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Curriculum Development » Assessments

Assessments

Assessing the Curriculum

We use frequent checks for understanding to inform instruction (Formative Assessments)

The purpose of the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus (ISTEP+) program is to measure student achievement in the subject areas of English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. In particular, ISTEP+ reports student achievement levels according to the Indiana Academic Standards that were adopted by the Indiana State Board of Education. The ISTEP+ assessment is criterion referenced and is designed to measure students’ mastery of the standards. Student performance on ISTEP+ is part of school accountability.

ILearn Basics
ILEARN measures student achievement and growth according to Indiana Academic Standards.

NWEA® is a research-based, not-for-profit organization that supports students and educators worldwide by creating assessment solutions that precisely measure growth and proficiency—and provide insights to help tailor instruction. For 40 years, NWEA has developed Pre-K–12 assessments and professional learning offerings to help advance all students along their optimal learning paths. Our tools are trusted by educators in 145 countries and more than half the schools in the US.
 
Parents Guide to (NWEA) MAP test growth - MAP Growth is a computer-adaptive test. If your child answers a question correctly, the next question is more challenging. If they answer incorrectly, the next one is easier. This type of assessment challenges top performers without overwhelming students whose skills are below grade level.
The PTS identified “power” reports are:
Student Profile
 

PTS “Catch Up - Keep Up - Move Up” - Critical Factors:

  1. It is our goal that all students demonstrate proficiency in reading and mathematics by obtaining percentile rankings at or above the 61st percentile.
  2. Students falling below the 61st percentile must obtain growth in excess of the expected RIT growth in order to reach the 61st percentile.
  3. Students in the 31st to 60th percentile in the fall will be categorized as “Move Up”. The individual growth goal for these students will be calculated by multiplying the expected RIT growth by 1.25.
Indiana Linking Study - Recently, NWEA completed a concordance study to connect the scales of the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus (ISTEP+) English Language Arts (ELA) and math tests with those of the MAP Reading and MAP for Mathematics assessments. In this report, we present the 2nd through 8th grade cut scores on MAP reading and mathematics scales that correspond to the benchmarks on the ISTEP+ ELA and math tests. Information about the consistency rate of classification based on the estimated MAP cut scores is also provided, along with a series of tables that predict the probability of receiving a Level 2 (i.e., “Pass”) or higher performance designation on the ISTEP+ assessments, based on the observed MAP scores taken during the same school year.
 


 - PTS uses Accelerated Reader (AR) throughout all grades in order to increase students' reading and comprehension abilities and try to give them a love for reading. It basically works in this way: children take a reading test at the beginning of the school year (NWEA (new)) which gives teachers important information about the children's reading abilities (Lexile score). Students then select books that are within their range. When they are finished with their selection, students take a short computerized quiz about their books. The number of questions are based upon grade-level and reading level of the book. Higher level books have more questions. A student is considered to master that book if he/she reaches a score of 80% correct on the quiz. (Lexile to Grade Equivalency Chart)

Parent Guide to Accelerated Reader - You may also be interested to check out the "A Parent's Guide to Accelerated Reader" information provided by Renaissance Learning that gives a very good explanation about the entire reading process.


 - Assesses basic early literacy skills in order to provide support and early intervention in the following areas: phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency with connected text, reading comprehension, and vocabulary.