Where we came from.

     About ten years ago (1989) IEHSC approached a major test publishing company with a proposal offering a mail order testing option to families who did not live near major metropolitan areas.  This two year pilot project convinced us of the need to have such an option available for all homeschoolers, so we began to look at alternatives to existing testing systems.

   School districts regularly throw away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of text materials...

...which sometimes include these outdated norm-referenced tests.  Over the years we have obtained several thousand of these test booklets and developed a program so that these outdated tests could be used for charting academic progress without all the norm percentiles, stanines, and grade equivalents. 
     Tests have questions, and most categories of questions don't change extensively.  (Therefore the actual content of the tests are just as valid today as they were twenty years ago).  The only thing that really changes is the statistical information.

     After request an ASAP test will be mailed to the customer.  Upon its return, each test goes through a three-part "double check" process.

• First, the test is rough graded to determine right and wrong answers. 
• Next, the test content is analyzed by a teacher for problem areas. 
• The report is generated by certified personnel and... 
• The results are mailed back to the parent to keep on file according to WA State Law.

     This whole process used to take up to three hours per test.  At a yearly test load of 400 this translated to 1200 man-hours of test grading. Not that we're complaining!  ...but with every new challenge there is a search for a solution.