28 January 2010
To parents of students in P4, P5, P6, M1 and M3:
Dear Parents,
As a part of our ongoing development of curriculum and assessment procedures at ISM we will be continuing this year with the standardised testing program that we have been using for the last three years. Standardised testing can provide data required for educational decisions ranging from the formulation of a student's individualised plan to the evaluation of curriculum effectiveness within the School. Standardised testing is one of the ways, among many others, to assess and compare our students' progress with students of the same age in other countries.
ISM uses the International Schools' Assessment (ISA). ISA is an assessment created by the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) designed especially for students in international schools and will be given to students in grades P4, P5, P6, M1 and M3 at ISM in February. The ISA tests are based on the internationally endorsed reading and mathematical literacy frameworks of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Presently 128 international schools use the ISA ACER tests.
What does the ISA Measure?
Reading
Retrieving information
Interpreting
Reflecting and evaluating
Mathematical literacy
Quantity (related to number and measurement)
Space and shape (related to geometry)
Uncertainty (related to estimation, data and probability)
Change and Relationships (related to algebra and functional relationships)
Writing (Narrative and Exposition)
Content
Structure
Language (with attention to ESOL/ESL characteristics)
Spelling
Purposes of Standardised Testing
The purposes of standardised testing and/or assessment are to help:
evaluate academic aptitude and academic achievements of individual students;
assess reasonable expectations of a student's ability;
measure the mastery of essential skills and conceptual understanding;
chart individual progress over time;
establish the range of ability and achievement within a class; and,
provide an objective basis for reporting student achievement and progress to parents.
At ISM we shall be staging these tests during the first two hours of the morning on February 1st & 2nd. No specific preparation is needed, and so apart from the time spent taking the tests, no teaching time will be lost. When we get the results back in May we will share them along with an analysis.
On Friday, 29th January, the students in P4, P5, P6 and M1 and M3 will be taking a trial test as a preliminary to the actual ISA test the following week. The results of the trial test will not be taken into consideration and will not be available to students, parents or teachers.
Details of the ISA tests and previous results are available to view on the school website at www.ismoshi.org/isaacer.htm. Please contact me if you have any questions.
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