Embedded Files
Benchmark/ Placement Test
Benchmark/ Placement Test
Students will participate in 3 Benchmark Assessments per school year. Benchmark 1 will be the placement assessment. Benchmark 1 and 3 will consist of the following assessments:
The PAR, created by MetaMetrics®, measures reading comprehension and requires students to do a lot of decoding of the texts to determine the right answer. This is a multiple-choice test, so the student picks one answer from four possibilities.
The TWS-4, published by PRO-ED, uses a dictated word format, like the one we experienced each Friday when we were in school. The administrator says a word, uses it in a sentence, says the word again, then the student types the word into the blank when using the online test. The TWS-4 measures encoding ability of students.
The TOSCRF, also published by PRO-ED, measures silent reading fluency and is a good measure of comprehension, as well. This test is pretty unique in its format. The student sees passages in upper case, without punctuation or spaces between the letters. The student has three minutes to put a line between as many words as possible, identifying the words that make up the passage. This test requires the student to recognize words, but also to understand the meaning of the passages and be able to read and understand the material at a fast enough pace to make silent reading practical and, hopefully, enjoyable. While not explicitly stated by the publisher, this test is also measuring encoding ability.
Benchmark 2 will only consist of the TWS-4 and the TOSCRF.
Typically, Benchmark 1 should be taken during the first two-weeks of school, Benchmark 2 should be taken in January and Benchmark 3 should be taken close to the end of the school year in May.
All three tests start from a raw score. For the PAR, the raw score is the number of items correct out of 34. For the TWS-4, the raw score is the number of words spelled correctly before hitting a ceiling of five missed words in a row. For the TOSCRF, the raw score is the number of words correctly identified in passages that become increasingly difficult in three minutes. Looking at the raw scores is interesting when comparing a student’s performance across the year, but not very helpful when comparing across the three tests.
The raw scores on all three tests convert to standard scores. The PAR raw score converts to a Lexile. The Lexile scale, according to MetaMetrics, ranges from 200L to 1600L, although actual Lexile measures can range from below 0L to above 2000L. The TOSCRF and TWS-4 raw scores convert to a standard score distribution that has a mean (average) of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. Averages or means are easy for most people, but standard deviations are scary. A standard deviation is a way to talk about the variation in the data points in a group. A low standard deviation means the data points are close together and close to the average. A high standard deviation means the data points are spread out. The standard score distribution used by the TOSCRF and TWS-4 is pretty common, meaning there are a lot of tests that use it.
The tests are norm-referenced and this is where we get into the common measure between these three tests. To be norm-referenced tests means the results estimate where the student is positioned based on a predefined population. For the PAR, the population is based on students in the same grade level as the student taking the test. For the TOSCRF and TWS-4, the population is based on students in the same age range as the student taking the test. Usually, there is a norms table showing the standard score and its corresponding place within the predefined population, represented as a percentile rank. sFor example, a seventh grade student has a standard score of 88 on the TWS-4. Using a standard psychometric conversion table, an 88 converts to the 21st percentile rank, meaning 21 percent of the predefined population was below our student and 79 percent was above our student. We always want students to be moving toward the 50th percentile.
How to Access
How to Access
Go to VPort
Select My Class --> Schedule Online Assessments
Select the Benchmark
Click Save
PAR
PAR
The PAR must be taken online. Students can access the Benchmark Assessments using this link after you have activated the assessment on VPort using the above steps. The following files below are for you to review. To retrieve the files, first convert the files into Google Doc and a link will appear for you to access the assessment.
The PAR must be taken online. Students can access the Benchmark Assessments using this link after you have activated the assessment on VPort using the above steps. The following files below are for you to review. To retrieve the files, first convert the files into Google Doc and a link will appear for you to access the assessment.
See PAR Placement Guide for more information
See PAR Placement Guide for more information
How to Reset the Benchmark Assessment
How to Reset the Benchmark Assessment
Log into VPort. Select "My Class" --> "Enter Scores" tab. Click on the score that you want to reset.
Log into VPort. Select "My Class" --> "Enter Scores" tab. Click on the score that you want to reset.
Select "Reset Scores."
Select "Reset Scores."
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