ISAT

ISAT testing begins today for our 3rd and 4th grade students--all parents should have received an info letter and also information about the changes in the cut scores.  Testing season tends to be a stressful time in a school for both the students and staff--we have tried to make it a little more fun this year with our kick off assembly last week where the teachers surprised students with a flash mob ("I've Got A Feeling"--Black Eyed Peas); encouragement letters written to 3rd and 4th grade students from students in grades K-2 and  encouragement letters written from home; plus special ISAT treats.  

I believe there is one thing that especially dampens the ISAT mood (besides the fact that schools get judged on their success based on the outcome of one test), and that is the fact that we don't find out scores until after the school year is out!  That lack of immediate feedback is really contrary to best practice and everything we do in schools--we assess so that we can change instruction for students and to let students and parents know what they need to work on.  We talk so much about the ISAT test, and then I think that students are almost detached from the relevance once they receive the scores in the fall.  Our state is working on a new test called the  PARCC assessment that is supposed to be administered online.  Hopefully, with this, scores will be more meaningful as this feedback will be received in a timely manner.