ITBS and ISAT inclusion rules differ: ISAT reports scores for all test-takers, while about 20 percent of ITBS test-takers are excluded from public reporting¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2003 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2006: tool and model accuracy changes quickly

Subclaims¶

q2 i? On the ITBS about 94 percent of target-grade enrollment is tested but only about 74 percent included in reporting, mainly accommodated special-education and bilingual students; on the ISAT all test-takers' scores are reported. → Easton 2003

Evidence¶

Easton 2003¶

Easton, J. Q., Correa, M., Luppescu, S., Park, H.-S., Ponisciak, S., Rosenkranz, T., & Sporte, S. (2003). How Do They Compare? ITBS and ISAT Reading and Mathematics in the Chicago Public Schools, 1999 to 2002. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://www.consortium-chicago.org/publications/briefs/onlineresources.html

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Documentary comparison of testing-inclusion rules plus Figures 3 and 4 showing 2002 test-inclusion patterns and 1999-to-2002 trends. Students with testing accommodations and bilingual students in early program years are "tested and excluded" on the ITBS, while the ISAT has no such category.

"On the ITBS, about 94 percent of the total enrollment in the target grades is tested, though only about 74 percent of those tested are included in public reporting."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The 1998-99 CPS bilingual education policy overhaul shifted thousands of students into the tested-but-excluded category, raising tested-and-included counts by more than 12,000 — related
• In fifth-grade mathematics, ITBS scores declined while ISAT scores rose, a statistically significant difference in opposing trends — related
• In fifth-grade reading, ITBS scores declined significantly more than ISAT scores from 1999 to 2002 — related
• ITBS mathematics is heavily weighted toward computation while ISAT contains up to three times as many items on algebra, geometry, measurement, and probability and statistics — related
• The share of CPS students whose test scores were included in public reporting declined through the 1990s, reaching 74.2 percent in 2000 — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• ISAT scores are not comparable over time: students with identical earlier and later test scores earned different seventh-grade ISAT scores depending on the year tested — related
• ITBS and ISAT scores are highly correlated among CPS students in reading (r = 0.83 to 0.85) and mathematics (r = 0.86 to 0.87) — related
• Changes in CPS bilingual education testing policy drove drops in test-score inclusion, especially the fourth-grade inclusion drop in 1999 and the third-grade drop in 1997 — related
• After adjustments for inclusion-rule changes, CPS elementary test scores continued to improve through 1999, with long-term math gains across all grades but slowing reading improvement at ages 9, 11, and 12 — related
• CPS sharply reduced the number of non-graded (grade 20) special education students of grades 3-8 age, from 6,180 in 1992 to 773 in 1999 — related
• The percentage of CPS elementary students whose ITBS scores count in accountability reporting fell from 82.3 percent in 1992 to 73.9 percent in 1999, with the lowest inclusion in third grade — related
• Publicly reported school accountability statistics are not useful for measuring achievement trends over time — a broader claim this one bears on