ACT and Standardized Test Steve Irvin, the High School counselor

ACT and Standardized Test
Steve Irvin, the High School counselor at
Treynor, spoke to the Treynor Optimist
Club about standardized testing at Treynor.
Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) is
administered to Kindergarden through 8th
grade and Iowa Tests of Educational
Development (ITED) is administered to 9th
through 11th grades. ITBS and ITED are
normalized tests, which means that the
scoring on the tests relates to a reference
group, not to an actual percentage of
people taking the test.
The Iowa Department of Education has
determined that a student in Iowa is
considered proficient if they score 41% or
higher on these normalized tests. They are
considered highly proficient if they score
90% or higher. Proficiency test scores are
given for English, Math, Science and
overall. Treynor students take testing
seriously. That helps them do better on the
tests. Overall, the percentage of Treynor
students determined to be proficient is well
above state and national averages.
85% of Treynor students take the ACT test
for college entrance. Their composite
average score is 23.5 versus a state
average of 21.5 for students taking the ACT
test. If a school has a low percentage of its
students taking the ACT test, the school average will generally be higher because then only the best
students are taking the test.