Part+IV+1.

St. Clement of Rome School administers the Iowa Tests of Basic Achievement in September each year, a group administered achievement test battery given to all students in grades 3-8. The ITBS is a norm-referenced test and its interpretation of a student's St. Clement of Rome School administers the Iowa Tests of Basic Achievement in September each year, a group administered achievement test battery given to all students in grades 3-8. The ITBS is a norm-referenced test and its interpretation of a student's results involves comparing a student's score with the scores of other students obtained on the same subtest given during the same time period. This allows administration and teachers to have a more global view of how our students are achieving. ITBS measures achievement in the core areas of reading, language and math, and indicates comprehensive achievement in science, social studies, maps, diagram, and reference skills. Iowa Cognitive Abilities Tests, CogAT, are administered to all students in grades four, six, seven, and eight, and are designed to provide information about students’ abilities to work to their learning potential in the areas of verbal, nonverbal, and quantitative aptitudes. Combined, this battery of tests provides valuable information needed to meet the unique and individual learning needs for our students. The timing of this test allows the results to be used for instructional purposes as well as curriculum development, identifying areas of strengths and weaknesses on a grade by grade basis.

Overall grade results and a yearly spreadsheet tracking the progress of each grade level are made available to the faculty. Student performance is discussed,identifying whole class strengths and weaknesses. This information forms the basis for evaluation in relation to national and local averages, goal setting, and individual academic needs. Each student's individual results, with an item analysis of each question is available. This provides the opportunity to observe trends in information mastered by the individual or group, as well as areas of growth opportunity. A year-to-year cumulative comparison of ITBS subtest scores by grade level is analyzed annually to monitor academic growth and allows teachers to make curriculum adjustments.

Students of St. Clement School consistently score well above the national average on the ITBS. Trends from the class of 2009 demonstrate excellence, which remained characteristic throughout all grades. In 2004, this class achieved an NPR of 87 in reading, 87 in language, and a 78 in mathematics. The Core NPR was 86 and the Composite NPR was 87. In 2008, the class of 2009 achieved an NPR score of 89 in reading, 96 in language, and 90 in mathematics. The Core NPR was 94 and the NPR Composite Score was 92.

1. Assessment Results A variety of assessment tools enable St. Clement of Rome to provide a challenging, comprehensive, and relevant curriculum.

Assessment tools are integrated into the lesson plans of the teachers, which are reviewed weekly by the principal. These include oral or written pretests, textbook and teacher generated tests, short and long term written projects and reports, multimedia projects, group projects, student portfolios, and online testing. Scoring guides are provided for written responses and projects, with many teachers providing due dates for specific 'chunks' of work, thereby fostering organization with assessment. Children who need modified testing are accommodated per Archdiocesan standards. All assessment results are reviewed by both the resource staff and the principal. Any individual concerns or suggestions for a student or class' academic growth are discussed at CARE team meetings, at monthly level meetings, and with individual teachers. This allows administration and faculty to share a collective sense of responsibility for academic excellence.(135)


 * After Gaileen's presentation, I hope to enter some info on differentiated assessment..kf**

The Iowa Test of Basic Skills, ITBS, is administered in September of each school year to all students in grades three through eight. The Cognitve Abilities Test, CogAt is administered to students in grades four, six, seven, and eight. Overall grade results and a yearly spreadsheet that tracks the progress of each grade level is made available to the faculty. Overall student performances are discussed by adminstration and faculty and form the basis for evaluating student performance in relation to national and local averages, goal setting, and individual academic needs. Each student's individual results, with an item analysis of each question, is available to the administration and teachers. This provides the opportunity to observe trends in information mastered by the individual or group, as well as areas of growth opportunity. A year-to-year cumulative comparsion of ITBS subtest scores by grade level is analyzed annually to monitor academic growth. This provides a three-fold benefit for our school. It allows administration and teachers to easily view areas of strengths and weaknesses, allows us to compare our average grade scores with those of the Archdiocese of St. Louis average scores, and helps administration and teachers set future academic achievement goals.

 The students of St. Clement School consistently score well above the national average on the ITBS and consistently better than the Archdiocese of St. Louis averages, beginning in third grade. Students continue to achieve testing results far above both national and archid. averages. The most recent eighth grade class achieved and NPR scores of 89 in reading, 96 in language, and 90 in math. The average eighth grade student's Core Score NPR was 94 and the NPR Composite Score was 92. (64) **Add trend for last five years for this eighth grade(third grade results are significantly higher than arch average, and students consistently achieve above archidocesan averages as well as national averages.**

Faculty members are encouraged to confer with colleagues regarding the students' individual or collective needs both formally at level meetings and informally through daily conversation. Faculty often offer study groups and individual discussion with students prior to assessment to better meet their learning needs. Open and ongoing dialogue is crucial to both students' and teachers' growth. (56)