Homeschool Testing

Testing (or more accurately stated as “assessing”) a homeschool student's academic work is under the authority of a parent according to the view held by Classical Conversations. Assessment types generally are formative or normative. Formative assessment is when the review of the work “forms” or shapes the ongoing learning. Typically formative assessment is conversational. This is the type favored by CC.  

Normative assessment occurs when a student’s academic attainment (i.e. what a student knows as of a certain date in their life) is compared to a standard set by past educational metrics among a comparable set of similar students (i.e. what similar students have known in the past as of a comparable date in similar students’ lives). These comparisons require social science statistical structure and environments. We think of these types of assessments as “standardized tests” or “end of grade testing.” Governments prefer standardized testing since it is believed that they can reveal unbiased academic attainment at the individual and group levels. CC’s view is that normative assessment to standards set by the Bible would be appropriate, but normative assessment to social science standards is less valuable though more common. Some state governments in the U.S. (22 at last count) require “end of grade” testing according to varying rhythms.  

As of Fall 2023, Classical Conversations directs its member families who live in states with normative testing requirements to the CLT Exam Service, also known as the “Classic Learning Test.” The CLT organization recently developed a normative assessment for ages 8-12 (i.e. grades 3-6) which satisfies many state requirements. All four of CLT’s tests (spanning ages 8-18 or grades 3-12) utilize reading material sourced from “great books” or similar literature, some of which can be found in the CC Curriculum.

CLT offers these services independently. Classical Conversations families always save 25% on exams with the promo code CLASSICAL25, making CLT assessments half the cost of other options. To find out more information, click HERE.