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	Precise, Inclusive Year 2000 Norms TerraNova's 2000 norms reflect a major redesign of CTB's norming procedures. Greater precision has been achieved by sampling individual schools rather than districts, and by stratifying the nation's schools according to more detailed demographic information. Greater inclusiveness has been built into the sampling design to ensure that CTB's norms reflect the realities of today's testing programs. Norms for the new TerraNova series are based on large, nationally representative student samples, including more than 275,000 students in Grades K-12.
		Students in the fall and spring norm groups were identified using stratified random sampling procedures. The norm group constitutes a sample of students that accurately represents the nation's school population and fairly represents all minority and socioeconomic groups.
		CTB drew on the National Education DatabaseTM from Quality Education Data, Inc. (QED)--a comprehensive census database of K-12 educational institutions in the United States--to obtain sampling data on geographic region, community type, socioeconomic status, and special needs.
		Stratification of community type is based on a seven-level metropolitan status classification system designed by the U.S. Bureau of the Census and recorded by QED. Public schools are further stratified based on the percentage of students eligible for Title I funding. Use of these data helps to ensure that CTB's norms accurately reflect the achievement levels of the nation's student population as a whole.
		Standardization included all students who would ordinarily take part in their regular testing program, including those who participated with accommodations to meet special needs. Special-needs categories for the standardization included learning-disabled, physically disabled, emotionally disabled, and mentally disabled, among others.
		CTB's newly developed test of cognitive skills, InView, was standardized concurrently with the new edition of TerraNova in the spring of 2000. When administered in combination with TerraNova, InView yields anticipated achievement scores that represent an estimate of the average score for students with certain attributes in common: chronological age, grade and month in school, and InView score. These scores can be considered as a special kind of norm that enables comparison of an individual's achievement with students of similar age, grade, and academic characteristics.