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2019 STANFORD Standardized Testing Information

BEECH Homeschool Community
is pleased to offer Standardized Testing Services
to its Members and the
 Homeschool Community in Forsyth County and Surrounding Areas.

For Spring 2019, the Stanford/OLSAT Standardized test
will be offered to ALL Grades between 3rd and 12th.  
GA Homeschool Law requires Mandatory
National Standardized Testing only in grades 3, 6, 9 and 12.

  • We will be offering the Stanford/OLSAT for 2019 as we offered the Iowa/Cogat last year (2018).
  • The Iowa test is more common core aligned than the Stanford.
  • The Stanford test is untimed.  Students often perform better without the stress of a timed test.
  • The OLSAT portion of the test is OPTIONAL, but is timed.  It takes about one hour to administer.
  • All Testers with BEECH are official approved Testers through BJUPress.
  • Since you will order your test directly from BJUPress, you are the ONLY one that will see your Child's Test Scores as they will go directly to you.  No one at BEECH will know how your child did on the tests.
  • Testing includes the GA mandatory subjects of English, Reading, Math, Social Studies and Science

Test Dates, Time and Location:

  • Testing will be done on May 28, 29 and 30th 2019.  
  • Students must arrive at 9:45 a.m. and testing will begin promptly at 10 a.m.  
  • Testing takes approximately 2-3 hours per day plus breaks.  
    • Grades 3-8 takes approximately 5-6 hours to complete and a total of 3 days
    • Grades 9-12 takes approximately 4-5 hours and a total of 2 days.
  • Parents need to pick their students up NO Later than 1 p.m. every day.
  • Our intention is to test between 10 a.m.-1 p.m. every day, however, we ask that parents remain flexible between 8:45 a.m. and 2 p.m. in case we have to adjust test times the week of testing.
  • The OLSAT will be given on the second day - all grades may test together for the OLSAT but may be broken out to better accommodate testing.
  • CHANGE OF VENUE.
    • Testing will NOT occur at CFAF (Christian Fine Arts of Forsyth) 
    • TESTING WILL BE AT THE 4:12 CENTER -
      Chalcedon Presbyterian Church, 302 Pilgrim Mill Road, Cumming
  • Students will be tested in a group setting.
  • Students will be separated out in different rooms by appropriate grades that can be tested together.  
    • 3rd grade 
    • 4-6th grade
    • 7th and 8th grade
    • 9-12th grade
    • For the listening portion each grade will be done separately.  
  • Private testing and special testing accommodations for students are not available.

Testing Information and Cost:

  • All tests must be ordered and purchased by the parent on www.bjupress.com by April 25, 2019 according to the directions provided by BEECH in your registration email confirming your child has a spot testing with BEECH.  
  • Parents are responsible for ordering the Correct Grade and Level Test.
  • Tests ordered after April 25th may not arrive in time for the BEECH test dates.  
  • Tests ordered after April 25th may require you to pay 2nd day air shipping to arrive in time - 2nd day air costs $30 or so.
  • Please use the following Test Administrator # when ordering exams 77650210
  • Test booklets and answer sheets will be mailed by BEECH back to BJUPress for grading.  
  • Your test results should be delivered to your email within 30-45 days of your test being completed.  
  • You are the ONLY one that gets copies of your child's test results.
  • BEECH members do not have to pay a proctoring/tester fee.
  • Nonmembers will be charged $25 for the 1st child testing, $15 for the 2nd child testing and $5 for every additional child in the family testing.  
  • Postage for returning exams is included in your Proctoring/Tester fee.
  • Stanford tests cost:
    • 3rd grade Stanford $35
    • 3rd grade Stanford/OlSAT $50
    • Grades 4-12 Stanford $25
    • Grades 4-12 Stanford/OLSAT $40
    • Stanford previews for parents are also available for purchase and cost around $5-15

If you are not a BEECH member, but are interested in testing with BEECH,

Please fill out the Standardized Testing Registration Form on the Website Here.

Why do we alternate test types each year?

  • By alternating test types students get experience with different kinds of tests which helps to prepare them for the SAT, ACT, and College.
  • The Stanford is untimed, while the Iowa is timed.  Some students will do better on untimed tests as they don't function well with the stress of the timer.  Others students work better under pressure and don't like the longer breaks between tests that the Stanford sometimes requires in order for all test takers to complete a section.
  • While the Iowa and the Stanford both test the same types of skills, they do so in a different manner and by asking questions slightly differently.  Some students will score better on one vs. the other.
  • The Iowa and Stanford have different testing sections.  For instance, the Stanford tests listening skills through 9th grade while the Iowa only tests listening through 3rd grade.  The Iowa has a dedicated section for maps/references/sources while the Stanford incorporates these items throughout different testing sections.
  • By allowing students the opportunity to try different exam types, and both timed and untimed exams, it better prepares them for testing situations that they are likely to run into during their future endeavors including Dual enrollment, SAT, and college.  
  • While GA law only requires testing in 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th grades.  We highly encourage parents to consider testing every year between 6th and 12th grade.  Remember, these tests are standardized off of the norms and with public and private schools that do much more testing than the average homeschooler in a year's time.  By giving your child experience and practice with different standardized tests they are much more likely to be successful.  There is, after all, a certain art to taking a standardized test, as anyone who has taken SAT classes can attest.

More information on the OLSAT and Stanford tests:

The Otis-Lennon School Ability Test® (OLSAT) is offered only in combination with a Stanford Achievement Test. It provides separate scores for both verbal and nonverbal reasoning/learning abilities.

The OLSAT® will assess developed reasoning and problem-solving abilities important for learning. When the combination tests are given, the results will allow the parent/teacher to compare the student's ability with his actual school achievement. Combined testing is recommended once about every 2–3 years. The approximate testing time is 3–6 hours for the complete battery of achievement tests and 1 hour for the OLSAT.

Why you should take the OLSAT (cognitive test) with the Stanford:

The Ability or aptitude tests attempt to measure one’s cognitive reasoning abilities. They help you know “how” information is learned, (while an achievement test (Stanford) tells how much someone has learned). A cognitive ability or aptitude test measures how well a student can process information and solve problems, and demonstrates capability for learning and predicts future academic success.  

  • Measures verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal (also referred to as figural or spatial) abilities.

OLSAT - exactly 40 minutes of working time. (The total testing time with instructions and a break is approximated at around 60 minutes.)

The Stanford contains:

Lexile

A Lexile Measure is included for Grades 1–12.

Subtests

  • Word study skills
  • Reading skills/ comprehension
  • Vocabulary
  • Mathematics
  • Language
  • Spelling
  • Social studies/science
  • Listening

Results

  • Norm-referenced scores: scaled, grade equivalent, stanine, and percentile rank
  • Graphed achievement percentiles
  • Content cluster skills evaluations
  • Skills performance ratings
  • Score interpretation brochure

You can click HERE to find an example of a Stanford student report

Please note: BJU Press will begin using 2018 norms for the Stanford in Spring of 2019. This new comparison group has a much higher number of private school students. The new ratio, where private school students far outnumber public school students, makes it more difficult for a student to receive a high percentile rank.