Interpreting Standard Reports from the Iowa Assessments

Overview

This document provides assistance with interpreting reports included in the Standard Service of the Iowa Assessments.

For each report, a description of the purpose and key elements are provided. This is followed by an annotated image of the report.

Reports included in the Standard Service:• Profile Narrative Report• Reading Performance Summary• Math Performance Summary• Building Iowa Core Standards Domain Report• Summaries• List of Student Scores• Student Score Labels• Parent Report Labels• Student Data on CD-ROM

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Comparisons

Metrics of Reported Scores

• Standard Scores (SS or NSS) The standard score is a number that describes a student’s location on an achievement continuum or scale. As students grow and learn, it is expected that their standard score will continue to increase. In Iowa, Proficient/ Not Proficient status is defined in terms of Standard Scores. Also, Standard Scores may be ‘averaged’, allowing for comparisons of groups of students’ mean NSS scores.

• Percentile Rank (PR or NPR)A student’s percentile rank indicates the percentage of students in a particular group that scored at or below the score of the student. It shows the student’s relative position or rank in a group of students who are in the same grade and who were tested at the same time of year (fall, midyear, or spring). It is useful for comparing individual student’s scores with other students, whether locally or against the students in our national standardization study.

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Other Score Metrics Found on Reports

• Predicted ACT and SAT scoresSome reports include predicted ACT and SAT scores. By default, these are available starting in Grade 8. You may request these scores to start in Grade 6 when completing your Order for Scoring (OSS) through Online Tools: https://itp.education.uiowa.edu/tools/login.aspx. The following pdf lists the tests your school must administer in order to receive predicted ACT and SAT scores: https://itp.education.uiowa.edu/ia/documents/ScoreTotalsAndComposites.pdf

• Grade Equivalents (GEs)Grade Equivalents (GEs) are only available for Grades 1-8. If you prefer to not have GEs printed for any grades, you may choose to suppress GEs for Grades 1-8 when completing your OSS through Online Tools.

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Profile Narrative Report• Purpose:

– Indicates individual student’s relative strengths and weaknesses

– Provides proficiency level indicators– Provides predicted ACT score range (Grade 6* and above)– Compares student’s performance to the nation

• Key elements:– National Standard Score (NSS)– National Percentile Rank (NPR)– National Grade Equivalent** (NGE)

*Default is Grade 8, unless specified otherwise on your OSS**GEs are only available for Grades 1-8

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Proficiency level indicators tell whether your student is considered proficient as defined by the state of Iowa (click here)

This student is predicted to receive ACT scores from 25-30.

The NPR graph allows you to compare your student’s relative strengths and weaknesses. In this example, the student’s NPRs range from 63-70. She performs very similarly in all tests.

These two paragraphs describe how to interpret your student’s NSSs, NPRs, and NGEs*.

*Please note that GEs are not provided for Grades 9-12, even though they are included in this sample.

Reading Performance Summary• Purpose:

– Assesses individual’s performance in Reading as defined by the Iowa Core– Indicates individual student’s relative strengths and weaknesses– Provides proficiency level indicator– Compares student’s performance to the nation– Informs classroom instruction

• Key elements:– Standard Score (SS)– National Percentile Rank (NPR)– Grade Equivalent* (GE)– Proficiency indicator– Percent correct and comparisons to the nation

*GEs are only available for Grades 1-8

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Helpful summaries of each section

The report summarizes individual student’s Reading performance.

The “Test Summary” indicates that this student’s performance is Proficient. The Growth Indicator is currently not available on this report, but can be found on eITP.

The “Skill Domain Summary” allows you to compare your student’s performance with that of the Nation. For example, this student answered more questions correctly than the average student in the nation for every skill domain.

The “Standards Summary” allows you to compare the number of points your student earned with the total number of points for each standard and skill domain. For example, this student earned 10 out of 13 possible points for the skill domain “Explicit Meaning.”

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Math Performance Summary• Purpose:

– Assesses individual’s performance in Math as defined by the Iowa Core– Indicates individual student’s relative strengths and weaknesses– Provides proficiency level indicator– Compares student’s performance to the nation– Informs classroom instruction

• Key elements:– Standard Score (SS)– National Percentile Rank (NPR)– Grade Equivalent* (GE)– Proficiency indicator– Percent correct and comparisons to the nation

*GEs are only available for Grades 1-8

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Helpful summaries of each section

The report summarizes individual student’s Math performance.

The “Test Summary” indicates that this student’s performance is Proficient. The Growth Indicator is currently not available on this report, but can be found on eITP.

The “Skill Domain Summary” allows you to compare your student’s performance with that of the Nation. For example, this student answered more questions correctly than the average student in the nation on “Number Sense and Operations”, but less correctly than the nation in “Algebraic Patterns and Connections.”

The “Standards Summary” allows you to compare the number of points your student earned with the total number of points for each standard and skill domain.

N/A

Building Iowa Core Standards Domain Report

• Purpose:– Assesses the group’s performance in reading, writing, math,

science, and social studies as defined by the Iowa Core– Indicates the group’s relative strengths and weaknesses– Compares the group’s performance to the nation– Informs classroom instruction

• Key elements:– Summarizes average performance of the group (SS, NPR, GE)– Compares performance of the group to the nation on each test

through examining distributions of the NPR ranges– Compares performance of the group to the nation on the Iowa

Core

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Building’s average performance by SS, PR, and GE. The building’s PR of average SS for Listening is 61. In general, this group performed similarly to or slightly below the nation, except they performed slightly above the nation in Listening.

