Instructional Uses of Test Results

Interpreting Item-Level Reports

Iowa Assessments Provide Teacher with

• Important information to use in your instructional decision-making

• Information that is intended to supplement your observations and classroom assessment data

• Information to help teachers plan to accommodate classroom and individual student needs

Today’s Session

Procedures for the review of test bookletsClass Item Response RecordClass Item Analysis

Review of Test Booklets

• Provided for:– Review of item-level reports– Support of data analysis and interpretation

• Supported by:– Assurances language for proper and ethical test

administration and use (Iowa Department of Education)

– Iowa Testing Programs Online Tools

Test items are Copyright © 2012 by The University of Iowa. All rights reserved. These tests contain operational questions that are to be used solely for report review and score interpretation purposes associated with the users of the Class Item Response Record or the Group Item Analysis. No test items may be disclosed or used for any other reason. By accepting delivery of or using these tests, the recipient acknowledges responsibility for maintaining test security that is required by professional standards and applicable state and local policies and regulations governing proper use of tests and for complying with federal copyright law which prohibits unauthorized reproduction and use of copyrighted test materials.

THESE TEST BOOKLETS MAY NOT BE RETAINED BY YOU AND MUST BE RETURNED TO IOWA TESTING PROGRAMS WITHIN THREE WEEKS OF RECEIPT.

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Class Item Response Record

• Assists teachers in the diagnosis of learning difficulties within a test area

• Used to identify students who are not completing a test

• Used by teachers to identify areas where a large part of the class is having difficulty with the same concept – Common misconception– Scope and sequence issue

Class Item Response Record

• In the body of the chart– Numbers are Percent Correct– Letters are the incorrect response marked by that

student– Blanks are correct responses

Average Percent Correct scores for the nation, system, and class can be used to compare:• Class to Nation• System to Nation• Class to System• Students to the whole

ClassAverage percent correct scores for the entire Reading test.• The class did as well as

the system and the nation

Average percent correct scores for Reading subtests.• In general, the class performed

similarly to the system and slightly below the nation

This report can be used to help detect strengths and weaknesses of • Individual students• The class as a whole

These students answered• All “Central ideas & their

support” items incorrectly• The same on

“Synthesizing/summarizing” items

• Correctly on all “Connecting/extending ideas” items

This group of students may need more help grasping the first two concepts than the third.

Students either answered this item correctly or they chose incorrect option “C”.

Further information about the item would allow the teacher to decide the best way to remedy this shared misunderstanding.

This student appears to be struggling with the Reading content in general.However,• He answered only one “Understand stated information” item incorrectly.• He answered all “Connecting/extending ideas” items correctly.

This information is useful because it shows which areas he is more successful in, allowing the teacher to decide how to best address the other areas he is struggling with.

This student appears to be performing well on the Reading content in general.

His incorrect answers to “Author’s Craft” items seem to be similar to other students’ incorrect responses. Perhaps these patterns indicate a misunderstanding shared among students. More information about the content covered by these items could help the teacher decide how to address such confusion.

Class Item Analysis

• Provides a deeper diagnostic review of performance

• The items that are most difficult for a class can be identified

• Analysis of the most difficult items may be beneficial in understanding why test performance was low

This report allows for comparisons between the • Class• Building• System• Nation

This can be useful for identifying skills that need extra attention or improvement, as well as skill areas that are being understood well.

These show the difference between the class average and the national average for each skill.

A “+” or “–” indicates the difference is larger than 20 points.

These graphs are useful to see stronger and weaker skill areas at a glance.

On average, the class performed lower than the nation on items covering “Central ideas and their support”.

However, in general, the class performed similarly to the building and the system. On items 9 and 12, the class did better than the building and system.

The graphs illustrate that this class performed similarly or much better than the nation on “Understand stated information” items.