Iowa Assessments

I’m sure all schools do some sort of standardized testing every year. We have what we call Iowa Assessments here in Iowa. It used to be called ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills) but we changed it a couple years ago. If you are in 3^rd grade all the way up to 11^th you have to take these tests. They test in all of the basic subjects and are used to see how well you are learning and for school boards to know how well schools are teaching. If your school does really well overall then you could get more money for your school. Our administrators really try to push us to do well so we get more money but most of us who are older really don’t care anymore.

It is my last year taking these tests because I am a junior and trust me, it’s a huge relief. After taking these tests every year for the past 9 years, it can get very old and boring. I do try on the tests but I just feel like it’s a big hassle. A lot of the questions are super simple and seem almost pointless. I feel like these tests really don’t test our knowledge very well at all. I suppose it does test our common knowledge and development but nothing we answer ever pertains to the actual things we are learning in school.

Our school has had to bribe high schoolers just to show up and do these tests. If we have perfect attendance in our homeroom for all

of the testing days we get a pizza party or donuts. Also if you as an individual show up you get 2 raffle tickets for each day you test and are put into a drawing for parking spots at the school or gift cards for different restaurants. If you actually do well on the tests you get a t-shirt if you are a freshman, or sophomore and a sweatshirt if you’re a junior. They have to find some sort of way to make us show up for the tests because no one takes it seriously so they skip. I feel like we the administration makes these tests seem like a huge deal when they’re really not. I do think we should take it a little bit seriously but I don’t think we need to make it such a big deal. We should just show up, try our best and see the outcome. These scores do reflect you and your school so you want to at least try.