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Office of Independent Education & Parental Choice

Office of Independent Education & Parental Choice
 

 Office of Independent Education & Parental Choice 

Norm-Referenced Assessment

Section 220.187(8)(c)2., Florida Statutes, requires a private school participating in the Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program to demonstrate academic accountability to the parent by annually administering or making provisions for students participating in the scholarship program to take one of the nationally norm-referenced tests identified by the Department of Education.

Section 220.187(7)(e), Florida Statutes, states that the parent shall ensure that the student participating in the scholarship program takes the norm-referenced test assessment offered by the private school.

Norm-Referenced Assessment Technical Assistance Paper (PDF)

Below is the list of acceptable norm-referenced assessments adopted in State Board Rule 6A-6.0960 Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program and website links:

  1. Basic Achievement Skills Inventory (BASI™)—Comprehensive Version
  2. Iowa Tests of Basic Skills® (ITBS®) Forms A and B—Core Battery
  3. Metropolitan Achievement Tests®, Eighth Edition (METROPOLITAN8)—Short Form
  4. Stanford Achievement Test, Tenth Edition (Stanford 10)—Basic Battery
  5. TerraNova (CTBS/5)—Basic Battery
  6. TerraNova, Second Edition (CAT/6)—Basic Battery

If a private school wishes to request to use another assessment test, it must provide a letter on school letterhead stating the name of the assessment test and the reasons for requesting the test. In addition, the private school must submit appropriate documentation that demonstrates the assessment meets all of the criteria listed below. The required documentation may be found in the assessment's technical manual.

  1. Internal consistency reliability coefficients of at least 0.8
  2. High validity evidenced by the alignment of the test with nationally recognized content standards, as well as specific evidence of content, concurrent, or criterion validity
  3. Norming studies within the last 5 to 10 years, with norming within 5 years being preferable
  4. Serves as a measure of K-12 student achievement in core academic areas

Requests for the use of another assessment test during the 2008-2009 school year must be provided to the Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice in writing by September 15, 2008.

Participating private schools must report a student's scores to the parent and to the independent research organization selected by the Department of Education.

Note: Due to changes during the 2008 Florida Legislative Session, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) - NRT Reading and Mathematics is no longer listed as a nationally norm-referenced test that may be administered to CTC students.