Stanford Achievement Test Series

The current Stanford Achievement Test Series, usually referred to simply as the "SAT 10",standardized achievement tests utilized by school districts in the United States for assessing children from kindergarten through high school. First published in 1926, the test is now in its tenth incarnation, or "Series". Although in many states it is being replaced by state-created tests (mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001), it is not equivalent to most of these tests, in that the Stanford series are more comprehensive in scope than the newer assessments. The test is available in 13 levels that roughly correspond to the year in school. Each level of the test is broken into subtests or strands covering various subjects such as reading comprehension, mathematics problem-solving, language, spelling, listening comprehension, science, and social science.

The Stanford Achievement Test Series is used to measure academic knowledge of elementary and secondary school students. The reports include narrative summaries, process and cluster summaries, and graphic displays to clarify the student's performance and guide planning and analysis. Administrators obtain critical data to document and monitor the progress of all children and to disaggregate results according to federal mandates. Teachers receive specific information to support instructional planning for individual students and the class as well as to improve their teaching. Parents better understand their child's achievement level and get direction for home involvement.

Stanford 10 Features & Benefits

- Can be administered in print/paper, online or a combination of print/online with combined reporting.

- Content is aligned to state and national standards

- 2007 norms allow comparing of student performance with that of a representative sample of students across the country with current information.

- Stanford scale scoring for monitoring student growth.

- An achievement/ability comparison can be made when Stanford 10 is administered with the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test currently OLSAT 8.

- Test design reflects curricula and best instructional practices.

- All questions are unique across forms and levels.

- Each item is designed to measure up to four achievement parameters: content cluster, process cluster, cognitive level and instructional standard.

- Full-color, consistently formatted testing materials help motivate students to answer all questions.

- Braille and large-print versions are available for special accommodations.

The tests include three types of questions: multiple choice, short answer, and extended response. Besides requiring a written answer of five or six sentences, the extended response may also require the student to graph, illustrate or show work. Such answers are usually included within the areas of science or mathematics.

Test scores can be reported in several different formats that measure performance in different ways, including a developmental scale, norm-based scores that compare a student's performance with that of a representative sample of students across the United States, and achievement-to-ability comparisons with scores from the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT 8). One type of report indicates the grade level of a student who, if answering those same questions, would have gotten the same percentage of questions correct as the real student. For example, if a 5th grade student scores a 6 in Science, it means that an average 6th grader would get about the same percentage of questions right as that particular 5th grade student.

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