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Cobb ITBS Scores Improve, Top National Averages

Third, fifth and seventh graders in the Cobb County School District again surpassed national averages on the fall administration of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). Third graders had an average composite score of 69th percentile, meaning that Cobb third graders scored equal to or better than 69 percent of all other third grade students who participated in the ITBS nationwide. Composite scores for fifth graders ranked in the 67th percentile and seventh graders scored in the 63rd percentile. At each grade level, the performance of students increased by one percentile point over 2009.

Administration of the ITBS allows the district to compare the performance of its students to that of other students across the nation who took the same test at the same time of year. ITBS results are particularly helpful in identifying reading or math skills where students may need additional instruction; by administering the test in the fall, teachers have time to work with students before spring CRCT testing begins.

Core subjects tested by the ITBS include reading, language arts, and math. In Cobb County, third graders performed best in math where they scored in the 68th percentile. Although not a part of the core total, third grade students scored in the 68th percentile in science, and in the 67th percentile in social studies. Scores in the core subject areas for Cobb fifth graders were at the 61st percentile in Reading, the 67th percentile in Language Arts, and the 67th percentile in Math. Seventh grade students scored at the 58th percentile in Reading, the 58th percentile in Language Arts, and the 62nd percentile in Math.

“The overall results for this year are encouraging at all three grade levels,” said Superintendent Fred Sanderson. “The ITBS is one of the few assessments that shows directly how well our district competes at a national level. These results indicate that at each grade level our students are well above the national averages, which speaks to the quality of our instructional program and our teaching staff. Even though it has been a difficult budget year, our students continue to learn and increase their academic achievement, remaining competitive at the national level.”

The ITBS is a norm-referenced test that ranks student performance according to percentiles. For example, a student in the 75th percentile scored equal to or better than 75 percent of all students across the nation who participated in the ITBS at the same grade level. Also reported are grade equivalents, or GE scores. The numbers in the GE score that come before the decimal represent the grade level of the student’s performance, while the digits that follow the decimal represent the month within the grade. A GE score of 5.2 means the student’s performance was similar to that expected of a fifth grader taking the same test during the second month of school.

Student scores are reported for the system in Table I. Individual school scores are reported in Tables IIa–IIc.

View the release in Adobe PDF format with all data tables.

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