Testing with the
California Achievement Tests 1970 Edition

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Serving Schools

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Since 1994

Over 200 Schools

Nearly 50,000 Tests

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Do you have other questions? We are regularly updating this page. Help us improve by emailing us at info@catforms.org.

General Ordering Questions

Why is a signature required on the order?
Achievement tests are designed to measure students' skills as accurately as possible. In order to do that, there must be no access to test materials except during the actual testing process. Any student access to tests before testing, any "prepping" for the test, and any item-solving assistance during the test will spoil the accuracy of those measurements. In testing terminology, such activity invalidates the test results.
Access to test results after testing must also be controlled. Most achievement test scores are not intuitively understood, and scores such as percentiles and grade equivalents are easily misinterpreted. Test results must therefore be secured and only released with proper restrictions and explanations.

By signing at the bottom of the order form, you agree to the following:

1. That all testing materials and answer sheets be kept securely in a locked facility with access only by authorized personnel, that they be released only for appropriate use, and, after such use, that all materials be returned to the secured area.
2. That tests be administered fully in accord with the directions given in the Examiner’s Manuals and that there be no prior inspection of testing materials in order to prepare students for specific questions on the tests.
3. That test results be reported only to those qualified to interpret them correctly or accompanied with sufficient explanation to allow correct interpretation by those unfamiliar with the tests.
4. That the confidentiality of test results be protected at all times. We recommend that students not be given copies of their test results.

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Are we allowed to make copies of test results?
All test documents printed by Catforms Testing Service are copyrighted. Please do not photocopy them. Order duplicates on the front of this form. If you need a reprint after your tests have been processed and returned, order from Section C: Misc Items on the School Order Form.
Note to home schools: duplicate test results are already included in your prices. You can order triplicate test results under Section B: Test Pricing on the Home School Order Form.

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What are the levels of the 1970 CAT, and how do we determine in which level to place our students?
The 1970 CAT has five levels, covering the twelve grades as follows:
Level 1: Grades 1-2
Level 2: Grades 2-4
Level 3: Grades 4-6
Level 4: Grades 6-9
Level 5: Grades 9-12
For the grades that could be in either of two levels, a good rule of thumb is to use the lower level if the test is taken during the first half of the school year, and the higher level if the test is taken during the second half. Slower students in grades 2, 4, 6, or 9 will probably find test taking easier in the corresponding lower levels.
Note to home schools: We select your test level and form based on the grade you list on the Home School Order Form for your student.

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What does Form A and Form B mean?
The 1970 CAT has two different sets of tests, Form A and Form B. The answer sheets are the same for Form A and Form B, even though the test booklets and Examiner’s Manuals are different. We recommend using the two forms on an alternating basis, Form A one year (for example, in the even-numbered years), and Form B the next year. Another option is to have Grade 1 always use Form A, Grade 2 always use Form B, and so on.

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In what grade should I place my students for testing purposes?
Generally, it is best to use the chronological grade level for placing students in achievement tests, in other words, the number of years in school. An exception would be a slow student unable to do a meaningful job in his grade level. Mark him at the grade to which you wish to have him compared. We cannot score a student in a grade outside of his/her test level. For example, if a Level 4 student writes in his grade as 10, we must change it to grade 9 in order to score it.

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What are your service times for processing orders and scoring tests?
Orders for booklets and answer sheets are generally sent out once a week, so plan your order timing accordingly.
Test scoring timelines:
1. For tests received during the months of January through April: We will score your tests and ship the results to you by the deadline you specify on the Test Shipping Checklist enclosed with your order, provided it is four weeks or more from the time we receive your paid, completed tests.
2. For deadlines shorter than four weeks and tests received during all other months: We will score your tests and ship the results to you by the deadline you specify if possible, but we cannot guarantee them.
3. If we fail to meet these deadlines, we will give you a credit or refund of 10% of your order.

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School Ordering Questions

How do we obtain test booklets for the 1970 CAT?
Test booklets are out of print and permission cannot be obtained to reprint these materials. If you are a new customer, or if you are short on booklets, please fill out Section B of the order form. We lend booklets at no charge, provided they are returned in good condition within 60 days of the ship date; dates are checked by postmark. The deposit rates shown are charged for booklets not meeting the return deadline. Please note that Level 1 & 2 booklets are no longer available; if you do not have your own, you must test grades 4-12 only.

