Pleasantdale ITBS Results Above National Average

The Wednesday night heard from consultants regarding the results of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills students took last fall. The ITBS gives a national percentile rank for students, which is standardized across the country.

Beginning this school year, students transitioned from forms which were statistically normed in 2000 to forms which were statistically normed in 2011.

Students in grades 3 through 8 took tests in the areas of reading, vocabulary, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, written expression, math and math computation. The data showed that students either improved or stayed the same from 2010 to 2011.

According to the report, students showed impressive improvement at the , particularly in the reading and language arts subtests.

"These are very high scores. You should really be proud of these scores," said Cathy Lawrence, a senior assessment consultant from Riverside Publishing.

Lawrence pointed out that Pleasantdale students in the eighth grade ranked in the 85th percentile in English Language Arts scores and in the 75th percentile in math scores.

"The average student in the nation is at the 50^th percentile," said Lawrence. "An average student that was coming in from another district would not be average here."

School board members wanted to know how Pleasantdale compared to other wealthy school districts.

"I have as my clients several other wealthy districts. You compare quite favorably," said Dr. John Wick of WickPartners, Inc., a data analyst for the district. “Those are, I think, very good results.”

The most notable drop was in the area of computation for grades 3 to 4.

Superintendent Dr. Mark Fredisdorf said that information gained from the tests could be used to determine the 10 most common errors, after which the curriculum could be examined and findings brought to the attention of teachers.

Parents will be receiving a concise report in the next few weeks of the fall results, along with a letter explaining the percentiles. Detailed reports will follow in the coming months.

In the spring, students will take a shorter version of the ITBS.