Cedar Rapids students testing in spring, instead of fall, this year

Cedar Rapids school district students will take the annual Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and Iowa Tests of Educational Development next month.

Spring testing dates are new for the district this year, but it's not the first time Cedar Rapids students tested in the spring instead of the fall.

“There was a time we did all of our testing in the spring,” Sandy Stephen, the district's executive administrator of secondary education, said.

The district made the switch from a spring to fall test date more than 10 years ago in order to use the student data during the school year. The decision to switch back to a spring testing date means schools will begin the 2011-12 school year with school plans that incorporate the test data.

“This will be more aligned with our school improvement planning process,” said Mary Ellen Maske, the district's executive administrator of elementary education.

Developing school building plans with fall testing date data meant schools were working with information that was a year old, Stephen said.

The district also uses the data to write plans for student subgroups – minority students, special education students and students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches.

The district will receive test results before the last day of school, giving administrators and building principals time to analyze the results before submitting their 2011-12 school year building plans.

Both Stephen and Maske stressed that the annual ITBS and ITED exams are just one piece of information used to develop district, school and student plans.

The district's testing window is April 4 through April 15.