Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)
Achievement Testing at St. Paul Catholic School
Frequently Asked Questions
How is the ITBS different from the MEAP (Michigan Education Assessment Program)?
I’m concerned about my child’s test scores. What should I do?
A standardized test is an assessment tool used to test students on what they have learned. They are standard because each student takes the test under the same conditions. The method is the same as well as the way the way the test is scored and administered. Every student has the same opportunity to demonstrate their achievement of the content presented by the test.
At each grade level, Riverside Publishing has used a nationwide norming group of approximately 300,000 students. When your child earns a score at the 76th percentile, this indicates that he or she tested better than 76% of those 300,000 students in the same grade.
Why does St. Paul School use the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)?
The ITBS is designed to fulfill three main purposes: (1) to obtain information that can support instructional decisions made by teachers in the classroom, (2) to provide information to students and their parents for monitoring the student’s growth from grade to grade, and (3) to examine the yearly progress of grade groups as they pass through St. Paul’s curriculum.
All elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit are required to administer the ITBS during the fall testing cycle (approximately the first two weeks of October, each year).
How is the ITBS different from the MEAP?
The ITBS is a norm-referenced test. A student taking this test is NOT expected to know every answer. The tests are designed to produce results that fall on the “bell curve,” so that most students will score between the 40th and the 60th percentile, and students with abilities well above or well below grade level can be identified.
The MEAP test is a criterion-referenced test. This test is matched to the curriculum taught in Michigan public schools, and students ARE expected to know the answers to every question. The MEAP tests are intended to answer the question, "How are our students doing compared to what we want them to know and do?" When the scores are reported, you most commonly see the percentage of students earning a satisfactory score. For example, in the Grosse Pointe Public Schools, more than 90% of students earn satisfactory scores in elementary Language Arts and Math.
This is NOT the same as scoring at the 90th percentile. Students only need to answer about 60% of the questions correctly to earn a satisfactory score.
What test does each grade level take?
This is the schedule of testing for St. Paul Catholic School:
Grades 2 through 8 take the ITBS Achievement test.
Grades 1, 3, 5, and 7 take the CogAT – a Cognitive Abilities Test. This test is roughly analogous to an IQ test. Although the results are not reported to parents, the teachers use these results to tailor instruction to the needs and abilities of each individual class and student. The CogAT provides us with information about students’ verbal, quantitative, and non-verbal reasoning skills. All other things being equal, a student’s individual CogAT score will not change much from year to year, since the score measures native ability.
Grades 3, 5, and 7 take a diocesan-created Religion test.
What do the scores/tests mean?
GE: Grade Equivalent is a number that gives the student's location on an achievement continuum and describes performance in terms of grade level and month. For example, if a fourth grader scores 5.6 on a test, his/her score is like the one a student at the end of the 6th month of 5th grade would likely score. These scores are particularly useful for measuring individual growth from one year to the next.
NPR: National Percentile Rank: These percentiles show a student's standing within the group of students in the same grade who were tested at the same time of year during the national standardization. These are especially useful for profile analysis and determining the areas of relative strength and weakness for an individual student. A percentile rank of 72 means the student scored better than 72 percent of the other children in the same grade in the norming sample. Percentile ranks range from 1 to 99 and are less useful than grade equivalents for estimating or monitoring growth.
How do St. Paul students score on this test?
St. Paul students, on average, score very well on the ITBS. In fact, we qualified for our Blue Ribbon award by scoring in the top 10% of schools nationwide in Reading and Math (and we continue to qualify each year). Our 2nd and 3rd grade students typically score about 6 months above grade level, for a class average. By the time a class is in junior high, the class average soars to 3 or 4 years above grade level. Actual grade equivalent scores are posted each year in January, after we receive the scores, and can be found on our school’s website.
The Archdiocese of Detroit does not publish or release ITBS scores to anyone except the individual school’s administrator. Some schools publish their scores on the school website, as St. Paul does. Many schools do not. If you wish to compare schools, you will need to contact each school individually and ask for their Iowa test scores.
I’m concerned about my child’s test scores. What should I do?
First, remember that the ITBS is one test, at one moment in time. It is a group-administered test, and your child may have been ill or distracted the day he or she took the test. Talk with your child’s teacher, and ask what the teacher sees when your child performs day after day in class. Remember that a score of “50” doesn’t mean a failing grade: it means your child is exactly average! If you would like to discuss the details of your child’s individual ITBS and CogAT scores, please contact the school office to make an appointment with Dr. Miller. She will be happy to review the scores with you.