CAT·4

• Overview
• Norming Study
• Improvements from CAT·3
• Who May Order
• Curriculum Matches
• Reports
• Catalogue
• CAT·4 Materials Price List

Overview

CAT·4 is the newest version of the Canadian Achievement Tests (CAT) available Fall 2008. Modeled to fit Canadian curricula, the CAT is a testing system that assesses the essential learning outcomes of the following basic skill areas: reading, language, spelling, and mathematics. CAT·4 is both versatile and user-friendly; it can be administered individually or in small and large groups. Essentially, as well as being a tracker of learning abilities, the CAT also evaluates how well students perform in comparison to other students across the district, region, or in Canada as a whole.

Though the CAT test has had a long history with educators in Canada, each successive version of the test has improved and expanded upon previous versions. The CAT·4 is no exception: major improvements and steps have been taken to build on the success of CAT·3 (you can read more about the improvements here). The CAT·4 is truly a test like no other in Canada, built to suit Canadian schools’ various educational testing needs.

Norming Study

Norming is the process by which national standards are compiled for the statistical comparison of a standardized test. Having a strong norming study is thus essential to the success of CAT·4, as it provides the national data needed for benchmarking the performance of a student or a group of students to same-grade peers across the nation. In the development of CAT·4, the test was administered to over 60 000 students from over 300 schools across Canada throughout 2007. This sample of data collected from the study allows student performance to be compared to the performances of same-grade or -level students across Canada. The stratified random sample included students from kindergarten through 12, from every province, from rural and urban areas and from public, private and First Nations schools, ensuring a representative Canadian sample.

Canadian Test Centre would like to acknowledge the contributions of schools across Canada that participated in this study.They are listed here

Improvements from CAT·3

CAT·4 takes standardized testing up a notch. Here are 10 ways that CAT·4 builds on the previous success of CAT·3:

Raising the Bar

1. More closely matched to your curriculum—call CTC to receive tables mapping CAT·4 objectives to your provincial curriculum.
2. More comprehensive coverage of your curriculum—integrated Constructed Response assessments in Writing, Response to Text, Math Processes and Research Strategies; separate assessments in Pre-Algebra and Algebra, as well as Informational Reading and Literary Reading.
3. More precise measurement with the use of Item Response Theory (IRT) technology.
4. More Levels—from Kindergarten (Level 10) through postsecondary (Levels 20-22).
5. More up-to-date norms and standards.
6. More choice of reports that can be used to improve learning.
7. More seamless integration of Multiple-Choice and Constructed Response materials.
8. More relevant Norm Group access—2007 National norms, 2007 Provincial or Regional norms, and "always-fresh" local norms.
9. More seamless transition from the previous edition—CAT·4 is linked to CAT·3.
10. More attractive and engaging appearance.

Who May Order

CTC accepts orders from school boards, public and private registered day schools, provincial departments of education and colleges and universities when accompanied by an official purchase order. CTC may accept orders from registered day schools outside Canada. Please contact CTC directly regarding eligibility. To ensure that the integrity of CAT·4 is not compromised, CTC shall restrict the distribution of CAT·4. This test series will not be available to tutoring centres, night schools and homeschoolers until the release of CAT·5.

Curriculum Matches

Several CAT4 curriculum match tables have now been posted online. These tables, compiled by provincial curriculum experts, will directly show how CAT·4 closely matches curriculums by province. Please be patient as we finish uploading the tables for all provinces to our website.

Reports

CTC offers a wide array of reporting services for CAT·4. Individual, group and summary reports are available to meet the needs of your classrooms, schools and district. You can learn more about our different reports or see samples here.

Catalogue

The new CAT·4 catalogue has been uploaded to our website. You can download it here, or view its contents online below.

CAT·4 Review Kits Slide Down || Slide Up

CAT·4 Review Kits are “made to order.” Contact a CTC consultant regarding your interests or needs.

