We received our son’s Terra Nova 3 test scores and we were very pleased. His scores were excellent, way above the national average and showing that he does work beyond his grade level. We are very proud of him indeed. We will continue doing what we have been doing.
We learned several things from his test scores. Even though he did not score low in any one objective, he scored lower in some objectives and higher in others. Looking back at our school year, some of the scores surprised me and others confirmed what I already knew about him; all the more reason to keep testing every year.
We are not in this situation, but we know that if a child tests lower than expected, we should all consider several reasons. It could be that the child has never learned the subject matter presented on the test. Or, perhaps, the child never really understood what was taught to him. Last but not least, the child may know the subject, but he may very well just be so nervous about the test, that he freezes and forgets the answers.
All this to say that tests are good tools to assess where your child is, where you are, where you need to grow.