CHICAGO (November 9, 2005) – Results of standardized achievement tests administered earlier this year to third, fifth and seventh graders in Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic schools indicate that the students achieved scores above the national average for all subtests.

The TerraNova II is the standardized battery of tests used by the Archdiocese of Chicago and is aligned with the Archdiocesan curricula and the Illinois State Standards. It is published by CTB-McGraw Hill.

“Assessment plays an important role in setting standards and in innovation,” says Dr. Nicholas Wolsonovich, superintendent of schools, “once again our students’ performance is an indication that our curricula and instruction have set the bar high.”

Catholic schools in the Archdiocese obtained an overall combined test performance for reading, language and mathematics at the 68 th percentile in the third grade, at the 73 rd percentile in fifth grade and at the 75 th percentile in the seventh grade. “This means that the overall average for all Catholic schools in the Archdiocese was equal to or greater than 68 percent of third, fifth and seventh grade students nationwide,” Wolsonovich disclosed.

Science and social studies achievement is also assessed by the TerraNova II tests. In these areas of study Catholic school students in the Archdiocese also exceeded national norms. Third graders scored at the 64 th percentile in science and the 68 th percentile in social studies. Fifth-grade students scored at the 65 th percentile in science and the 70 th percentile in social studies. Seventh-grade students scored in the 64 th percentile in science and the 73 rd percentile in social studies.

Test results for the Catholic schools in the city of Chicago were equally impressive with students’ overall scores in reading, language and mathematics at the 59 th percentile for third grade, the 64 th percentile for fifth grade and the 68 th percentile for seventh grade.

Students in city of Chicago Catholic schools also scored above national norms in science and social studies with third graders in the 55 th percentile in science and the 59 th percentile in social studies; fifth graders in the 56 th percentile in science and the 60 th percentile in social studies; and seventh graders in the 57 th percentile in science and the 67 th percentile in social studies.

Students in grades five and seven in the inner-city elementary schools who receive financial support from the Big Shoulders Fund also scored above national norms in the core subject areas of reading and language. Fifth grade students in this group were at the 53 rd percentile and seventh-grade students were at the 58 th percentile.

Fifth graders at schools supported by the Big Shoulders Fund scored above national norms in reading and language and seventh graders scored above national norms on the reading, language and math tests. Third graders in this group were very close to the national norm with reading at the 45 th percentile, language at the 49 th percentile and math at the 48 th percentile.

“For the long term, this data indicates that Catholic school students improve their performance from grade to grade,” Wolsonovich pointed out. “The longer a child stays in a Catholic school,” he added, “the greater his or her achievement level.” This year’s seventh graders throughout the Archdiocese had a significant gain of 8.7 NCE score points overall from their third grade scores on the TerraNova language test. A 5.1 NCE score point gain in the total score (combined performance in reading, language, and mathematics subtests) occurred when averaged over all students in the Archdiocese.

In the United States, TerraNova II tests are widely used by both public and Catholic school systems. The Archdiocese of Chicago has been administering standardized achievement tests from CTB-McGraw Hill since 1987.

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There are 258 Catholic elementary and secondary schools in Cook and Lake counties with a system enrollment of 101,894 students. Elementary student attendance rate is 97% and 96% in high school, with a student-teacher ratio of 18:1. Virtually all those who graduate from Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago go on to high school. Almost 100 percent of the students who enter Catholic high schools graduate and about 94 percent go on to college or university. Regardless of how students perform on national tests at the time they enter Catholic schools, they climb into the 60 th, 70 th, and 80 th percentiles as they move through school. Information on the Archdiocese of Chicago’s 218 elementary and 40 secondary schools can be found at www.archchicago.org or by calling the Office of Catholic Schools at 312-751-5200.

NOTE TO EDITORS : Attached is the Archdiocese of Chicago Elementary Schools 2005 TerraNova II Test Results in table format.

