It is ITBS testing time
Students at American Prep International School write the Iowa Test of Basic Skills two times per year. However, many students and parents don’t really know why they are doing it and what value there is in writing this test. After all, the tests don’t count for the quarter exam at all.
The Importance of the ITBS Test
The Iowa Test of Basic Skills is used to test the knowledge of students in elementary and middle school, up through the eighth grade. The ITBS test was developed by the University of Iowa, who is also still responsible for administering and evaluating the test.
The Iowa Test is unique because it was designed to specifically analyze a student’s current knowledge, as well as evaluate subject matters that should be stressed in a child’s education. This greatly assists teachers, parents, and schools to clearly define areas of learning focus throughout the year. Therefore, the Iowa Tests are generally administered during the school year, depending on the preference of the school, while most other standardized tests are administered at the end of a semester or school year.
At American Prep International we administer the test on site. We have computerised the system and the student is given the questions on his computer and he has to fill in the answers on the computer. As soon as he/she has completed the test he/she can see his results.
Learning from the results
After the tests have been fully completed and the test results have been printed, the teachers analyse the results. First of all we look at the general level of the grades. This indicates to us whether our students are performing above the norm that has been established with thousands of other students accross the world or whether they are performing below the norm. This excercise is very important for us at American Prep. It helps us to know whether our teaching standard is on par.
The second level of analysis at American Prep is to see in which areas of the subject matter our students perform better or worse. If we discover that most of the students have relatively poor marks in a certain area of language or mat, for example, our teachers then adjust their teaching in order to make up or improve the area of weak performance
Challenge
I trust that this blog has helped our parents (and even some teachers) to understand the value of these tests. And I would like to appeal to all concerned to take the tests seriously and to do them with a good and possitive attitude!