Assessment
Teachers at Irvington Community School use a variety of assessments to drive instruction to meet individual student needs.
In addition to the state-mandated ISTEP+ testing in 3rd-8th grades, charter schools in Indiana are required to administer one additional assessment to gauge student progress. Like many other charter schools, ICS has chosen the NWEA as our second assessment tool.
NWEA's MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) tests are state-aligned assessments used to determine children's instructional level and to measure academic growth throughout the school year and from year to year in the areas of Reading, Language Usage, and Mathematics.
Computerized MAP tests are unique in that they adapt to be appropriate for each child's level of learning. As a result, each student has the same opportunity to succeed and maintain a positive attitude toward testing. Also with MAP tests, we can administer shorter tests and use less class time while still receiving detailed, accurate information about each student's growth.
Each school year, students in grades 2 through 10 take the MAP tests in the fall, winter, and spring. Following each testing season, ICS parents will receive a Student Progress Report showing your child's past and current data and a graph displaying his/her growth (please note: the graph is only available for students who have participated in at least two testing seasons). This report also identifies your child's performance on specific goal areas within Reading, Language Use, and Mathematics.
Additional assessments of literacy growth are administered by the ICS Literacy Coaches. The DIBELS assessment (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is administered to students in grades K-6 to assess letter naming, decoding nonsense words, phoneme segmentation, and oral reading fluency. The Basic Reading Inventory is administered to students in grades 5-8 to assess oral reading fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary skills.