Have you received your child’s Individual Student Report?

Recently, the Bob Clark Morning Show at KKOB featured our Secretary of Education, Christopher Ruszkowski,

So, along with other callers, I called in with a question. The Secretary answered graciously and knowledgeably, used common language, not technical jargon. He even went so far as to provide detail to educate the public about my question and his answer.

My question was “When will Istation scores be released?”

As the Secretary explained, K-3rd grade students in New Mexico take the Istation test because it is the Statewide Assessment. Their  proficiency and growth are measured by it. “Istation’s Individual Student Reports were provided to all parents in the Spring”, he said. Unfortunately, Secretary, many weren’t.

Is your child struggling in Reading?

Sadly, hundreds of parents from many different schools told me over the summer that their child might be held back if they did not read on grade-level by the end of the school year. Many still did not know after school let out because they still had not received their child’s Individual Student Report for Istation’s End of Year (EOY) test. Children can be held back based on this test. Some of these parents actually said, “No news is good news. Right!?”

Not always. Some parents felt major stress throughout the summer from not knowing if their child was on grade level or not. Other parents stated they felt unprepared for meetings held with the school just before summer started. They had no time to think about their child being on grade level or not because they were not given the information before the meeting where they had to make a decision about holding their child back or not.

Are parents “in the know”?

In fact, a handful of parents that I spoke with were told by the school at those meetings that their child needed to be held back when their child was actually on grade level! Only a few parents already knew that students who are reading on grade level should not be held back. When the school realized these parents were “in the know”, there was no more talk of retention. Unfortunately, they sometimes agreed to holding their child back, even when it was not necessary, because they simply didn’t know.

Retention is the last resort.

Holding a child back in their last grade-level is not always the answer. A school, by law, has to work with the parent to make an Academic Intervention Plan (AIP) for that child through a Student Assistance Team (SAT). The school spells out in the plan exactly who, when and how they will give more help to the child. The parent has to be in agreement and everyone signs the plan. This happens before talk of holding a student back.

Treat Istation scores like PARCC scores.

The PED should release overall school Istation scores for grades K-3rd at the same time that Performance for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) scores are. Istation scores are used for student retention, planning instruction, teacher evaluations and school and district report cards, just like PARCC scores are. They should be treated the same in public and in policy. Schools should be sharing Istation Reports to parents from the Beginning of Year (BOY), Middle of Year (MOY) and (EOY) tests, so if you asked for them and they didn’t give it to you, alert the PED.

Parents need more information.

The Public Education Department (PED) should give better information to parents about which schools are succeeding at teaching K-3rd graders the basic skills of reading. Parents should have policy information and school accountability data more readily available to them, so they can choose schools wisely and advocate for their child. This means parents need to be more informed about Istation reports and shown what the reports mean.

Prevent issues with knowledge and actions.

Parents and educators need to continue sharing these stories, so that there is more awareness. They can do more to prevent education issues for children and reduce strained interactions between teachers, parents and students.

Bonnie Murphy is an Education Advocate writing a guide for families, with the help of parents and others, to assist parents and educators in navigating specific education issues our state is facing.

Pg. 1 (example)- If your child’s September Istation Report doesn’t have the Grade Equivalent listed, ask your child’s teacher or administrator for it. You are allowed to have this information, by law.

Pg. 2 (example)- If your child’s September Istation Report doesn’t have this page, request it from the teacher or administrator. The FERPA law allows you to have any information in your child’s “files”. This tells you exactly what your child struggles with.