I received an invitation to consider parochial education for my children from the church we attend. On the subject of academics, the school pointed me to a pdf file that contained one entry with its test results in reading, language and math, as a placement percentile in "the National Scholastic Testing Services High School Placement Test". Truth is, I'm not excited with my own "Blue Ribbon" school, and I would be open to explore better education through a modestly priced private or parochial school. But the information received makes absolutely no sense to me. We're simply not in a position to afford $40K for multiple kids, while still saving enough for college, retirement and elder care for our parents. But certainly, the cost of parochial school ( $5000K) or even more is within reach. So I'd like to know:
1) *Is* there such a thing as a "National Scholastic Testing Services High School Placement Test"?
2) Who takes it -- how universal is it? Is it a parochial schools-only test? would public schools -- say, in FCPS -- take it?
3) Are there public results made available? Are there any regional results? What does a high-80% mean for this region?
I guess it bothers me that when I asked about standard test results (which they do administer), I was told they will not share those, but they are wonderful. So I'm really not sure how to interpret this one, which apparently ther *do* share.