Union High School in La Porte City where the district offices are located pictured on Monday, June 10. Union’s 2023-24 Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) scores for both the English Language Arts and Math assessments were the best since the district began administering the test in 2019. The standardized assessment is given annually in the spring to students in grades 3-11. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

LA PORTE CITY – The scores are in for the 2023-24 Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress – better known by students and teachers alike as ‘the ISASPs’ – and Union’s results this year are making Superintendent John Howard particularly happy.

“The district scores for both ELA [English Language Arts including Reading and Language/Writing] and Math were the best since the district started taking ISASP in 2019!” Howard enthusiastically shared with the newspaper last month in an email. “We were right at 80% proficiency, across the board, for both. In terms of Science, the scores this year were second highest since the district began using ISASP in 2019.”

The ISASP replaced the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) back in the spring of 2019 – before the pandemic – as Iowa’s standardized assessment for both state and federal accountability purposes. With the implementation of the ISASP, students switched from taking the annual test with pencil and paper to using a computer.

The ISASP is given each spring to students in Grades 3 through 11, while fifth-, eighth-, and 10th-graders also take a third test in science. The state designated testing window lasted from March 11 through May 3 this school year.

Students who score at the proficiency level on any of the three tests (English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science) “demonstrate thorough competency over the knowledge, skills, and abilities that meet the requirements for their grade level associated with academic readiness for college and career in the subject area,” according to a handout provided by Howard. Students can also score ‘not-yet-proficient’ or ‘advanced’ on any given test. The goal is for students to be either proficient or advanced in each of the assessments and/or show growth from the previous school year, Howard further explained. Each of the three tests have pre-set cut score ranges for not-yet-proficient, proficient, and advanced; for example, on the seventh grade Mathematics test, the proficient range is 469 to 574. For all the cut score ranges refer to the following document: https://iowa.pearsonaccess.com/resources/reports/ISASP_CutScoreRanges.pdf

Additional positive statistics highlighted by Howard from Union’s 2023-24 ISASPs results include:

-95% of fourth grade students were proficient in Math

-89% of sixth- and eighth-grade students were proficient in ELA

-89% of fifth- and eighth-grade students were proficient in Math

-87% of third-grade students were proficient in Math

-81% of fourth- and 10th-grade students were proficient in ELA

Six separate grade level cohorts showed double-digit growth in proficiency in either ELA and/or Math, Howard added, but perhaps most reassuring to the district’s parents – 11 out of 16 grade level cohorts scored a higher proficiency rate this year than last year.

It is important to note, each year a new group of students — a cohort — takes any given grade’s test which means the same set of students is not being compared from year to year on, for example, the 10th-grade test.

While administering the ISASP each spring is required of all public school districts in Iowa, the data generated by the assessment is helpful to a district in several ways, Howard said.

“In general, we use ISASP scores for establishing district, building and individual student goals; determining curriculum recommendations at all levels; deciding individual, cohort and building areas of both strength and growth; focusing on Iowa Core implementation at all levels; [and] comparing student performance with other districts, both near and across the state.”

Based on ISASP results alone, it would seem the 2023-24 school year was a particularly good year to be a Union Knight.

“As the superintendent, I am extremely proud of how our students did on the ISASP this spring,” Howard said. “Their positive attitudes, quality determination and excellent work ethic produced outstanding results.”

“In addition, much of that success also goes to the staff as well as the parents and guardians of the district. Without all three groups working together, we wouldn’t have these scores.”