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Our school has Level 1 & 2 test booklets available. Do you score those as well?
Level 1 and 2 test booklets must be hand scored by the school. We have a Raw Scores Form on which to record the student information, test information, and raw scores from each section of the test. Price on the order form is per student, and you can record information on up to 20 students per form, which may be photocopied if needed. You will receive an Achievement Test Profile for each student in Levels 1 & 2, but not an Achievement Test Analysis.
After doing the hand scoring, please fill out the complete Raw Scores Form, including the student information and the raw scores. Keep your booklets until you have received your completed test results from us; please DO NOT send us the booklets.

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We had a last-minute addition to our students and do not have enough materials. What do we do?
Please call us right away, and we will help you figure out the best solution.

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Can we request that some students not be included in our class summaries?
If you have home school students testing with your school, learning disabled students, or other students whose tests you do not want to have included with your school results, please add the homeschool student surcharge for each of those students. Scoring is more expensive for these students because of the additional record keeping required for them.

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What are your procedures for order placement, payment, and shipping for schools?
Orders may be placed by mail or fax. Phone orders will be accepted only for additions to an order placed by mail or fax. Payment is due when you place your order, unless arrangements are made otherwise. We accept checks, money orders, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. Standard shipping is via US Postal Service; next-day air shipping is also available for an additional charge.

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Home School Ordering Questions

Can I use the 1970 California Achievement Tests in my state?
The following information is obtained from the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). It is not intended to be legal advice, but may prove useful to you. Click on a state to see the legal requirements listed on the HSLDA website. Please help us keep these lists up-to-date. Notify us of any changes or errors at testlaw@catforms.org.

1. States that have NO testing requirements:
Alabama,  Alaska,  Arizona,  California (with possible exceptions),  Connecticut,  Delaware,  District of Columbia,  Idaho,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Kansas,  Kentucky,  Maryland,  Michigan,  Mississippi, Missouri,  Montana, Nebraska,  New Jersey,  New Mexico,  Oklahoma,  Nevada,  Texas,  Utah,  Wisconsin,  Wyoming

2. States requiring a nationally normed test which can be administered by a parent (the 1970 CAT qualifies):
   Colorado,  Georgia,  Hawaii,  Louisiana,  Maine,  North Carolina,  New Hampshire, New York,  South Dakota,  Virginia

3. States requiring a nationally normed test which may need to be administered by a certified teacher (the 1970 CAT qualifies):
Florida,  Iowa,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania (must be administered by someone other than parent or guardian), Tennessee (depending on home school option),  North Dakota

4. States that leave testing requirements to local districts ( check to see if the 1970 CAT qualifies):
Massachusetts,  Minnesota,  Rhode Island (parents are allowed to choose the test),  Tennessee (depending on home school option)

5. States that require newer or specific achievement tests (the 1970 CAT probably does NOT qualify):
Arkansas,  Oregon (see http://www.mesd.k12.or.us/ae/homeschool/approvedtests.php),  South Carolina (depending on home school option),  Vermont,  Washington,  West Virginia

Note: Alternatives to these restrictions often exist, such as evaluation by a certified individual or detailed curriculum disclosure, among others. Check with your state's information or your local school authorities if in doubt.

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What test results page should I turn in to school authorities if they require reporting?
First of all, make sure that you are actually required to submit test results. Many home schools object to such reporting on principle. Also, few states, even ones that require testing, actually require that test results be sent in.
If you do need to submit test results, we recommend the Test Analysis page. It does not give your student's test history, so that school authorities cannot see possible deviations from previous years. It also does not compare your student with other tests we have on file from private schools and home schools (the Catforms Percentiles). While these comparisons are useful for you, they may show your students in a less flattering light than you would like school authorities to see them. By the way, home schools automatically get two copies of all test results, so you have professionally-printed results to submit, plus your own copy. Triplicate results and reprints are also available.

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We have a home school support group. Do we order as a school or as individual home schools?
If you have at least 15 students in your support group representing at least 3 homes, you may order as a school and save on testing costs. Students must be tested together, test materials must be kept under lock in one location, and a school name assigned to the group. Student information will be kept under the group name, and not under family names. Please go to our School Information page and download a school order form there.

