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We are excited to now offer you the Interest Explorer , or IE for short. The Interest Explorer is fully co-normed with the ITBS/ITED achievement tests and must be ordered at the same time as the Iowa Tests. The IE helps students discover what career might be right for them. Students respond to a number of activity-related statements from fourteen career areas that are linked to the Department of Labor's Guide for Occupational Outlook. For complete pricing and ordering information, scroll to the bottom of the page or click here now. Or if you are looking for for the ITBS/ITED, which are achievement tests, click here to learn more about those tests. Otherwise, please read on to learn more about the IE tests.


Interest Explorer

Best Use: Interest Inventory survey administered individually or in groups.

Format: Career interest inventory, i.e. student reads questions with multiple choice answers, then he records his answers by filling in circle on the answer sheet (gr. 8-12).

Purpose of Tests: To explore interests combined with academic skills for the purpose of career and education planning

Benefits: Provides predicted ACT and SAT scores when administered with Iowa Tests; assists educators in tailoring academics to a certain career field; Machine-scoring; Computer printout of Standard scores, Grade Equivalent, national percentile rankings;
Convenient to administer to several students at once.

Time Needed to Administer: Please allow 1 hours over 1 days. You are permitted to keep the tests for 1 week, then they must be returned by the following weekend.

Scores & Reports: Machine Scoring; Results will be mailed to you within 4-6 weeks of the date you return all testing materials.




Form 6, Levels A-H -- the 2005 edition

  • Meets the recommendations of the National Career Development Guidelines; helps special needs students explore careers and plan appropriate courses of study

  • Copyright 1998

  • Includes student's materials, teacher's directions for administering, machine-scoring, plus shipping to you from our office. (You pay postage to return all materials to us.)

2008 Test Materials Pricing Structure

Individuals:

Cost of test and Machine-scoring for Interest Explorer alone = $30 per test (mailed directly to your home).

Cost of tests and Machine-scoring for Interest Explorer and the ITBS/ITED Form A, or the CogAT, Form 6 = $70 per student (mailed directly to your home).

Scoring will be done by the test publisher on their mainframe computer and results will be returned to you within 4-6 weeks.


Groups of 10 or more students all testing same time, same day will receive a $2 dollar per student Discount. Please contact us if you have questions about discount pricing.



What requirements are there for me to use these tests?
Can I administer the ITBS/ITED/CogAT/Interest Explorer to my own children/students?


The answer to these questions is YES, if you abide by the following criteria:

1. The Publisher's requirements.
2. Piedmont Education Services' requirements.
3. Your state's laws regarding achievement testing.

1. The Publisher's Requirements:

1. "These tests contain questions that are to be used solely for testing purposes. No test items may be disclosed or used for any other reason. By accepting delivery of or using these tests, the recipient acknowledges its responsibility for maintaining test security that is required by professional standards and applicable state and local policies and regulations governing proper use of tests, and for complying with federal copyright law which prohibits unauthorized reproduction and use of copyrighted test materials."

2. "Test use should be consistent with sound professional practice, particularly those principles outlined in the 1985 publication, Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. Tests and their related materials are to be released only to persons with the knowledge and skills needed for effective test administration and test interpretation."

3. "Effective January 1, 2007, the Publisher has allowed PES to offer the ITBS, Form A, and CogAT, Form 6, in 44 of the 50 states. Based upon current contractual obligations, the Publisher has prohibited PES from offering the ITBS/ITED, Form A, and the CogAT, Form 6, in Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, and the Virgin Islands, as well as the Dallas ISD. Residents in these restricted states should use the ITBS, Form M. Those in South Carolina may order the ITBS, Form A, but may not order the CogAT, Form 6. (Sorry, the CogAT, Form 5 is not offered.)


2. Piedmont Education Services' Requirements:

Piedmont Education Services has been approved by the publisher to distribute the ITBS/ITED, Form A, and CogAT, Form 6, throughout the United States, except in those states listed above.

By your signature you are agreeing to abide by these following nine requirements:

1. You or a qualified third party must have a bachelor 's degree.
2. You must have read and understood the publisher's requirements (listed above) for using achievement tests.
3. You must agree to comply fully with all applicable laws of your state regarding achievement testing. (for links to the laws of your state, click here.)
4. You must maintain the security of testing materials before and after the testing.
5. You must adhere strictly to copyright laws and under no circumstances photocopy or otherwise reproduce answer forms, test booklets or teacher manuals.
6. You must not use this test as a practice test for a future administration of the same or similar test as admission to a traditional-classroom private or public school.
7. You must administer and interpret tests exactly as specified in the manual.
8. You must avoid labeling students based on a single test score.
9. You must return all test materials to Piedmont Education Services on or before the date requested.

Failure to abide by these important rules may result in forfeiture of your privileges to use the tests and/or possible litigation against you by the publisher resulting in civil or criminal penalties as may be prescribed by law.


3. You must also abide by your state's laws regarding achievement testing.

It's important for you to know and understand your state's laws regarding achievement testing. (If you are homeschooling, and unsure about your state's requirements, please click here to go to our home school laws page.)

Here in North Carolina, the law states that "Each qualified non-public school shall administer. . .at least once in each school year. . .a nationally standardized test or other nationally standardized equivalent measurement selected by the chief administrative officer. . . "

You can see then, when simply stated, that in the matter of the achievement test, you have perfect liberty both to choose the kind of test your child takes, as well as to determine the time, place and setting in which the test is given. You may also choose who gives the achievement test to your child. And while the Dept. of Non-Public Education (the government regulatory agency responsible for oversight of home schools and all other private traditional classroom schools) recommends that a third party administer the test, NC law makes no such requirement.

It is also helpful to remember that (again according to NC state law), if you are home schooling, your school is legally considered a non-public or private school. As such, you, the parent-teacher-administrator of your own private school, have all the privileges of controlling every aspect of your children's education.

If you are ordering from anywhere outside of North Carolina, please be sure to follow your own state's laws regarding the administration of achievement tests. You may wish to contact your state's authorities for oversight of home schools for more information.

Sorry, NO international orders. Shipping is only to USA and Military APO's.
A $5 processing fee will be charged for any international order that is placed.


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Ready to order this test? Then follow these simple steps:


1. Download the order form in the PDF file below OR read/print out the PDF in your browser which corresponds to the date(s) you wish to take the test.

2. Read the order form carefully and complete all applicable information.

3. Sign authorization and agreement on the order form. Your tests will not be mailed without your signature!

4. Mail the order form with check or money order to:

Piedmont Education Services
1629 Turfwood Drive
Pfafftown, NC 27040


If you have any questions about ordering, please click here for contact information.

To view PDF files you must have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. If you do not have this software, download it for free by clicking on the logo.


PLEASE READ: There are 2 Options to view these files,

1.) You can read these PDF files directly in your browser if you have Adobe Acrobat set up as a helper application simply by clicking on the link below and releasing the mouse button.

2.) You can download the file to your computer by right-clicking on the link if you are a PC user, or if you use a Macintosh, hold down the mouse button on the link, then select "download link to disk". Please be patient, these may take from mere seconds to a few minutes to download depending on the speed of your internet connection.

Download/View the Interest Explorer Order Form Here(File Size:76k)


Piedmont Education Services thanks you for your order!

News and links Header
State Laws on Testing
Laws for homeschooling, also has info about testing.

Riverside Reverses Testing Standards for Homeschoolers
Achievement testing news from HSLDA.

Report Card on Homeschooling in US
Find out how homeschoolers are doing in America.

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