ERB tests - research and summary

[SAM2]

I was reading some of the recent threads that discuss ERB scores, and I decided I don't know enough about them. So I'm starting this thread to collect information about ERBs and learn more. I will post useful information I find. If someone here already knows a lot about them and is willing to summarize what you know, I'd really appreciate hearing from you.

A nice slide show summary of ERBs from some Oregon school: http://www.oes.edu/us/ERB-tests.pdf . One interesting takeaway is that a child's ERB score percentile is completely meaningless unless you know the norming group. For example, one child may be at a 90th percentile on a national all-schools norm, but at only an 70th percentile on a norm that considers only local private and suburban public schools. Here are the different norm scales that ERB can use to compare students: http://erblearn.org/schools/difference/quality-assessment/norms-and-scoring .

Here are Wikipedia entries on ERB issues: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_Records_Bureau . They provide interesting background on how the company operates.

Many people on parenting sites use "the ERB" as a shorthand for the test given to 3-4yo children in NYC, for admissions to private schools and the public magnets there. This test from the Educational Records Bureau is similar to the WPPSI (which is a more common measure in DC). The Educational Records Bureau also creates standardized tests for other grade levels.

Here are various DCUM threads discussing ERBs and ERB results. As I learn more, I may delete the ones that are less useful.
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/37508.page#248553
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/87372.page
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/90861.page#717279
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/91097.page#720258
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/49770.page#347443
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/55055.page
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/58593.page#420736
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/76600.page#576785
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/120/190306.page#1816952

[Anonymous]

SAM2, I like you.

[SAM2]

Here are some reports on a few schools' ERB results.
marymountsb.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/erb-10-sept-20.ppt
(also this article on Marymount http://marymountsb.org/main/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/celebration.pdf )
http://www.caryacademy.org/uploaded/Academics/Middle_School/General/documents/ERB_Report.pdf
http://www.sfds.net/Announcements/ExhibitA_ERB.pdf
http://classicalchristian.com/CCAWhitePapers/CCA_Achievement_Test_Summary_Report_Final.pdf

None of these are from the VA/DC/MD area, but they give a good idea of how the norm community really affects the percentile. For example, looking at the Cary Christian Academy (the last item on the list above), you can see at page 5 that their 4th graders scored at the 70th percentile on a national norm. But as compared to suburban or independent schools, their 4th graders were at only the 45th percentile. You can see a similar disparity in norms for the other schools.

[Anonymous]

Do any area schools prep for 4th grade ERBs? The school we are at doesn't prep and that seems like it may put the kids at a disadvantage. I wouldn't want teaching to test constantly, but it seems like mostly people study for achievement tests (thinking of SSAT, PSAT, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Another thing worth knowing (re which norm) is that, on some subtests in some grades, using the private school norm group, the best a kid can do is <the 90th percentile. What this means is that more than 10% of the privately schooled kids answered all of the questions in that subtest correctly. So it's worth looking at both the individual data you're given re number of questions and number of questions answered correctly when you see a comparatively low score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do any area schools prep for 4th grade ERBs? The school we are at doesn't prep and that seems like it may put the kids at a disadvantage. I wouldn't want teaching to test constantly, but it seems like mostly people study for achievement tests (thinking of SSAT, PSAT, etc.).

No, our school does not prep for ERBs, beyond a small lesson in filling out the circles, which most of them had never done before.

Anonymous wrote:Another thing worth knowing (re which norm) is that, on some subtests in some grades, using the private school norm group, the best a kid can do is <the 90th percentile. What this means is that more than 10% of the privately schooled kids answered all of the questions in that subtest correctly. So it's worth looking at both the individual data you're given re number of questions and number of questions answered correctly when you see a comparatively low score.

I don't understand this. In looking at my child's 4th grade results, the scores were almost all in the 98 or 99th percentile (stanine 9). None were out of the 90s. It is interesting to see, though, that in my child's lowest individual score, only 1 point (question?) was missed out of the total possible points.

Our school also does not release ERB scores for the school, just your child's individual scores. Does any NW school release scores for the full grade or school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In looking at my child's 4th grade results, the scores were almost all in the 98 or 99th percentile (stanine 9). None were out of the 90s. It is interesting to see, though, that in my child's lowest individual score, only 1 point (question?) was missed out of the total possible points.

Does your score report indicate whether the 98-99th percentiles are based on a national norm, or an independent schools norm, or some other norm? Do you see different percentiles for different norms?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In looking at my child's 4th grade results, the scores were almost all in the 98 or 99th percentile (stanine 9). None were out of the 90s. It is interesting to see, though, that in my child's lowest individual score, only 1 point (question?) was missed out of the total possible points.

Does your score report indicate whether the 98-99th percentiles are based on a national norm, or an independent schools norm, or some other norm? Do you see different percentiles for different norms?

The scores are normed several ways and yes, the percentiles vary slightly, but they are all in the high 90s.

[Anonymous]

From what I can see from the ERB website if you want to get information about individual schools and regional norms you must have a professional membership and pay for the data. Schools are probably prohibited from publishing it to the public. Again, I'm just speculating but I think it might be likely given that it's not published anywhere by any school.

The data about individual children doesn't really give a picture of anything other than that child and how they did against the various norms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In looking at my child's 4th grade results, the scores were almost all in the 98 or 99th percentile (stanine 9). None were out of the 90s. It is interesting to see, though, that in my child's lowest individual score, only 1 point (question?) was missed out of the total possible points.

Does your score report indicate whether the 98-99th percentiles are based on a national norm, or an independent schools norm, or some other norm? Do you see different percentiles for different norms?

The scores are normed several ways and yes, the percentiles vary slightly, but they are all in the high 90s.

Don't remember which grade or subtest (and presumably it can vary from year to year), but I've definitely seen the max possible be lower than high 90s and not stanine 9 when using the independent school norms. So it pays to look at the number of questions asked/number answered correctly columns in assessing results.

[Anonymous]

Our school gives us the kids data vs all three norms (national, suburban, independent)