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When we order, do you want us to list the grade that the student will be entering,or the grade they are in when taking the test?
We need the CURRENT grade at the time of testing.
Here's why: The 1970 CAT as we use it interprets a grade as being from September through August, with a decimal place indicating the month the test was taken. For example, a 7th grade test taken in September is indicated as grade 7.0, October is 7.1, and so on. June, July, and August are lumped together under 7.9.
There are three sets of norms tables for each grade: beginning of the school year (Sep, Oct, Nov), midyear (Dec, Jan, Feb), and end of year (Mar - Aug). The month the student is tested - or marked as being tested - will determine to which set of norms he or she will be compared.
On the student's answer sheet, you can only mark the grade as a whole number and the test date. Our computers calculate the decimal portion of the grade and select the approriate norms tables.
If, therefore, for some reason you want to show a student as entering the next grade, you will need to mark the month tested accordingly.
Example: Andrew is a 4th grader tested in May; his grade level will be shown as being in grade 4.8. If, however, you wanted to show Andrew as starting 5th grade, you would need to mark his grade as 5 on his answer sheet and the test date as September 1, even if you are testing earlier than September. When you do that, Andrew's scores will be compared to students at the beginning of 5th grade instead of to students at the end of 4th grade.
On the other hand, if you mark Andrew's grade as 5 and the test date as May, the computer will interpret him as being at the end of grade 5.

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What do I need to know about filling out the home school order form?
Please fill out the order form completely. Note that you can request a ship date, which should be approximately a week before you plan to test. You are given 60 days from the actual or requested ship date, whichever is later, to have your tests back to our office. Please allow five days or more for return shipping time, which will give you about 45 - 50 days in which to administer your tests. We require payment by
credit card, which will be charged the $20 per student penalty fee if your materials are returned late or in poor condition. If you wish to pay by check, see the next section.
Please fill out the student information completely as well. The grade level indicated should be effective on the intended testing date. We will send you the appropriate test based on that grade level. We require a birth date in order to more easily identify a student in future years. In respect of your student’s privacy, none of this information is shared with anyone outside of Catforms Testing Service.

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What are your procedures for order placement, payment, and shipping for home schools?
Orders may be placed by mail or fax. Payment via credit card is due when you place your order, unless arrangements are made otherwise. We accept Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. If you do not wish to pay by credit card, an additional $20 per student deposit is required. This deposit will be refunded to you if testing materials are returned in good condition within the 60-day deadline. Standard shipping is via US Postal Service; next-day air shipping is also available for an additional charge.

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General Test Terms and Concepts

What do the different types of scores mean?
There are several types of scores used in the CAT, some of them a bit difficult to comprehend if you are new to achievement tests. The following descriptions may help:

Raw: The number of correctly answered items in a section; not a meaningful measure of performance

Possible: The total number of problems in a section, not really a score at all

Percentile: Percentage of students in the same grade that scored lower on the test (The comparison, or norm, group is 203,684 public school and Catholic school students from 1970). The percentile score is NOT the percentage of items answered correctly.

Grade Equivalent (GE): The student did as well as the median student from the norm group did at the given grade and month in school. If a student does as well as an average 8th grader in the 7th month of school did, his GE score would be 8.7. Note: GE scores alone should not be used to determine a student's grade placement, since a student can make a high score without necessarily mastering all the concepts up to that grade level.

Stanine: A simplified ranking scale of one through nine based on the percentile score. The 1970 CAT Examiner's Manual describes the levels as follows:
9 - Highest level
8 - High level
7 - Well above average
6 - Slightly above average
5 - Average
4 - Slightly below average
3 - Well below average
2 - Low level
1 - Lowest level

Achievement Development Scale Scores (ADSS): A ranking scale of approximately 100 to 900 that measures the student's skill level; it is consistent for all levels and forms of the CAT, and is mainly used to track a student's progress from year to year. This is probably the most difficult score to explain, since it is not linked to grade levels or comparisons with other students.

Catforms Percentile: Percentage of Catforms tests in the same level that had lower 1970 percentile scores. Catforms tests are 1970 CAT tests recorded by Catforms Testing Service, and come predominately from conservative Mennonite schools. This norm group represents better students, on the average, than those of the original 1970 norm group from public schools. This creates a tougher standard of measurement; therefore, your students' Catforms percentile scores will usually be lower than their regular (1970) percentile scores.

Average Level X Catforms student: (found only on Current Percentile Scores graph on the Achievement Test Profile) Plots the 1970 percentile scores of the average Catforms test for comparison with the bar graph of the student's 1970 percentile scores. This method of comparing a student's test results with those of his peers today may be simpler to understand and explain than the Catforms percentile scores.

