Performance of Montgomery County Public Schools grade 2 students on the TerraNova second edition (TN/2

• Main Authors: Huafang Zhao, Ph. D, Clare Von Secker
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: Terranova
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.620.3087; http://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2007/tn2 brieffinal 2007101507.pdf

Schools (MCPS) administered the TerraNova Second Edition (TN/2) to Grade 2 students. The TN/2 assesses skills in reading, language, mathematics, language mechanics, and mathematics computation. As a norm-referenced assessment, it compares the performance of tested students with performance of a sample of diverse students across the nation (CTB/McGraw-Hill, 2002). The 2007 TN/2 results in this brief establish a new baseline for future comparison. They should not be compared with the 2006 results for two reasons. First, a different and longer test battery was administered in 2007. In addition, this year Item Response Theory (IRT) was used for scoring, whereas, in the past, the number of correct responses was used. The IRT scoring method is preferable because it provides a more precise measurement of student performance by taking into consideration test item difficulty (CTB/McGraw-Hill, 2002). Although 2006 and 2007 TN/2 results should not be compared directly, patterns of student performance on the 2007 TN/2 are anticipated to be similar to those observed in 2006. The questions addressed in this brief are: 1. What percentage of MCPS Grade 2 students received scores at or above the national average (50th NCE)? 2. Are there differences in TN/2 performance among various student subgroups?