Comparing Standardized-Test Scores and Grades

My daughter's final report card puzzles me. She is a fifth-grader and received all A's this year. However, she had very low scores in math, social studies and spelling on a standardized achievement test given to her class. I am thinking that maybe her teacher was just handing out A's. How concerned should I be about the discrepancies between my child's report-card grades and her achievement-test scores? - Concerned
Answer: To put your mind at rest that the teacher was not handing out too many A grades, consider your daughter's past grades on report cards. If she has been an A student in earlier grades, you should expect this pattern to continue. If she has suddenly jumped from being a C student to being an A student, it might mean that this teacher graded quite easily or that your child has now caught on to what it takes to succeed in school. You should have a good idea of what the real explanation is by looking over the quality of the work that your child did this year.
Typically, teachers' grades give a good picture of how children are doing in school, because the teachers observe how the children are doing every day on a wide range of tasks. On the other hand, standardized tests are a one-time reading of students' abilities. One of the problems with these tests is that many students are not good test-takers. Others can get low scores because they were sick, did not try to do their best, or had some test anxiety. Also, standardized tests are considered to be especially unreliable in assessing the achievement of students of very high and very low ability.
Besides comparing report cards from earlier years, look at your child's previous scores on standardized tests. If these score have generally been good, this year's lower scores might not be too significant. However, a pattern of lower scores could indicate some weaknesses that need to be addressed.
When there is a discrepancy between a child's grades and standardized-test scores, there is always the possibility that the material on the test has not been covered adequately in the classroom. In this case, most of the other students in a class will also have low scores. Why don't you try to talk to a school counselor or psychometrist to learn more about what your child's low standardized-test scores probably mean and how they can be improved?