Archdiocese of Chicago Elementary Schools TerraNova Test Results 2005 National Percentile (NP) Scores
Elementary School Grades	Archdiocese of Chicago Elementary Schools				Catholic Schools in Chicago				Catholic Schools Supported by Big Shoulders Fund
	3 rd	5 th	7 th		3 rd	5 th	7 th		3 rd	5 th	7 th
Reading	64	72	71		55	64	64		45	53	55
Language	69	75	81		60	66	74		49	55	66
Math	68	67	71		59	59	62		48	48	51
Total Score	68	73	75		59	64	68		48	53	58
Science	64	65	64		55	56	57		44	42	46
Social Studies	68	70	73		59	60	67		48	48	58

NOTE: National Percentiles are National Percentile of the mean normal curve equivalent score.

• The Archdiocese of Chicago requires administration of the TerraNova II to grades 3, 5, & 7.
• TerraNova II was normed in 2000 and is an updated version of TerraNova I.
• Total Score is based on the combined performance of Reading, Language, and Math.
• The above table contains scores from different students in 2004 at grades 3, 5, & 7.
• Scores reported in the above table are National Percentile (NP) scores.
  • National Percentile (NP) scores should not be confused with percent correct scores.
  • NP scores cannot be subtracted, added, averaged, etc.
  • NP scores indicate a ranking in comparison to a national sample or norm.
  • The national norm for any grade level is a NP score of 50; test difficulty increases with grade level.
  • The NP of 70 on the Language subtest among fifth-grade students indicates that they scored at or above 70 percent of students in a national sample.

Archdiocese of Chicago Elementary Schools TerraNova Test Results 2005 National Percentile (NP) Scores
Elementary School Grades	Catholic Schools in South Area of Chicago and SW Suburbs				Catholic Schools in Northwest Suburbs				Catholic Schools in Lake County
	3 rd	5 th	7 th		3 rd	5 th	7 th		3 rd	5 th	7 th
Reading	66	73	71		76	84	81		71	79	74
Language	70	75	80		81	86	89		75	82	83
Math	70	67	70		78	78	83		74	76	76
Total Score	70	73	75		80	84	86		75	81	79
Science	66	65	64		75	80	75		71	78	70
Social Studies	69	70	73		78	83	83		75	79	77

NOTE: National Percentiles are National Percentile of the mean normal curve equivalent score.

• The Archdiocese of Chicago requires administration of the TerraNova II to grades 3, 5, & 7.
• TerraNova II was normed in 2000 and is an updated version of TerraNova I.
• Total Score is based on the combined performance of Reading, Language, and Math.
• The above table contains scores from different students in 2003 at grades 3, 5, & 7.
• Scores reported in the above table are National Percentile (NP) scores.
  • National Percentile (NP) scores should not be confused with percent correct scores.
  • NP scores cannot be subtracted, added, averaged, etc.
  • NP scores indicate a ranking in comparison to a national sample or norm.
  • The national norm for any grade level is a NP score of 50; test difficulty increases with grade level.
  • The NP of 70 on the Reading subtest among seventh-grade students indicates that they scored at or above 70 percent of students in a national sample.

• The Archdiocese of Chicago requires administration of the TerraNova II to grades 3, 5, & 7.
• TerraNova II was normed in 2000 and is an updated version of TerraNova I.
• Total Score is based on the combined performance of Reading, Language, and Math.
• The above table contains scores from the same group of students as they advanced from 3 rd to 7 th grade.

• Scores reported in the above table are Mean Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) scores.
  • NCE scores are useful in evaluating achievement gains of the same students as they advance from one grade level to another.
  • NCE scores are different from National Percentile (NP) scores; NCE and NP scores both measure achievement in much the same way that Fahrenheit and Celsius both measure temperature; i.e., different scales to measure the same thing.
  • NCE scores can be subtracted, added, averaged, etc. to evaluate achievement gains.
  • NCE score differences of plus or minus 7 are considered to be significant.
  • NCE score differences of zero on the same students over different school years/grades indicate typical or normal growth. NCE score differences greater than zero indicate academic growth that is above and beyond growth students across the nation.
    
• These test results suggest that the longer a student remains in Archdiocesan schools, the greater his or her achievement.