ITBS and IOWA Achievement Testing Window is October 15 -31

Dear School Leaders,

The Fall Achievement Testing window is set to begin on October 15 through October 31st. 28 elementary schools are testing using the IOWA/Data Manager assessments and 22 elementary schools are in their final year of OCS support using the ITBS/iRM achievement assessments. Many of the schools are moving into CogAT 7 to better track students' reasoning skills/abilities. 50 schools!

The Testing Coordinators are working hard to prepare for a clean data collection and I ask each testing coordinator to refer to the Fall 2014 Scoring Packet for Directions for Testing, Supplement Coding, and FedEX Instructions to return all student answer sheets carefully to Riverside Publishing's Scoring Center in Chicago. All of this information was shared on 9/16/14 by Valerie Kosinski, Consortium Assessment Coordinator, from Riverside Publishing.

When your school completes the testing window, please box up all answer sheets carefully yet quickly and return to the Riverside Scoring Center. Once Riverside Publishing receives your testing data, the turn-around time is ten days or less. I would appreciate a quick email from each testing coordinator letting me know that you have mailed off your answer sheets. The Office for Catholic Schools will receive roll-out data only after all 50 schools are processed so timing is everything! Our hope is to have OCS achievement data the week of Thanksgiving or before.

If you experience any surprise or concern,please contact Valerie Kosinski directly for her guidance and expertise.

As you school is preparing for the fall testing window, please remember that all OCS resources to support your data journey are located in the Consortium quick link tab found at: http://www.ocsww.org/consortiums.php

Thank you for your commitment to track and honor student growth for all of our students.

Blessings always,
Sandy