The cost of materials going into a Review Kit will be discounted by 40%.*

CONSUMABLE Grades 0.5 to 4.5 REUSABLE Grades 4.5 to 7.5 REUSABLE Grades 7.5 to postsecondary	The At the primary grades, students record their answers directly into the test books, which are machine scannable. Test books for levels 14 through 20-22 are reusable.†
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Administering Directions for Teachers Slide Down || Slide Up

These Manuals Are Designed To Help Teachers In Scheduling And Administering The Tests.

Answer Sheets, Scoring CD & Practice Tests: Slide Down || Slide Up

ANSWER SHEETS Machine-Scannable Answer Sheets To be used with reusable test books (Lv. 14 through Lv. 20-22) The purple machine-scannable answer sheet is designed for Levels 14 through 19. The teal green machine-scannable answer sheet is designed for Levels 20-22. There are 50 sheets to a package.	SCORING UTILITY CD-ROM The CAT-4 Scoring Utility CD is much improved from previous versions. National norms are imbedded for all test levels. Once a student's responses have been entered, a Student Test Record is generated to show areas of strength and need. First-time users will validate the CD on-line and receive allocations to process 40 student answer documents. Additional scoring allocations may be purchased on-line.
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U-Score Answer Sheets U-Score answer sheets, 30 in a package, are designed for hand scoring. Answer keys are built in.	LOCATOR TEST The CAT-4 Locator Test is a 25-minute test in Vocabulary and Mathematics. A student’s scores on the Locator Test are used to decide which CAT-4 test level should be administered to the student.
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Scoring Utility Answer Sheet The following answer sheets are designed to be used with the Scoring Utility. Print-friendly files come with the Utility CD-ROM and you produce them on an as-needed basis.	PRACTICE TESTS Practice Tests give students the opportunity to gain experience with a multiple-choice test. They are recommended for primary and elementary students and for others who have not had much experience writing multiple-choice tests. Tests are in packages of 30.
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Teacher Resource Kit & Support Materials: Slide Down || Slide Up

TEACHER RESOURCE KIT (TRK) The TRK is designed to meet the needs of the Learning Resource Teacher. It contains enough materials to administer CAT•4 to three examinees at each level as well as the necessary accessories for scoring. Alternatively, the TRK may be customized to suit your needs. Call CTC now to customize your TRK.	TEACHER RESOURCE MANUAL This Teacher Resource Manual offers hundreds of instructional activities that have been carefully matched to CAT•4 objectives. While these activities are not intended to represent a total instructional program, they provide good examples of techniques and exercises that may be used to facilitate learning. The activities were developed by Canadian teachers who referred to current curriculum guides, textbooks and books of instructional activities as well as their own classroom experience. An index permits easy access to specific language arts and mathematics activities. Some activities are further supported by photocopy masters available at the back of the manual.
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STUDENT DIAGNOSTIC PROFILES When hand scoring, these profile sheets allow teachers to analyze student responses by the learning objectives measured by CAT•4. Student Diagnostic Profiles are sold in packages of 30. Level	PARENTS’ GUIDE This guide answers the key questions many parents have about standardized tests and discusses the implications of test results in a straightforward manner.
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Additional Support Materials: Slide Down || Slide Up

NORMS BOOK The Norms Book provides the directions and tables required for converting Number-Correct Scores to Scale Scores, National Percentile Ranks, National Stanines and Grade Equivalents. The Norms Book applies to all test levels and to all three testing seasons.	IN-SERVICE FOLDER AND CD-ROM This folder contains photocopy masters of a collection of articles and hand-outs for your teacher in-service workshops: • Standardized Testing Issues (5 articles) • Fairness (11 articles) • Score Interpretation (9 articles) • Research and Technical Issues (4 articles) It is available in print as well as electronically on CD.
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TECHNICAL MANUAL This manual contains the bulk of the technical information available concerning test development, norming, reliability and validity. Most technical information can be accessed online, www.canadiantestcentre.com	IN-SERVICE WORKSHOPS CTC consultants provide training and in-ser vicing workshops regarding the effective use of CAT•4. Please contact CTC for details. 905-513-6636 or 1-800-668-1006 (outside Toronto)