Anyone know what the name is of the standard test (not TAKS) but Iowa Standard something given Dallas schoolsI

Question

DISD (school district in Dallas Texas) administers an assessment test called Iowa something. Anyone have any experience with this test....my daughter makes wonderful grades....high honor roll, highest GPA in class 2 years in a row, 2nd place on Science Fair, yet she scored a low score on this test which determines if she can go to a magnet school. If she scored 40% in relation with the rest of the United States, evidently shouldn't i be concerned. Seems like very unfair, i thought she was so great but she is only the smartest of the dumbest. Please give me insight - not personal advise but to figuring out these numbers and what i can to help my daughters future education. thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I live in Iowa and my kids also have to take these tests, they are used in quite a few states. If your daughter is in high school she took the Iowa Tests of Educational Development (or ITED), if she's in elementary school she took the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). The scores will usually show a national and a state percentage for each of the categories. So if someone scores a 40% NPR (national percentage) in reading that means they scored higher than 40% of other kids in the nation for the reading portion of the test. It will also show how the student scored in relation to only other students in the state they are testing in. The composite score is the overall score average for the whole test. I wouldn't worry too much about your daughters scores. The tests are timed standardized tests, and sometimes the kids feel a lot of pressure to do well and don't do as well as they should because of the pressure. Public schools are required to give standardized tests because of No Child Left Behind, but I really don't think they are a very good indication of what the student knows. There is a lot of pressure for the kids to test well because the school's are judged on how well the students do on them, and their future funding depends on it. Some kids get fed up with having to take these types of tests and just play dot-to-dot on the answer sheets.

Edited to add: The ICAM (Iowa Collaborative Assessment Modules)is another standardized test that she may have taken. It's similar to the others listed above.

Answer 2

when i was in high school (10+ years ago) the test was the ITED Iowa Test Educational Development. no idea if it is still around.