Introduction

Terra Nova is a norm-referenced achievement test taken during the month of March. This year, around 1,000 IMS students took this test, including about 380 7th graders.

Unless noted otherwise, all results below are reported using the mean of the Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE), a normalized score. Using this measure, a score between 35 and 65 is considered to be average.

Key Findings

  • 7th grade scores are beginning to recover from dips seen during the pandemic, but have not reached the levels from before the pandemic.
  • Reading is the strongest subject for 7th graders, nearing average performance.
  • 7th graders tend to have the strongest performance out of all grades tested in math and reading, while 5th graders have some of the weakest performance, particularly in math.

How does this compare to MAP?

Though Terra Nova and MAP are two separate tests, the broad strokes of trends are similar:

  • Students are stronger in reading than in math.
  • Scores dipped in 2020-2021, and have improved since.
  • 5th grade has some of the lowest scores in both math and reading.
  • Holy Cross has some of the strongest results across subjects.

Network-Wide Results

7th Grade (Class of 2023)

Seventh grade scores within the average range, and are beginning to recover from dips seen during the pandemic. However, they have not reached the levels before the pandemic. Seventh graders have some of the strongest results across all grades–understandable, given that these scores are used for applying to Catholic high schools.

All Grades (3-7)

Since in general, 7th grade has the strongest results, averaging across grades will mean lower results overall. Regardless, results are still within the average range of 35-65 (with a mean NCE score of 50 being exactly average).

Results by School

Across subjects, Holy Cross has the highest mean NCE.

National Percentile of Normal Curve Equivalent

In the past, Terra Nova results have been shared using the National Percentile of the Normal Curve Equivalent (NP of NCE or NP of Mean NCE). The NP of NCE is a measure that can be used to get an idea as to where a group is compared to the rest of the country. An NP of NCE of 75, for instance, can let you know that a group earned a score better than 75% of the nation.

The downside of using the NP of NCE is that this is not a measure that can be derived by organizational users –for example, knowing every NP of NCE for every school in the network cannot let us know the network’s overall NP of NCE, because we do not have information as to the performance of every test-taker in the nation. Since we want to be able to compare like to like when it comes to sharing results, the NCE has been used in the rest of this report. However, where available, the NP of the NCE can be found below.

Results by Grade

In math, 7th grade has the strongest results. Fifth grade has the weakest results, a few points below the average range at 32.

In reading, 7th grade has the strongest results, nearing the average score of 50. Fifth grade has the weakest results, on the low range of average.

Appendix

  • Average/Mean – Wikipedia definition of arithmetic mean. The sum of a list of numbers, divided by the total count of numbers summed. Generally, when the term “average” is used, it refers to the mean, though the average might also refer to other measures of central tendency, such as the median and mode. When discussing Terra Nova results, the mean will refer to the arithmetic mean, with alternate usages noted.
  • Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) – A normalized (i.e. the data forms a bell curve) Terra Nova score that ranges from 1-99. Can be used to show how much a group has changed over time. Gains of 5 or more points are considered to be statistically significant. This measure can be averaged. An NCE score between 35-65 is considered to be average.
  • National Percentile of Normal Curve Equivalent (NP of NCE) – A measure that uses the Normal Curve Equivalent to compare a group’s performance to the rest of the nation. Without knowledge of the performance of the rest of the nation, the NP of NCE cannot be derived if one only knows the NCE.