Standarized Scores
Above National and Local Norms
The Terra Nova is administered in Grades 2, 4, 6, and 8 each fall. St. Mary students consistently achieve well above national standards for their grade level. Our students also uniformly achieve at or above the level predicted for them based on a test of their ability. The St. Mary faculty closely studies the Terra Nova results each year to assess the effectiveness of our teaching. We regard the Terra Nova not only as an indicator of individual students' achievement, but also as an objective evaluation of the success of our academic program.
Results for the 2007-08 School Year
| Reading | Language Arts |
Math | Science | Social Studies |
TOTAL | |
| Grade 2 | ||||||
| Achieved | 4.3 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 4.9 | 3.6 |
| Predicted | 3.3 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 2.8 |
| Grade 4 | ||||||
| Achieved | 7.9 | 7.6 | 6.4 | 7.2 | 6.8 | 7.0 |
| Predicted | 5.8 | 6.5 | 5.6 | 5.1 | 5.4 | 5.4 |
| Grade 6 | ||||||
| Achieved | 9.9 | 11.0 | 9.3 | 8.8 | 10.2 | 10.2 |
| Predicted | 9.1 | 8.8 | 7.8 | 7.6 | 7.7 | 8.1 |
| Grade 8 | ||||||
| Achieved | 12.9 | 12.9 | 12.9 | 12.4 | 12.7 | 12.9 |
| Predicted | 11.2 | 12.5 | 11.3 | 11.2 | 11.0 | 11.6 |
By 8th grade, SMS students achieved a score of 12.9 ... equivalent to an average student at 12 years and 9 months of school...the highest score possible!!
Reading the Chart
Grade Equivalent (GE): The chart shows the class average results on the Terra Nova tests. Scores are reported here as grade level equivalents -"GE"- based on national norms.The number before the decimal represents the grade; the number after the decimal represents the month. Thus a grade equivalent of "3.5" is read "third grade, fifth month." St. Mary students took the test in the second month of the school year.
This means that the average student in the third grade and fifth month of the school year would receive the same score if he/she took the same test. This does not mean a student should be in the third grade, but the average third grader would achieve the same result on this test.
"Predicted vs. Achieved": This provides the predicted grade equivalent score based on the "In View" or ability segment of the test. The achieved score shows the actual score our students obtained.