Standardized Testing

During the spring of 2009, students in Grades 2-7 completed the TerraNova assessment, using the latest and new test version available, entitled TerraNova, Third Edition.  Archdiocesan policy mandates that OLV administer the TerraNova assessment only to students in Grades 3, 5, and 7 during the first week of March each year.  The students in Grade 8 were not tested using the TerraNova, Third Edition test in 2009.  Students in Grade 8 instead registered and took one of a variety of tests available for entry into Catholic high schools, or even an entirely different public school entrance exam, depending on the requirements of that public school. 

A standardized test cannot measure the entire curriculum of a classroom, a school, or a system.  This method of assessment must be reviewed with the students actual classroom work and many other factors.  Overall, as anyone can see in the scores below, our students consistently achieve higher than the national average.  The OPI is an estimate of the number of items for a specific objective that a student could be expected to answer correctly if there had been 100 items for that objective.  An OPI value of 4 is considered to be significant. 

TerraNova, Third Edition assessment (2009)