iReady Assessments

The i-Ready Assessment is an adaptive test that matches the difficulty of questions to each student's ability. The assessment starts each student at a difficulty level based on a best guess, including grade level. When a student gets answers right, the questions get harder; if a student selects incorrect answers, the questions get easier. It adapts to the ability of each student quickly and efficiently. 

The i-Ready Assessment identifies students’ strengths and weaknesses, while supporting data-driven differentiated instruction. It provides valid and reliable growth data, helping teacher track both yearly and long-term student progress. It does not replace daily instruction or curriculum. 

All students in K-8 take the reading and math diagnostic assessments. 

Students in grades K-5 take additional literacy tasks assessments to determine areas of weakness in reading. 

Students take the diagnostic screener three times a year. It is intended to be administered in a couple of sessions for each content area. 

Reading

• Phonological Awareness- a students ability to differentiate the sounds of English. For example, the sounds in Chip are /ch/ /i/ /p/. I can change Chip to Chap, by changing the medial phoneme. 
• Phonics- this is the bridge of sounds to symbols in English. The sounds of /ch/ /a/ /p/ are represented using the graphemes Ch- a- p, to spell Chap
• High-frequency words- These are words that appear frequently in text. 
• Vocabulary- this is a students ability to understand word meaning, based on the meaningful parts, or morphemes in a word. 
• Comprehension in literature- leveraging a set of elaborate skills (metacognition, print knowledge, verbal reasoning, etc.) to understand fictional text. 
• Comprehension in informational texts- leveraging a set of elaborate skills (metacognition, print knowledge, verbal reasoning, etc.) to understand fictional text. 

Math

• Numbers and operations- a fundamental math domain that encompasses the study and manipulation of numerical values and the fundamental mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
• Algebra and algebraic thinking-a math domain focused on using symbols and letters to represent and solve mathematical relationships and equations, fostering abstract problem-solving and generalizing mathematical principles.
• Measurement and data-a math domain centered on the quantification of attributes, quantities, and the collection and analysis of numerical information, providing tools to understand and interpret the real world through mathematical means.
• Geometry-a math domain that explores the properties, shapes, sizes, and spatial relationships of objects and figures in two and three dimensions, aiding in the study of space and its applications.

The primary use of i-Ready is to provide Teachers information about their students and tools for planning instruction.  i-Ready provides teachers the following:

• Assessments to find out what students know and can do.
• Tools for analyzing class data to help identify important gaps in their knowledge or skills in reading and math.
• Lessons for small group instruction to address learning gaps.
• A tool for extending learning through MyPath (see below)
• A way to monitor student progress and growth toward meeting standard.

i-Ready provides the school and district important data to inform programs.

• i-Ready provides a research-based screener for early reading difficulties that may be associated with dyslexia.  
• i-Ready helps identify skill gaps.  i-Ready is an adaptive diagnostic assessment.  This means that in each domain it will not only test grade level skills, but will find out if students are missing skills from earlier grade levels.  This is important in informing decisions for instruction and intervention programs at the classroom, school and district level.

The iReady assessment suite is being used universally in grades K-8. All students are administered the diagnostic, unless they are unable to be assessed. Our special educators are receiving training from our iReady partners on how to best use this tool to generate goals for IEPs and monitor progress in learning using a variety of tools that iReady has to offer. Some ways in which this can be accomplished are the following:

iReady Diagnostic-- this is the measure that benchmarks our progress, administered three times a year. We also get growth indicators for students through this tool. A student who is below level is said to need to meet their "stretch" growth for two or more years in order to close the gap. Students are able to be monitored for that growth at each subsequent benchmarking period that follows the initial baseline in the fall. 

Progress Monitoring-- Staff are able to progress monitor in a complete sense of overall or in discreet skills. These progress monitors are used to demonstrate whether a child is responding to the instruction or not. If not, it provides teachers the data to take next steps. 

Literacy Tasks-- these are more like the former assessment tools that were used for benchmarking. These tools include traditional assessments like Letter Naming Fluency, Passage Reading Fluency, Phoneme Segmentation Fluency, Psueudoword Decoding Fluency, etc. These are administered at benchmarking periods, based on our literacy protocol and can also be used at any time to check for skill growth. 

We advise you visit the iReady Family Central site to learn more about their assessments. 

Washington State passed legislation in 2018, and started monitoring for implementation in 2022, that all school districts must screen students in grades K-2 for areas of weakness associated with dyslexia. 

Mercer Island K-2 classrooms are not diagnosing students, but we are screening for these areas of weakness. In all K-5 classrooms, we follow our literacy protocol that outlines the use of the iReady diagnostic, Literacy Tasks, and other assessments in a multi-phase assessment process. While we are engaging in reviewing for accuracy, we are using this tool to be the first step in indicating areas of weakness, recognizing that any single data point cannot determine everything. As such, teachers provide feedback, parents provide information, and we continue to monitor students using these tools. 

The intent of the legislation is to ensure that no child falls through the cracks. This is why, as a district, we have committed to providing all of our teachers in K-5 with Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) training. In this training, we provide support with using the protocol and training around how the brain learns to read and what can go wrong for some learners. 

Once a student takes a diagnostic, he/she/they may be placed on a Personalized Instruction pathway. This pathway is intended to supplement classroom instruction to help ensure growth for a student, whether that be a year or more to maintain or to close gaps. 

This pathway is set up in the same domains as the assessment and students receive lessons in the domain that is most important at that moment. For example, if a student is in fourth grade and needs some phonics instruction, it will begin with phonics lessons, to help close that gap. Once I have gotten closer to grade level skills in that domain, the personalized instruction pathway will layer in additional domains and lessons within those domains. 

Students should be using the MyPath supplement (if they were assigned a pathway) between 30-49 minutes a week for each content area. Many teachers allow time for this within their classrooms, in an effort to make space for more personalized instruction within their day (hosting small groups, engaging in data chats, etc.). My Path is not meant to replace instruction from a teacher, it is a supplement to good instruction in an effort to support ensuring growth for the learner. 

Elementary-

K-5 families will receive copies of the For Families Report through students and/or emails, depending on the school. 

Middle School-

Please use this document to guide you to the student scores in the For Families Report.