Our school does not give ISTAR assessments and I was curious as to what they entailed. ISTAR or Indiana Standards Tool for Alternate Reporting gives a clearer picture as to what high-end or low-end students are actually capable of in regards to achievement. Just like the name states, this is an alternate assessment component. Standardized tests cannot adequately measure those students whose scores are significantly higher or lower than grade-level. To ensure validity, accountability, and reliability of test scores, ISTAR is used to measure the progress of individual students within Indiana's assessment system. Students with disabilities, gifted/ talented students, and ELL students are most often administered this test.
The following was taken from the ISTAR website and defines ISTAR's intended purpose:(https://ican.doe.state.in.us/istar/istarmore.htm)
Identifying the baseline abilities of each student allows teachers to design curriculum specific to the individual needs of the student. Within ISTAR, each student is rated on appropriate educational standards, through the use of a three-point rubric. Teachers base their ratings on evidence such as observations, work samples, and portfolios. These ratings are tabulated to provide a score relative to the student's abilities, grade level, and individual progress from one year to the next.
Do you use this assessment at your school? How have the results helped shape your classroom instruction?
2 comments:
We do use ISTAR, but only for children with disabilities that do not take the ISTEP. I recently had a student with Down Syndrome whose IEP said that she had to take ISTAR in place of ISTEP. Those results were not shared with me until her case conference, and I honestly didn't use them to drive my instruction. She was assessed on a regular basis and I used her classroom assessments to drive my instruction. Unfortunately, a standardized test for a child with severe disabilities does not give an accurate picture of where they are (at least not for this particular student). Sorry I can't be of more help.
Our school also used ISTAR, but it is only given to our ELL students who do not take ISTEP. I had a lot of kids take it the last year that I was in the classroom, and I never saw results from the test...which means that we don't really use the test to drive our instruction. SO...I'm not really sure why we even administer this test, if we don't use the scores for anything...
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