Iowa+Assessments

Articles and Reference Materials from the Iowa Testing Programs

 * Iowa Test Conversions for National Standard Score (NSS) to Percentile Rank (PR)
 * Iowa Alternate Assessment
 * [[file:Iowa Testing Documents for Students with Special Circumstances.pdf|Iowa Testing Documents for Students with Special Circumstances.pdf]]
 * [[file:Iowa Assessment Expected Student Growth.pdf|Iowa Assessment Expected Student Growth.pdf]]
 * [[file:Iowa Assessments - Interpreting Results.pdf|Iowa Assessments - Interpreting Results.pdf]]

Special Circumstances (Entire document linked above)
__Special circumstances include:__
 * students in special education programs with IEPs,
 * students who are English Language Learners (ELLs),
 * students who were not conscientious when taking the test (marked randomly or in patterns), and
 * students who receive instruction outside of their residing district.

__Students with IEPs:__
 * How students with IEPs should be tested with the Iowa Assessments is another matter to address. Should they be given some accommodations because of their disabilities? Does the assessment need to be modified in some fashion to reduce the interference of the disability in assessing achievement? For most students, their IEP should provide answers to these important questions.
 * Accommodations are changes made in the way an assessment is administered so that a student’s disabilities will not interfere with the results of the assessment. Accommodations do not change the assessment tasks themselves.
 * Ideally, an accommodation neutralizes the effect of the disability on the assessment process so that a truer picture of the student’s achievement can be obtained.

__English Language Learners (ELLs):__
 * For students whose native language is not English and who have been in an English-only classroom for a limited time, two decisions need to be considered prior to testing. First, has their English-language acquisition developed sufficiently to warrant testing them, and second, should testing involve the use of any particular accommodations?
 * Thus, those just beginning instruction in English are not likely to be able to answer many questions no matter what types of accommodations are used. Consequently, such students probably should not be tested until their English language skills become developed more fully. For those in their second or third year of instruction in an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program, the use of accommodations might be warranted to reduce the effect of their limited English proficiency on test performance.
 * Although ELLs do not have IEPs, the decision making regarding the need for accommodations for such students parallels that for students with disabilities. The intent of the accommodation is the same—to neutralize the effect of the student’s limited language ability—and, consequently, the document processing and score interpretations are similar to what was described above.

__Students Who Mark Randomly__
 * Students who do not take the test conscientiously, or who mark randomly or in patterns, will not obtain a score that will be interpretable or useful as an indicator of their achievement. Consequently, their score cannot make a meaningful contribution to group averages or other scores for classes, schools, or the district. Their scores probably should be excluded from such reporting. Of course, your school needs to do what it can to prevent such test-taking behaviors, but once it has occurred with any student, the score should not be interpreted as though the student made a concerted effort. When such behavior is detected, the test administrator should make note of it and arrange for the student to be counseled and retested. The student’s document from retesting might then be included with the others in processing.