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.

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

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

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.

TerraNova Common Core

Copyright © 2012 by CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC. TerraNova is a trademark of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Individuals may copy, download, and/or print this document.

Figure 1: TCC and SEM Com (TNCC = TerraNova Common Core; TN3 = TerraNova 3)

The changes between the 2007 and 2011 norms vary by grade and content area. The changes

are minor overall. In most cases, the differences on the national percentile (NP) values of a

given scale score are within 1 to 2 percentile ranks. Taking the Grade 3 spring norms as an

example, Table 3 provides the NP value changes for scale scores at the 2007 norms 10th,

25th, 50th, 75th, and the 90th national percentiles. A Reading scale score of 579 would put a

grade 3 student at the 10th national percentile using the 2007 norms. In the 2011 norms, the

scale score is at the 8th national percentile.

Table 3: National Percentile Changes for Selected Scale Scores in Grade 3

Reading Language Arts Mathematics

2007 NP Scale Score

2011 NP Scale Score

2011 NP Scale Score

2011 NP

10 579 8 569 10 559 9

25 606 23 596 26 587 24

50 629 49 622 51 613 51

75 650 76 648 75 638 76

25 669 91 673 90 662 91

Please visit CTB.com/TerraNovaCommonCore for additional information.