Students will participate in the online format of the test which will be administered beginning the end of April, in-person at school. Your child’s school will send information regarding their specific testing schedule.
While the timeliness of the assessment may not be ideal, administration allows the district to review the academic progress of our students, while charting a path forward in increasing achievement of each and every student in the future. With a lack of state testing last year and therefore, a missing data point, it is imperative that we re-engage in our state assessment process, while incorporating the assessments findings alongside our locally collected data like MAP test results, to gather and monitor growth in the coming years. Information from the assessment will also assist the district in making important curricular and program decisions and will inform our continuous school improvement process. We continue to follow guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) regarding all assessment administration.
There are a few items that we would like to share with families as we prepare for the administration of IAR. We ask fully remote families to plan on dropping off students for in-person testing in the afternoons of our testing dates. The IAR is unable to be administered remotely and we will need students to attend testing in-person. All testing for remote learners grades 3-8 will occur at Hille Middle School to ensure sufficient support and proctoring. We will send testing dates and drop-off/pick up information immediately following Spring Break. Fully remote families, please be on the lookout for additional information regarding in-person testing.
To all our families, you can help your child prepare for these assessments by:
- Ensuring that your child attends school on the days of testing
- Encouraging your child to get a good night’s sleep before testing days
- Encouraging your child to eat breakfast on the mornings of testing
- Reminding your child to ask their teacher questions if he/she does not understand the test directions
- Reassuring your child that you have confidence in his or her abilities
- Ensuring that your student brings his/her iPad to school fully charged everyday
If you have any questions regarding the IAR administration, please contact me or your child’s principal. Thank you for your partnership in your student’s academic success.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Liz Ehrhart
Curriculum Coordinator