BOISE - Students in grades six through eight are showing the most academic growth, according to Fall 2005 Idaho Standards Achievement Tests (ISAT) scores released by the State Board of Education.
Idaho students in grades 2 through 10 take the ISAT twice a year, fall and spring, in reading, math, and language usage. The fall results report academic growth that students make and are used to improve instruction. This is the second release of statewide results identifying the percentage of students meeting their individual growth targets.
Spring results report information to meet "No Child Left Behind" requirements and identify the percentage of students meeting proficiency or performing at grade level or better.
Growth targets are individualized for each student. Individual growth targets are based on the number of RIT or Rasch Unit points students should typically gain from one school year to the next. The RIT is ISAT contractor Northwest Evaluation Association's (NWEA) unique equal-interval growth scale that enables educators to measure growth like a ruler measures height. The results released today are based on student growth from fall to fall testing windows.
"The Board is excited to release ISAT scores based on growth because it gives students, parents, and teachers another piece of information to improve student achievement," said Dwight Johnson, Executive Director for the State Board of Education. "The results show many of our students are growing academically in school. It's exciting to see the hard work being done in our classrooms evidenced in the ISAT."
The Fall 2005 results indicate that more students in grades 3 through 10 (with the exception of third grade in math) are meeting their growth targets than last year. For example, only 49.1 percent of 8th grade students met their math growth targets in Fall 2004, whereas 61.9 percent of that same group of students (9th grade in Fall 2005) met their growth targets.
| Grade | Reading | Language Usage | Math |
| 3 | 55.9 |
51.8 | 45.0 |
| 4 | 59.3 | 58.3 | 50.8 |
| 5 | 61.7 | 58.6 | 56.1 |
| 6 | 66.2 | 58.7 | 59.0 |
| 7 | 62.6 | 60.6 | 63.0 |
| 8 | 62.0 | 60.6 | 58.5 |
| 9 | 60.5 | 58.9 | 61.9 |
| 10 | 60.7 | 58.3 | 63.3 |
Growth targets are calculated based on the average growth of students with similar RIT scores across the country. In nearly every category, Idaho students have exceeded their Fall 2005 growth targets compared to last year.
"Clearly Idaho students have made significant gains. Even more important, schools and districts are using data to guide hundreds of meaningful changes in how they do their work to improve learning for each and every student," said Allan Olson, executive director of NWEA.
Scores for individual school districts and schools are available on the State Board website: http://www.boardofed.idaho.gov.
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