TRACKING READING PROGRESS IN IDAHO
The Idaho Reading Indicator
Idaho's assessment of student reading ability is known as the Idaho Reading Indicator. It's been around for 15 years now, and has been revised a couple of times. The IRI is a quick, fifteen to twenty minute assessment that was originally written to be consistent with reading research from the University of Oregon into the development of curriculum-based measurement systems.
Idaho's assessment of student reading ability is known as the Idaho Reading Indicator. It's been around for 15 years now, and has been revised a couple of times. The IRI is a quick, fifteen to twenty minute assessment that was originally written to be consistent with reading research from the University of Oregon into the development of curriculum-based measurement systems.
The IRI was originally developed after a legislative interim committee met and IC-33-1614 was passed. The law called for the testing of children in kindergarten and in grades 1,2,and 3 at least twice a year. Recent IRI results for every district in the state by grade level are available, as are archived results of the fall and spring administrations of the IRI back to the 2001-02 school year.
Student IRI performance is classified in one of three scoring categories: "3" - Benchmark (at grade level), "2" - Strategic (near grade level), or "1" - Intensive (below grade level). Though many students score well above the cutoff for a score of "3", IRI scores are intended only to reflect grade level performance, and not to differentiate among students scoring above the cutoff.
IRI Outcomes
Idaho students have consistently shown growth in IRI reading performance over time in grades k-3. In fact, by using Fall kindergarten IRI and Spring 3rd grade IRI results, we can examine results for a cohort of Idaho students, as long as we understand that there is considerable mobility among the student population.
These data do not account for student mobility, since they are point-in-time indicators of Fall k and Spring 3rd IRI percentages, and would not account for student mobility between grade levels. However, here are the data for the 3rd grade class of 2015, for seven school districts and for the state of Idaho:
Student IRI performance is classified in one of three scoring categories: "3" - Benchmark (at grade level), "2" - Strategic (near grade level), or "1" - Intensive (below grade level). Though many students score well above the cutoff for a score of "3", IRI scores are intended only to reflect grade level performance, and not to differentiate among students scoring above the cutoff.
IRI Outcomes
Idaho students have consistently shown growth in IRI reading performance over time in grades k-3. In fact, by using Fall kindergarten IRI and Spring 3rd grade IRI results, we can examine results for a cohort of Idaho students, as long as we understand that there is considerable mobility among the student population.
These data do not account for student mobility, since they are point-in-time indicators of Fall k and Spring 3rd IRI percentages, and would not account for student mobility between grade levels. However, here are the data for the 3rd grade class of 2015, for seven school districts and for the state of Idaho:
When the IRI was administered to the 3rd grade class of 2015 in the fall of their kindergarten year, 56% of the group scored a "3" on the test across the state of Idaho. Among the 7 districts we chose to compare, 42% of Filer kindergartners were at grade level, while 69% of the Moscow kindergartners were ready to read.
At the conclusion of 3rd grade, 74% of Idaho students read at grade level. 70% of Filer students scored a "3", while in Moscow the percentage was 82. Every district in the comparison made substantial growth in the percentage of "on-grade-level" readers - Filer and Twin Falls made the most growth, at 28% between Fall of kindergarten and the end of 3rd grade.
Here's the chart for the class of 2013:
And here is the same chart for the 3rd grade class of 2011:
Though percentages of "at grade level" students vary by district and by year, and are especially volatile in small districts (due to their small student populations), these data are clear for the state as a whole:
- just over half of kindergarten students are ready to read when they enter school in Idaho
- about 3/4 of Idaho students are reading at grade level at the end of 3rd grade
Conflicting Data
An upcoming Reading and Literacy Summit at Boise State University features a full agenda of interesting topics. However, in the summit description, there appears this quote:
"Unfortunately, two thirds of Idaho’s 4th grade students have only basic or below basic reading proficiency. Only a third of our students are proficient or advanced readers."
The IRI indicates that 3/4 of 3rd graders are reading at grade level. What's the source of the data in the quote? The answer: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a randomly administered national assessment of reading (and other subjects).
At issue: the meaning of "proficient" and "proficiency" as defined by the NAEP and in the IRI.
Here's an explanation from Dr. Diane Ravitch, famed educational historian, from a blog post entitled "What do NAEP Scores Mean?":
"Since I served on NAGB (National Assessment Governing Board) for seven years, I can explain what the board’s “achievement levels” mean. There are four levels. At the top is “advanced.” Then comes “proficient.” Then “basic.” And last, “below basic.”
Advanced is truly superb performance, which is like getting an A+. Among fourth graders, 8% were advanced readers in 2011; 3% of eighth graders were advanced. In reading, these numbers have changed little in the past twenty years. In math, there has been a pretty dramatic growth in national scores over these past twenty years: the proportion of students who scored advanced in fourth grade grew from 2% in 1992 to 7% in 2011. In eighth grade, the proportion who were advanced in math grew from 3% in 1992 to 8% in 2011.
Proficient is akin to a solid A. In reading, the proportion who were proficient in fourth grade reading rose from 29% in 1992 to 34% in 2011. The proportion proficient in eighth grade also rose from 29% to 34% in those years. In math, the proportion in fourth grade who were proficient rose from 18% to 40% in the past twenty years, an absolutely astonishing improvement. In eighth grade, the proportion proficient in math went from 21% in 1992 to an amazing 35% in 2011.
Basic is akin to a B or C level performance. Good but not good enough.
And below basic is where we really need to worry. These are the students who really don’t understand math or read well at all. The proportion who are below basic has dropped steadily in both reading and math in fourth and eighth grades since 1992."
As Ravitch sees it, the Basic level of performance on the NAEP is similar to "Proficient" on measures like the IRI.
And here's the definition of 4th grade "Basic:" reading performance from the NAEP website.
"Fourth-grade students performing at the Basic level should be able to locate relevant information, make simple inferences, and use their understanding of the text to identify details that support a given interpretation or conclusion. Students should be able to interpret the meaning of a word as it is used in the text."
Dr. Bert Stoneberg, former NAEP Coordinator for the state of Idaho, shows in an article from his website, K-12 Research Idaho ,what happens when we look at the data in the manner described by Dr. Ravitch:
source: NAEP Proficient vs. NAEP Proficiency in Subject, Stoneberg (2015)
And he adds:
"On the NAEP 2013 reading test, 33 percent of Idaho fourth-graders scored at or above NAEP Proficient, while 34 percent of fourth-graders in the nation’s public schools scored at or above NAEP Proficient. However, 68 percent of Idaho fourth-graders and 67 percent of fourth-graders in the nation’s public schools demonstrated proficiency in reading on the NAEP 2013 reading test."
And, with that explanation, NAEP results match up very well with IRI results, at between 2/3 and 3/4 of students reading at grade level.
