By Mary L. Grady
Mercer Island third- and sixth-graders continue to perform well above national and state averages on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.
The test scores for the ITBS, administered statewide to grades 3, 6 and 9, are in the process of final release statewide. The scores for each individual are compared with the scores of thousands of children nationwide in the same grade who took the same tests.
However, public school students in Washington state will no longer take norm-referenced tests like the Iowa tests. The state has stopped buying the tests as it has moved toward the state standards test, the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), with the advent of state-oriented accountability standards implemented with the “No Child Left Behind” legislation.
Scores for each Island elementary and for sixth-graders at Islander Middle School gained one or two percentile points in all areas on the test. Math scores for sixth graders increased four percentiles.
“Generally a five percentile change is considered statistically significant, but a gain of three to four points, if sustained, is definitely a meaningful gain,” said Michael Power, director of assessment for the district told the School Board on June 23.
Island third-graders increased their scores an average of one percentile or more across the three elementary schools in both reading and math. The third grade averages of reading, 82, and math, 90, remains well above the state means of 58 and 66 percentiles.
Island sixth-graders reached an average of the 83rd percentile in reading, 88 in mathematics and 83 in language skills. The state average percentile scores are all below 60.
Scores shifted somewhat between the three elementary schools as the academically gifted program has begun at West Mercer Elementary School. The program in effect moved students who generally scored higher in mathematics away from Lakeridge and Island Park elementary schools, affecting the overall scores at those schools.
“All of our scores remain well above the national average (the 50th percentile) and remain well above the state mean performance reflecting the high levels of effort and achievement among our students and the hard work of our teachers and staff to keep those levels high and continue to show growth,” said Power.
“There has been hard work on both sides of the desk,” he continued, noting that when the scores are already high to begin with, it is incrementally harder to raise the score.
The ITBS began in the 1930s. It was then part of a “new wave” of criterion-based testing and highly criticized at the time, Power said.
The tests measure student learning in vocabulary, reading, writing mechanics, work-study skills, and mathematics. In addition, the basic concepts of social studies and science are measured. The tests present a selected sample of tasks that require students to apply their knowledge and skills in new situations.
