Why iReady testing for kids in AAP?

[Anonymous]

My understanding of this screening test (given 3 times a year) is that it is designed to identify kids who are struggling in certain areas so that the teacher can remediate on this topic.

For kids who are in the FCPS AAP program already (5th grade), what is the point of spending soooooo much class time taking these assessments when, inevitably, the first test of the year comes back with results that are either on or above grade level. Yes, we know this. That's why they are in AAP. Duh.

And then the next time they take the screening mid-year, it starts them out at the level that they began missing questions last time they took the test (supposedly to measure growth). Then it's super discouraging for these students because it basically shows no growth since the concepts they started missing last time they took the test were a grade or two above grade level and are not on topics meant to be covered between the first test and 2nd test anyway.

It makes no sense. Can someone explain what good it does for this group. (I get why you would need it to measure growth of low-performing students who are assessed at below grade-level...but this group of students are in AAP because they typically already perform ABOVE grade level!) Seems like a lot of wasted class time on useless assessments.

[Anonymous]

It's a universal screener. It wouldn't be universal if everyone didn't do it.

[Anonymous]

I teach Level 4. Some of them come in as much as 2 years below grade level. Kids aren’t equally advanced across all subjects.

It’s also helpful for beginning instructional groupings and identifying strengths/weaknesses. Also a good data point for reading comprehension levels.

[Anonymous]

I have two kids in ES right now - 1st grade (base school) and 4th grade (center).
Last year I believe they both took iready 3x (fall, winter, and spring).
The center has not mentioned iready at all this year.
The base school said all kids were tested in the fall and depending on those results - the kids might not need to take them again (I’m not sure if that just means they could skip winter or also spring).
I suppose I think it is duplicative to have grades 3 and up take BOTH iready and the SOLs at the end of the year.

[Anonymous]

Our school I think only tested in the beginning of the year for all students and used ecart for the other times.

[Anonymous]

My 5yh grade AAP kid took iready and came in at end of 5th grade for math BUT only end of 4th grade for reading, which would be fine for Gen. Ed since it's beginning of the 5th grade year but isn't fine for AAP. So clearly some kids need it. Now we, her parents, know as does her teacher.

[Anonymous]

OP - your snowflake doesn't get a pass

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach Level 4. Some of them come in as much as 2 years below grade level. Kids aren’t equally advanced across all subjects.

It’s also helpful for beginning instructional groupings and identifying strengths/weaknesses. Also a good data point for reading comprehension levels.

Wow. That's alarming. I hope it's the rare exception who enters AAP at or below grade level. Shouldn't the vast majority of AAP kids be above grade level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - your snowflake doesn't get a pass

Really not necessary to be bitchy. It’s a legit question about what good it serves for kids who are *supposed to be* above grade level to take a test to measure areas that require remediation. This is a multi-day screener several times a year. I’m fine with tests that serve a real useful purpose for assessment. Just seems like if this test identifies that a kid is two grades below grade level (as one PP suggests) that would be very very unusual for AAP.

[Anonymous]

iReady measures scholastic achievement rather than raw giftedness or IQ like the WISC or CogAT does. Children in AAP may have raw natural intelligence but aren't necessarily academically high achievers, and they may also have LD that limit their ability to retain and regurgitate information. The screeners serve the same purpose in AAP that they do in regular classes- they give the teachers a baseline that they can use to measure academic growth.

[Anonymous]

Maybe it shows how un rigorous Fairfax elementary education is-if bright children haven't learned basic grade level information.

[Anonymous]

Speaking of iReady, I got scores back for one of my kids today (the 1st grader), and I was given the percentiles of those scores.

I don't know whether it's coincidence or not, but the percentiles I was give for both and reading actually match what is shown here:
http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7539/urlt/i-Ready-Table-6.pdf

Does anyone know if the same scoring system year over year? I'm not worried about the scores at all, but I did notice DC's beginning of first grade scores were (only slightly) lower than the end of K spring scores. I don't know if that tells you anything about how well I did keeping up with learning over summer Or what?? Maybe it's normal?

[Anonymous]

I was told my AAP student only had to take the iready once this year - at the beginning of the year.
That was fine with me.

[Anonymous]

My Gen ed child tested above grade in the beginning of the year, then dropped 20 points in winter test, then was at the beginning of the school year level in spring.. I have been puzzled about this. I tried to adk her teacher, bit didn’t really get an answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Gen ed child tested above grade in the beginning of the year, then dropped 20 points in winter test, then was at the beginning of the school year level in spring.. I have been puzzled about this. I tried to adk her teacher, bit didn’t really get an answer.

Did you feel like your DC's reading and math stagnated, dropped, or continued to improve throughout the school year?

The iready is new and teachers don't really know what to do with the information. I'm not surprised that the teacher couldn't answer your question. What do you think the answer is?