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If you have any questions about how to interpret these scores, or questions about the Terra Nova testing, please contact our office for assistance.

Terra Nova Scores

June 5, 2008
Dear Parents and Guardians,

The attached printout is a summary of the Terra Nova tests your child took earlier this year. On the opposite side of this paper you will find a general summary of all children from both campuses for each grade level. As you can see, we have arranged the information so you can easily see how the children have achieved this year compared to years past. It is possible to examine previous years' scores alongside this year's scores. Please note: if the score in any subject is the same from last year to this year, it can be considered an improvement: the test is more difficult and the students' intellect is more developed from last year to this year. Since this is a norm-referenced test, the scores do not reflect percentages of right or wrong answers. It reflects how students in one grade scored on a particular test against all others in the same grade who took the same test. As well, the composition of any particular class varies from year to year because we lose some students and gain new ones each year, which can have an impact on overall percentages. Research has shown that the longer a child stays within the Catholic school system, that child will score higher on a standardized test than if brand new to the system.

In short, the scores indicate success for our first four years as Christ Our Savior Catholic School. The students did a very good job on the tests. Standardized test scores are just a snapshot of the child at a certain point. It is just one pattern in the overall tapestry that makes up your child. Again, these scores are norm-referenced, not criterion-referenced tests. This means, for example, that a score of 56% in math means that that grade performed better that 55.9% of all the students who took that same standardized test. Most of the scores are in that fifty plus percentile range. We are proud of our successes indicated by the test scores.

Improving our scores will be a school-wide goal for us next year. At the same time, however, we are a Catholic school not subject to the increasing external demands to achieve on standardized tests as our counterparts in the public schools. We truly value giving your child a well-rounded quality Catholic education more than any single standardized test can ever measure. We hope that our test scores will naturally reflect this excellent education your child is receiving here.

Thank you for supporting Catholic education.

Sincerely,
Ms. Rogers
Principal

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