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District presents minor changes to comprehensive assessment plan for next year
Summary
Associate Superintendent Dr. Hawkins outlined three minor changes to the district’s comprehensive assessment plan: a new reading screener for grades 2–5, the addition of CogAT testing, and extended testing windows tied to principal requests and recent legislation.
Associate Superintendent Dr. Hawkins presented proposed changes to the Ames Community School District’s comprehensive assessment plan for the coming year during the board meeting.
Dr. Hawkins said the plan is "similar to what you've seen for several years now" and highlighted three minor changes. First, he said the district will change the reading screener written into the plan for grades 2 through 5 to a tool described in the presentation as "aid reading" instead of the prior instrument referred to as "math growth." He said the new screener takes less time to administer, yields the same instructional data for teachers and is provided by the state, which reduces cost to the district.
Second, Dr. Hawkins said the district will add CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) administration for next year; the transcript states this will be administered to "students in grades 2 and for next year" and did not specify the complete grade range in the oral remarks. He characterized CogAT as part of the process of identifying students for accelerated or advanced-learning services.
Third, Dr. Hawkins said the district will extend some testing windows: one extension at principals’ request to better fit busy school schedules and another extension in response to recent legislation. He presented the changes as intended to reduce testing time burdens on teachers and students while preserving information teachers use for instruction.
Dr. Hawkins invited questions after the presentation; none are recorded in the meeting transcript. The assessment plan changes were presented for board review; the transcript does not record a formal board vote on the assessment plan during this meeting.
