The current Stanford Achievement Test Series, usually referred to simply as the "SAT 10", standardized achievement tests utilized by school districts in the United States and in American schools abroad, such as the American International School of Johannesburg (AISJ), for assessing children from kindergarten through high school. First published in 1926, the test is now in its tenth incarnation, or "Series". Although in many states it is being replaced by state-created tests (mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001), it is not equivalent to most of these tests, in that the Stanford series are more comprehensive in scope than the newer assessments. The test is available in 13 levels that roughly correspond to the year in school. Each level of the test is broken into subtests or strands covering various subjects such as reading comprehension, mathematics problem-solving, language, spelling, listening comprehension, science, and social science.
The Stanford Achievement Test Series is used to measure academic knowledge of elementary and secondary school students. The reports include narrative summaries, process and cluster summaries, and graphic displays to clarify the student's performance and guide planning and analysis. Administrators obtain critical data to document and monitor the progress of all children and to disaggregate results according to federal mandates. Teachers receive specific information to support instructional planning for individual students and the class as well as to improve their teaching. Parents better understand their child's achievement level and get direction for home involvement.
The SAT 10 is one of the few tests in the United States which continues to use stanines to report scores.
Despite the similar abbreviations, the Stanford Achievement Test is not related to the SATs used for college admissions, also in the United States.
Famous quotes containing the words achievement, test and/or series:
“Japanese mothers credit “effort” as the key determinant of a child’s achievement in school, while American mothers name “ability” as the more important factor.”
—Perry Garfinkel (20th century)
“It is commonly said ... that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not just. I deny it. A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in certain words, by men of wit and humour, may, and often doth, become ridiculous, at least so far, that the truth is only remembered and repeated for the sake of the ridicule.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“I look on trade and every mechanical craft as education also. But let me discriminate what is precious herein. There is in each of these works an act of invention, an intellectual step, or short series of steps taken; that act or step is the spiritual act; all the rest is mere repetition of the same a thousand times.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)