TABE Discussion
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The following discussion took place on the NIFL-Assessment Listserv during March 2004. It focuses on:
- following standardized procedures for administering the TABE
- test/re-test issues with TABE
Also see:
NRS/Use of Test Scores for a discussion of the TABE and the GED
Literacy vs. Reading, and TABE
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004
From: "Nixon S. Griffis" <ngriffis@bellsouth.net>
Subject: [NIFL-ASSESSMENT:382] Re: Teacher Qualifications in Assessment?
Marie,
I was interested because the TABE doesn't seem that difficult to give to students. Could you share with the list the most common pitfalls committed by teachers that you believe skews the TABE score of the student. Also, could you list the issues not included by the publisher that you spoke of.
Nick Griffis
Adult Education
Inlet Grove H.S.
Riviera Beach, FL
561-882-9967
Date: Thursday, March 18, 2004 3:27 PM
From: Marie Cora mailto:mariecora@hotmail.com
Subject: Teacher Qualifications in Assessment? (TABE)
Hi Nixon and all,
While the TABE is not the most complex test, it still must (should) be administered under its standardization requirements - and any veering off from them would actually invalidate the test results. So that would be my first thought in answer - not adhering to tenets of standardization is the first problem (and a very common problem). I'm sure there are others on the list who are much more knowledgeable about the TABE and can add information as well.
In answer to your second question about adding information that the publisher has not, in Massachusetts, we found that many people had a hard time figuring out when to re-test (they ended up having to re-test way too often according to TABE guidelines) and so the state worked with the Center for Educational Assessment at UMass, Amherst to adjust this problem and now the state has new guildelines, not from TABE, for re-testing students. Go to http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/mailings/2003/0912/ and click on Assessment Updates - look for "Guidelines for retesting with TABE, Forms7/8" - I think it's a PDF.
marie cora
NIFL Assessment List Moderator
Date: March 19, 2004
From: Jane Schwerdtfeger
Subject: Teacher Qualifications in Assessment (TABE)
Hi, Marie, and all--
What Marie is referring to here is a problem we discovered as we began to use the TABE Forms 7/8 for reporting student educational gain to USDOE to comply with NRS guidelines. The problem was that the TABE Locator would indicate a student should take a certain level of the TABE Complete Battery (say, level M) but when the student took level M, the student's score was high enough to indicate that level D (the next higher level of the Complete Battery) should have been administered. We could tell this from the student's scale score and its often high standard error of measurement score related to the scale score. But then when we re-administered the Level D to the student (recommended by TABE), the student score and standard error related to that score indicated the student should have taken the Level M. So which is more reliable, Level M or D, or neither? That is why we asked the Center for Educational Assessment at UMASS Amherst to develop a reliable way for us to tell if we needed to re-test a student. It cut down on the number of re-tests significantly, and we have more confidence that the score is more accurate.
Jane Schwerdtfeger
Curriculum and Assessment Development Specialist
Adult and Community Learning Services
Massachusetts Department of Education
Date: Friday, March 19, 2004
From: ttweeton@comcast.net
Subject: Teacher Qualifications in Assessment (TABE)
Jane what IS the reliable way?
Tanya Tweeton
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004
From: "Schwerdtfeger, Jane" <JaneS@doe.mass.edu>
Subject: Teacher Qualifications in Assessment (TABE)
Hi, Tanya, and all--
I think that using the chart Marie referred to on our website--I copied it again here-- http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/mailings/2003/0912/ when administering the TABE is as reliable as the TABE will get. We have found it helped us cut down on the number of times we needed to re-test a student because we felt the first score wasn't accurate (or reliable). Does that answer your question, or were you asking a different question?
Jane
Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004
From: ttweeton@comcast.net
Subject: Teacher Qualifications in Assessment (TABE)
Thanks Jane, actually I wasn't thinking of WHEN to restest considering the scores altho this info is very useful and I will be passing it on to other teachers in the program.
I guess I meant more like "how often" does one retest with the TABE,(meaning the time span) but I got the answer yesterday at a staff development day where representatives from TABE talked about all this.
TABE people suggest that one can retest immediately if one uses another form of the test but to wait 6 weeks before using the same form. We,in our county, wait for a period of 6 weeks before retesting with the different form if we do not need an immediate test score again. TABE representatives suggest that if one scores 2 grade levels above in any test in other words getting a perfect score on any one test, then one should administer the TABE at the next level in that particular subject. I haven't gone over the material yet I downloaded from your posting but this might be the same thing. maybe....
Tanya Tweeton
ESOL and GED Programs
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