These three sections compare the performance of this building with the nation. Nationally, 25% of students scored in each of the Percentile Rank Groups, including the PR Group 75-99 for Computation. For this building, 30% scored in the Percentile Rank Group 75-99 for Computation. This building had a higher percentage of students score in the top range, but also a higher percentage score in the bottom two ranges.

This entire section provides information on the Common Core Standards Domains. As an example, statistics for “Operations and Algebraic Thinking” are highlighted. There are 25 items in this domain. In this building, students answered an average of 43% of the items correctly. Nationally, students answered an average of 58% of the items correctly. The difference between this building and the nation on this domain is -15. For this Math domain, this building performed below the nation.

Summaries• Purpose:

– Provides concise summaries of test and composite scores for your classes and buildings

– Informs classroom instruction– Supports data interpretation

• Key elements:– Number of students tested– For each test and composite

• Averages of national scores, including Standard Score (SS), National Percentile Rank (NPR), Grade Equivalent (GE), and National Stanine (NS)

• Percent of students in each of the NPR ranges

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Averages of national scores for Class 1. In general, this class of third graders performed well below the nation in all tests.

To illustrate the meanings of scores, results on the Listening test will be examined. Only 4 students in this class took Listening.

This class had an average SS of 144. This is equivalent to an NPR of 5 which means that the class scored better than or equal to only 5% of test takers in the nation.

In addition, the GE is 1.5 which is equal to the average score a student in Grade 1, month 5 would receive if that student took the Grade 3 Listening test.

The Listening score was also equivalent to a National Stanine of 2. Stanines are on a nine-point standard scare with a mean of 5 and a standard deviation of 2.

Nationally, 25% of students scored in each of the NPR Ranges. For this class, 75% of students scored in the lowest NPR Range (1-24) for Listening. The remaining 25% scored in the NPR Range of 25-49. No students in this class received an NPR above 50.

List of Student Scores• Purpose:

– Comprehensive list of all of your students’ scores

• Key elements:– Student name and basic information– Predicted ACT and SAT scores (Grades 6* and above)– For each test and composite

• Standard Score (SS)• National Percentile Rank (NPR)• Grade Equivalent** (GE)• National Stanine (NS)

*Default is Grade 8, unless specified otherwise on your OSS**GEs are only available for Grades 1-8

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Information on each student is provided in this column. See the top row for a description of each variable.

These last three columns provide information on predicted college readiness. These scores are available starting in Grade 6. This student’s predicted score range for the ACT Composite is 24-28. For the SAT it’s 590-710for Math and 470-580 for Reading.

The SS, NPR, GE, and NS for each test and composite are provided in these columns.

This student performed above the nation in every area.

For Reading, Brandon received an SS of 274. This is equivalent to an NPR of 75which means that he scored better than or equal to 75% of test takers in the nation.

His GE* for Reading is 11.7 which means that he received a score equal to the average score a student in Grade 11, month 7 would receive if that student took the Grade 9 Reading test. *Please note that GEs are not provided for Grades 9-12, even though they are included in this sample.

His Reading score was also equivalent to a National Stanine of 6. Stanines are on a nine-point standard scale with a mean of 5 and a standard deviation of 2.

Student Score Labels• Purpose:

– Summarizes all individual student scores on easy-to-print labels for school records

• Key elements:– Grade Equivalent (GE)*– National Stanine (NS)– Standard Score (SS)– National Percentile Rank (NPR)– Predicted ACT and SAT scores (Grades 6** and above)

*GEs are only available for Grades 1-8**Default is Grade 8, unless specified otherwise on your OSS

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These columns will contain predicted college readiness scores on the ACT Composite, SAT Verbal, and SAT Quantitative.

Each label contains information for one student. The information is very similar to that provided in the “List of Student Scores.”

Parent Report Labels• Purpose:

– Summarizes all individual student scores on easy-to-print labels for parents. These are similar to the “Student Score Labels.”

• Key elements:– Grade Equivalent (GE)*– National Stanine (NS)– Standard Score (SS)– National Percentile Rank (NPR)– Predicted ACT and SAT scores (Grades 6** and above)

*GEs are only available for Grades 1-8**Default is Grade 8, unless specified otherwise on your OSS

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Each label contains information for one student. The information is very similar to that provided in the “List of Student Scores” and “Student Score Labels.”

Student Data on CD-ROMThe CD-ROM is sent separately from your printed score reports. It contains three files:

1) A tab-delimited text file with all student data2) An Excel file with a description of the variables in the student data file3) A read me file with software information

Instructions for using the CD-ROM file can be found here: https://itp.education.uiowa.edu. Click “Document Center” and then click “CD-ROM Student Data Information.”

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Additional QuestionsFor additional resources on interpreting scores found in these reports, please see the website: https://itp.education.uiowa.edu. Click “Iowa Assessments” and then click “Interpreting Results.”

If you cannot find answers on the website, please call David Henkhaus for assistance at (319) 384-2714.

Alternately, if you find technical errors in your reports (i.e., unexpected missing scores, missing classes, or missing reports), please call Marcia Walters at (319) 335-5408.

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