Decoding Mom

What You Need to Know About Tests

The cheat sheets in the Library tell you what each test is. This is the other half: how to read what they tell you, what schools minimize, and where the line is between a screener and a diagnostic.

Two questions every test parent should ask.

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01. How to interpret the numbers

What scores actually mean, why confidence intervals matter, and how composites can hide what you most need to see.

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02. What you need to know about testing in general

Why “on track” can be wrong, what schools minimize, and where iReady does and doesn’t belong in an IEP.

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01. How to interpret the numbers

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Featured

Why Your Reading Report Says “On Track” When You Can See Otherwise

Most adaptive reading screeners give you one big number. That number is calculated by averaging your kid’s performance across several reading domains, which works for typical readers and breaks for twice-exceptional kids. Here is the math behind why composites can mask a real problem, and what to look at instead.

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Also worth reading

Why Timed Reading Tests Aren’t the Enemy

And what they actually tell us about your child. Speed and accuracy are not the same skill, and timed assessments measure a real thing worth knowing about.

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Coming soon

The next post in this lane is being drafted. Topics on the list: confidence intervals (what schools minimize and why they shouldn’t), subtest scatter, and reading composites that hide gaps.

02. What you need to know about testing in general

Featured + recent
Featured

How a Reading Screener Can Be “Accurate” and Still Miss Your Kid

The framework you actually need to evaluate a screener is not from the world of education research. It is from the world of medical diagnostics. Sensitivity and specificity are two completely different numbers, and a test can be very good at one and bad at the other while marketing materials still call it accurate.

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Also worth reading

Coming soon

This content lane is still being built out. On the docket: why iReady doesn’t belong in your IEP, what counts as a comprehensive evaluation under IDEA, and the difference between RTI screeners and SLD diagnostics.

Coming soon

Want to see something specific in this lane? Tell me and I’ll move it up the list.

Test cheat sheets in this hub

These are the parent-friendly cheat sheets for the most common assessments in special education evaluations.

Editorial guides on testing