1 A Parents’ Guide to Testing In District 41

2 A little assessment humor…

3 Why do we test? The only man who behaved sensibly was my tailor: he took my measure anew every time he saw me, whilst all the rest went on with their old measurements and expected them to fit me. -George Bernard Shaw

4 Assessment should:  Provide diagnostic feedback  Help educators set standards  Evaluate progress Student, classroom, school  Motivate performance  Provide data for decision-making  Grant Wiggins,Ed.D., 2001

K. Samples5 What we would like to avoid…

Assessment calendar 6

7 Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) Administered in March, Grades 3-8 Content area achievement New parent report Lexiles National Percentile

12 ISAT Samples

13 Extended Response

ISAT  State mandated test for grades 3 – 8  Reading and Math assessed at all grades  Science assessed at grades 4 & 7  Assessment is used to determine if schools, districts and subgroups are making adequate yearly progress  Part of the district scorecard  Test provides an item analysis that we use to compare against our district curriculum and can help us target areas 14

ISAT cont.  Like to look at cohort data to see how kids do over time  Data is not as useful since we get the results after the children have moved to the next grade level  This test will go away in 2014/2015 when we will have a new national assessment. It is projected that this assessment will occur over the school year (3 tests throughout the year + 1 cumulative assessment at the end of the year) Many uncertainties around this so we are following the information carefully and beginning to plan now.  Provides us with one data point on your child (triangulate this data with MAP and classroom assessments) 15

16 Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)  The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) measures students’ learned reasoning abilities in the three areas most linked to academic success in school: Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal  Not a tool for measuring IQ products/cogAt/index.html

17 CogAT (cont.)  Three subtests Verbal Quantitative Nonverbal  The CogAT provides one more view of a child’s ability to be successful in school and gives information on dominant learning strengths.  Administered at grade 2 for gifted identification/services to begin in grade 3  Administered at grade 5 for gifted identification/services at the junior high

CogAT (cont.)  After grade 3 the scores become more stable over time and shouldn’t see a significant change in scores. Because we administer at grade 2 we do see some variances by grade 5.  Assesses cognitive abilities, not what they have been directly taught  Scores are placed on a matrix and used in conjunction with MAP scores when identifying for gifted services 18

MAP  Grades 1 – 8 (2 – 3 times a year) and at Kindergarten at least once in the spring, some in the winter  Test is adaptive so it allows kids to go beyond a typical grade level test  Allows us to monitor student progress over time  Test is used to identify students who need interventions and/or enrichment opportunities  Also used for math placement at the junior high – they have established cut scores for the various levels 19

20  Standardized testing is only one way to measure student ability and achievement—it’s not the only way. Human capabilities are much more diverse and complex than what is measured by standardized achievement tests or school ability tests. As we learn more from the fields of cognitive science and brain research, definitions of human learning are changing.  Educators consider scores from these tests as one view of a student. Classroom performance and teacher assessments are equally important.  Teachers also recognize that students’ test-taking skills and attitudes during testing sessions affect their results. Final thoughts…

21 Final thoughts…  We should spend less time ranking children and more time helping them to identify their natural competencies and gifts and cultivate these. There are hundreds and hundreds of ways to succeed and many, many different abilities that will help you get there.  Howard Gardner

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23 We consider it a privilege to work with your children! Thank you!