Students rewarded in advance for diligence on Iowa Assessments test

November 5, 2015

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St. Patrick's School third through eighth graders sang the U.S. National Anthem at the start of the Iowa Wild game Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. The students attended the game as an advance reward for their diligence on next week's Iowa Assessments testing.

As a first installment on their expected hard work, Third through eighth graders from St. Patrick’s Catholic School attended an Iowa Wild hockey game at Well Fargo Arena Thursday.

“The field trip was an incentive for next week’s Iowa Assessments test,” said Tony Cosentino, St. Pat’s middle school math and science teacher, “a large-scale, standardized test that all schools in the state of Iowa will take this year. St. Pat’s wanted to give students a fun field trip to enjoy themselves so they’ll give 100 percent on test day.”

To further sweeten to Iowa Wild event, the St. Pat’s students was chosen to sing the U.S. National Anthem in front of the crowd at Wells Fargo.

The Iowa Assessments test is given over several days, and students are tested in many disciplines, Cosentino said. Mathematics and reading are two of the primary areas.

Research recently completed at the University of Iowa reported that students who earned an A in credit-bearing courses during their first year on campus scored at the highest levels on the Iowa Assessment test. Source: Iowa Testing Program

Testing begins Nov. 9.

Cosentino said students should eat a healthy breakfast on the mornings of the test–and every morning–so they can do their best. Some students take the Iowa Assessments test in the fall and others in the spring.

New forms on the Iowa Assessments test include all new items written and reviewed by Iowa educators and field tested on Iowa students. The test items align to the Iowa Core.