Scores Decline In State Student Testing

BOISE, ID — The latest statewide results for the Idaho Standards Achievement Test show a small decline in students’ proficiency in English Language Arts and Mathematics since 2019, the last time the ISAT was administered.

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“The onset of the pandemic in spring 2020 disrupted the ISAT along with all Idaho school operations, so we weren’t surprised that scores did not continue the gradual upward trend of the previous few years of testing,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra said. “We expected an impact, and now we can use these results to move forward to rebuild academic performance.”

The Idaho Standards Achievement Test is administered each spring (with the exception of 2020) to all public school students in grades 3-8 and 10, gauging their proficiency in Mathematics and English Language Arts/ Literacy. Nearly 163,000 students took the test this past spring.

Results show:
• Overall, 54.1 percent of students scored proficient or advanced in English Language Arts, down
from 55 percent in 2019.
• In math, 39.6 percent of students scored proficient or advanced in 2021, down from 44.4 percent in 2019.
• Proficiency varied by grade level, with some grades showing greater proficiency than their
counterparts in 2019.

The superintendent’s Department of Assessment and Accountability is analyzing the results to help explain the patterns.

“Efforts are under way throughout the state to address pandemic-caused academic impact through strategies such as high doses of tutoring and extending academic time through summer school, afterschool programs, targeted intervention and other measures,” Superintendent Ybarra said. “I know districts and schools throughout the state are committed to identifying and supplying what their students need to succeed, and I am sure our combined efforts will help students regain lost ground and continue on the path to achievement.”

“When comparing results from different years, it is important to remember that they reflect different cohorts of students, and that proficiency is only one measure of achievement,” Assessment and Accountability Director Kevin Whitman said.

Statewide, district and school-level results are available on the Assessment Results web page, along with results for grade levels and demographic groups.

This year, Idaho students in grades 5, 8 and 11 also took a new science ISAT, but no results were
reported because it was a “field test,” used to check whether the test functioned as intended and to help design the final test form. That test will be administered next year for the first time.

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