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What is norm referencing?
Norm referencing refers to comparing a student's performance on a test with that of his peers. Most achievement tests are norm-referenced. A nationally-normed test uses a large cross section of students from various backgrounds and locations to establish the comparisons. Scores such as percentiles, grade equivalents and stanines are norm-referenced scores.

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How is norm referencing different from criterion referencing?
A criterion-referenced test measures a student’s knowledge against certain defined standards and reports to what extent those standards were met. For example, a criterion for a third-grade math student may say,
"The student will round a whole number, 9,999 or less, to the nearest ten, hundred, and thousand." (Taken from the Mathematics Standards of Learning, State of Virginia) The student would be given several problems relating to that standard. The test then reports to what extent the student appears to have mastered the concept.
Other examples: Most of the tests we give our students are criterion-referenced tests more or less directly based on the curriculum we are using. Ohio public school students have to pass a criterion-referenced test, known as a proficiency test, in order to graduate.

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Should my students see their test results?
Test results do no good if not reported to those who can benefit by them, specifically teachers and parents. They must, however, be accompanied with sufficient explanation so that they are properly interpreted. For schools, we recommend private parent-teacher conferences as a good time to go over test results with parents. We suggest sticking to just a few types of scores, such as stanines or percentiles, that are easy to explain accurately. The individual items on the Achievement Test Analysis may pinpoint specific weaknesses that may otherwise go unnoticed, and are fairly simple to explain to those not familiar with achievement tests.
The confidentiality of the tests must also be respected. All test results should be kept from prying eyes, and we do not recommend that students be given copies of their own. What they are told about their performance should be considered carefully; benefits should be weighed against possible discouragement or inflated egos.

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About the 1970 California Achievement Tests

Why use such an old test?
First, the subjects tested are the basic skills needed to function in society (readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic, if you will), and those skills change very little over the years.
Second, the argument is made that as public schools have declined in many ways since 1970, the norms on many achievement tests have similarly declined.
Third, as conservative, Bible-believing Christians, we are uncomfortable with much of the materialistic humanism found in many tests today.

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What are the levels and forms of the test?
See the General Ordering Questions for information and specific guidelines.

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What subjects does the test cover?
The three sections of the test are Reading, Mathematics, and Language. They are further broken down as follows:

READING
Vocabulary: Measures a student's knowledge of words and their meanings.
    Comprehension: Tests the ability to find information in books and the ability to understand what is read.

MATHEMATICS
Computation: Tests the ability to do basic math operations.
Fractions (Level 3 only): Tests the ability to work with fractions and mixed numbers (Fractions are integrated in the other mathematics sections for Levels 4 and 5).
Concepts: Tests understanding of math concepts, such as signs and symbols, units of measurement, number systems (such as Roman numerals), place values, and algebra- and geometry-related concepts.
Problems: Measures the ability to comprehend and correctly answer word problems.

LANGUAGE
Auding (Level 1 only): Tests the ability to comprehend and use what is heard by answering questions about stories given orally, and by following verbal directions.
Mechanics, which includes Capitalization and Punctuation below:
Capitalization: Measures the ability to recognize words that need to be capitalized, such as proper nouns and the first word of a sentence.
  Punctuation: Tests the ability to recognize what type of punctuation is needed and where it is placed.
Usage and Structure are combined:
Usage: Tests recognition of standard and nonstandard English.
Structure: Tests knowledge of sentence structure in various ways, such as recognizing sentence types, transformation of one sentence type into another (example: changing a statement into a question), recognizing complete and incomplete sentences, phrases, clauses, and parts of speech.
Spelling: Tests the ability to recognize misspelled words.

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Why can't we test grades 1-3? What are our options?
The 1970 CAT booklets are out of print and permission is not being given to reprint them. Since the Levels 1 & 2 booklets are consumable and can only be used once, they are carefully hoarded by the few schools that have stocked up on them.
For schools, you may want to purchase CAT/5 booklets from Christian Light Education, PO Box 1212, Harrisonburg, VA 22801-1212 Toll Free Phone (800) 776-0478. We do not offer scoring services for the CAT/5 at present, so you are on your own for scoring.
For home schools, we suggest that you use another testing service for grades 1-3, if you are required by your state or local school district to test those grades.

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