1. Available in test levels 13 through 18 in Reading, Language Arts, and Mathematics, the
TerraNova™ Common Core tests are a set of TerraNova Multiple Assessments that measure the
Common Core State Standards. These test forms share the same selective-response items with
the TerraNova, Third Edition (TerraNova 3) Survey tests of the same test level and content area.
The additional items, including constructed-response items and various innovative item types
such as performance tasks, were specifically developed to measure the Common Core State
Standards. Items in these tests are aligned to both the TerraNova test content standards as
well as the Common Core State Standards. Such dual alignment allows the objective (standard)
level scores to be reported under both standard frameworks. The TerraNova Common Core
tests, with 2011 national norms, can provide teachers, schools, and districts early diagnostic
insight of student performance according to the Common Core State Standards provide
a smooth transition to these standards.
Content Structure
Items in the TerraNova Common Core tests are aligned to both the TerraNova content
standards and the Common Core State Standards. The differences and overlaps between the
TerraNova content standards framework and the Common Core State Standards framework
vary by test level and content area. As an example, Table 1 shows the
objectives measured under each content framework in the TerraNova
Common Core Form 1 level 15 Mathematics , level 16 Reading, and level
16 Language Arts tests.
Objective level scores—Objective Performance Index (OPI) and mastery
level (Low, Moderate, High) for each objective—are reported to provide
student performance information on the objectives that have sufficient
numbers of items associated. The TerraNova objective level scores are
reported when there are at least 4 items measuring the objective. The
Common Core objective level scores are reported when there are at least
3 items measuring the objective.
TerraNova Common Core
TerraNova Multiple Assessments: Measuring the Common Core State Standards
The TerraNova Common Core
tests, with 2011 national
norms, can provide teachers,
schools, and districts early
diagnostic insight of student
performance according to the
Common Core State Standards
provide a smooth transition to
these standards.
2. TerraNova Common Core
Score Reporting
The TerraNova Common Core tests are on the TerraNova score scales and report the same
comprehensive set of test scores as other TerraNova test forms. The available scores include
the scale scores, OPI, normative scores of national percentile (NP), normal curve equivalents
(NCE), stanine, and grade equivalents (GE). Additionally, given that the English Language Arts
(ELA) is an integrated content area under the Common Core State Standards framework, an
ELA composite scale score and its related normative scores are available for the TerraNova
Common Core tests. This ELA composite scale score is defined as the average of a student’s
TerraNova Common Core Reading and TerraNova Common Core Language Arts scale scores.
2.
Table 1: Example of TerraNova Common Core Test Content Structure
Content Area Test
Level
Objective Measured
Mathematics 15 Geometry Computation and Numerical
Estimation
Measurement and Data Data Analysis, Statistics, and
Probability
Number and Operation in Base Ten Geometry and Spatial Sense
Number and Operation — Fractions Measurement
Operations/Algebraic Thinking Number and Number Relations
Operation Concepts
Patterns, Functions, Algebra
Problem Solving and Reasoning
Reading 16 Craft & Structure Analyze Text
Integration Knowledge & Ideas Basic Understanding
Key Ideas & Details Evaluate/Extend Meaning
Reading Informational Text Reading and Writing Strategies
Language Arts 16 Conventions of Standard English Editing Skills
Knowledge of Language Sentence Structure
Production and Distribution Writing Writing Strategies
Research to Build and Present
Knowledge
Text Types & Purposes
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
3. Given that school districts and states are starting the transition to the Common Core State
Standards, the TerraNova Common Core tests may appear to be more difficult than the
TerraNova 3 existing test forms. Comparison of the test p-values (average of estimated item
national p-values) indicated that, on average, these test forms match well with the TerraNova 3
Multiple Assessments tests in terms of test difficulty. Table 2 provides the comparison results,
where Diff1 and Diff2 are the average p-value differences, between the TerraNova Common
Core Form 1 test and the TerraNova 3 Multiple Assessments test, the TerraNova Common Core
Form 2 test and the TerraNova 3 Multiple Assessments test, respectively. The average p-values
for the Reading and Language Arts are calculated by combining all items in the Reading and
Language Arts tests at a test level together. The average p-value differences, although most
of them are negative (indicating the TerraNova Common Core tests might be more difficult
than the TerraNova 3 Multiple Assessments tests), are very small. For example, the TerraNova
Common Core Form 1 level 15 Mathematics test has an average national p-value 0.56 and the
TerraNova 3 Multiple Assessments test has an average p-value 0.57.
TerraNova Common Core
3.
Table 2: Test Average p-value Comparison
Content Area Test
Level
TerraNova 3 TerraNova
Common Core
TerraNova
Common Core
Multiple
Assessments
Form 1 Diff 1 Form 2 Diff 2
Reading &
Language Arts 13 0.67 0.66 -0.01 0.65 -0.02
14 0.67 0.68 0.01 0.68 0.01
15 0.69 0.66 -0.03 0.65 -0.03
16 0.63 0.60 -0.04 0.60 -0.03
17 0.59 0.61 0.01 0.59 0.00
18 0.60 0.58 -0.02 0.57 -0.02
Mathematics 13 0.68 0.60 -0.08 0.60 -0.08
14 0.56 0.52 -0.04 0.54 -0.02
15 0.57 0.56 -0.01 0.56 -0.02
16 0.54 0.53 -0.01 0.51 -0.03
17 0.49 0.47 -0.01 0.48 0.00
18 0.50 0.47 -0.04 0.49 -0.01
4. TerraNova Common Core
4.
The TerraNova Common Core tests, like any other TerraNova test forms, have been scaled
using the Item Response Theory (IRT) models and are on vertical scales. These allow TerraNova
customers to make meaningful longitudinal and across-grade score comparisons. Examination
and comparison of the test characteristic curves (TCC) and the standard error of measurement
(SEM) curves between the TerraNova 3 Multiple Assessments tests and the TerraNova
Common Core tests, as shown in Figure 1 for Reading (RD) level 16 and Mathematics (MA)
level 15, suggest that student performance on the two forms is expected to be similar (as
indicated by the closeness of the two TCC curves) with nearly the same test score accuracy
(shown by the closeness of the two SEM curves).
The TCC curves in Figure 1 also show that the TerraNova Common Core forms are slightly more
difficult than the TerraNova 3 Multiple Assessments forms. This is more apparent in the level
16 Reading test than in the level 15 Mathematics test. Comparisons at all other test levels and
content areas showed similar results.
2011 Norms
Test norms provide point estimates of performance for students in the norming group, at the
time the norms were derived. The TerraNova 3 2007 national norms, developed based on
empirical data collected in a large-scale national standardization study in 2007, provided
TerraNova 3 test score distribution estimates for the year 2007 student population in the
nation. When a student takes a TerraNova 3 test, his or her normative scores from the 2007
norms would be based on the comparison of his or her performance to his or her peers in the
nation from the year 2007.
Valid normative score and normative comparison require up-to-date test norms. Based on the
2007 norms, the 2011 norms for the TerraNova 3 and the Common Core tests are derived from
a large convenient sample tested in 2011, and a Bayesian Update statistical procedure. That
is, using the 2007 norms (estimated student score distributions) as the baseline, the 2011
student score distributions are estimated by updating the 2007 distributions with information
extracted from the large convenient sample data collected in 2011.
