grade-level expectations. Four achievement levels (i.e., levels I, II, III, and IV) are reported in reading comprehension and mathematics.