ISASP: Begin Discovering Talent in Your Students

Schools in Iowa began administering the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) for the first time in spring 2019. We have received a lot of questions about how to use the scores, especially related to talent identification, above-level testing, and providing opportunities for gifted students.

The ISASP was developed by the Iowa Testing Programs at the University of Iowa to align with the Iowa Core Standards. It provides standards-based information for students, their parents, their schools, and for the Iowa Department of Education School Performance Profiles. Unlike the Iowa Assessments, students’ scores are compared only to those of other Iowa students; they are not compared to a national group. ISASP scores are reported for English/ Language Arts and Mathematics in grades 3-11. Science is added only in grades 5, 8, and 10.

How Can We Use ISASP Scores to Discover Students Ready for More Challenges?

ISASP scores can be used as a first step in the process of identifying academically talented students or students in need of additional academic challenge. As is the case with many state assessments, students’ scores are also categorized according to their progress compared to other Iowa students. These descriptors range from “Not Yet Proficient” to “Advanced.”  Whereas “Advanced” sounds like a clear indicator for talent development or gifted education services, students scoring in this category may have earned ISASP scores placing them anywhere from the top 1 percent to the top 15 percent of their grade level.  Educators might choose to invite a smaller percentage of students to participate in additional testing, for example above-level testing provided by I-Excel or the ACT.

Using the 95^th Percentile

Rather than simply searching for students who haves scored “Advanced” on ISASP, educators can take a closer look at scaled scores and percentile rankings using the tables found in this document. Educators might begin by finding all students who score at the 95^th percentile or higher on one of the ISASP sections. Screening students for consideration for advanced programming by using a test that is administered to all students (also called “universal screening”) is a best practice in gifted education.

Using ISASP scores as a first step in the Belin-Blank Exceptional Student Talent Search (BESTS) is appropriate. To determine which students might benefit from BESTS testing (taking I-Excel in 4^th-6^th grade or the ACT in 7^th-9^th grade), we recommend inviting students who have scored at the 95^th percentile or higher on one or more of the sections of the ISASP to participate in BESTS.  Scaled scores at the 95^th percentile are shown below:

ISASP Scale scores at the 95^th percentile

Grade	Reading	Language/ Writing	ELA	Math	Science
3rd	461	454	453	459	—
4th	488	487	483	491	—
5th	522	519	513	529	528
6th	549	548	541	557	—
7th	586	575	575	589	—
8th	607	609	602	625	616
9th	643	635	631	651	—

Table 1

Casting a Wider Net: Using the 90^th Percentile

Educators in some schools might find that only a very small number of their students earn ISASP scores at the 95^th percentile, and they may wonder if additional students might benefit from above-level BESTS testing and/or potential adjustments to the students’ educational programs. Research at the Belin-Blank Center and elsewhere has shown that casting a wider net and including students earning scores at the 90^th percentile on the ISASP or other standardized, grade-level tests can help discover more students and does not result in adverse effects on students.  In fact, we encourage you to consider the 90^th percentile guideline, especially for 5^th and 6^th graders.  Research that shows us that students get an academic “boost” by simply taking an above-level test.  If you choose to use the 90^th percentile guideline to include students for additional above-level BESTS testing, here are the scaled scores:

Scale Scores at the 90^th percentile

Grade	Reading	Language/ Writing	ELA	Math	Science
3rd	449	446	445	449	—
4th	477	476	473	479	—
5th	508	506	503	512	509
6th	536	533	531	539	—
7th	566	562	561	572	—
8th	592	592	588	606	596
9th	622	618	615	626	—

Table 2

Students earning ISASP scaled scores at the 90^th or 95^th percentile are scoring as well as or better than 90 or 95 percent of the normative sample of Iowa students. This means they are already performing quite well compared to their age group. Then, we invite these students to participate in BESTS testing, where an above-level test (one that was developed for older students) is administered to younger students. Talented 4^th-6^th graders take I-Excel, which contains 8^th grade content, and talented 7^th-9^th graders take the ACT, which was developed for college-bound 11^th and 12^th graders. Test results provide families and educators with detailed information about the students’ aptitudes and the types of educational opportunities they might need to thrive.  Examining your students’ ISASP scores is an excellent first step toward discovering talented students.

Recap

1. Examine the ISASP scores of your students. How many students are at the 95^th percentile, as indicated by scaled scores listed in Table 1?
2. If you decide you would like to include more students, determine which students scored at the 90^th percentile using Table 2.
3. Encourage these students to participate in above-level testing using I-Excel (current 4^th-6^th graders) or the ACT (7^th -9^th graders).
4. Use the I-Excel and ACT scores to help place students in challenging opportunities such as IOAPA, grouping talented students together for honors-level courses, or encouraging students to accelerate in a specific subject.