IIRC has posted the 2009 Report Card results for public release - with new features to improve the site for your use. Thanks are due to the many users who sent us suggestions and to the IIRC staff for implementing them. Here’s a summary of improvements for 2009.
- Faster Access Click directly into e-Plans and individual student data from the banner across the top of a school or district page. These are password-protected sites for use of educators. No more long series of clicks to reach the password screens!
- Item Analysis Summaries Easy-to-understand analyses of school performance on specific sets of ISAT items organized by Learning Standard are available for each school. Go to the link on the top of the school’s profile page, or to the link on the school’s ISAT Test Results page.
- Percents and Numbers on Test Results A new toggle feature allows you to display EITHER the number OR the percent of students at each performance level on all state assessments (school level only).
- Scatter Plots Completely redesigned scatter plots allow you to customize comparisons of schools and districts. The scatter plots tab is on the Test Results navigation bar.
- PDF Function Now, you can save and print any IIRC screen as a PDF. The PDFs work well for study, presentations and reports. Look for “Print to PDF” in the upper right corner above each graph.
- Long-term Data Test results screens display ISAT data from 2001 to 2009, but you can select prior years with a drop-down menu. This allows you to review ISAT data from 1999 to 2009 and PSAE data from 2001 to 2009.
- Screen Customization You can shrink the school or district information banner at the top of each page to view more information below. Just click the triangle in the bar with the name of the school or district at the top of the page.
- Server Capacity The IIRC receives more than 15,000 hits a week, a number that is going up fast. IIRC has upgraded our servers to help meet your needs for access and speedy response.
- Illinois Honor Roll The new IIRC still features links to the 2008 Honor Roll schools. Dates for the release of 2009 Honor Roll are pending.
- HELP!! The IIRC has installed extensive internal controls to eliminate glitches. Customer service is important to us. Please email us at iirc@niu.edu, or call 815-753-0978 weekdays if you need help right now.
The 2009 School Report Card results for Illinois schools will be available on IIRC on October 31, 2009.
The 2009 individual student PSAE and IAA test results are now available on IIRC, for all schools and districts, along with the ISAT results posted earlier. Go to your school or district profile page, click on Test Results tab, and when the new row of tabs opens, click on the Student Data tab. Access to student data requires using your student data passwords. IIRC will be sending to all superintendents another follow-up email with your district and school student data passwords.
Reminder: you can also access the newly released Item Analysis Summaries for 2009. This is a school-level ISAT report. To access, go to your school profile page, Test Results tab, and click on the “Item Analysis” link to the right of the grade/subject banner.
The Item Analysis Summaries (IAS) for 2009 are now posted for all elementary and middle schools. The IAS show you how each school’s students performed on each of the Learning Standards and Assessment Objectives on the Reading, Mathematics and Science assessments. The IAS are reported for ISAT tests for grades 3-8. To see the IAS results, go to your school profile page and click on the “Test Results” tab. On the right side of the test selection header, click on the “Item Analysis” link. You can also print the IAS table in PDF format by clicking on the PDF link on the upper right corner of the screen. If you have any questions, send an e-mail to
iirc@niu.edu.
2009 e-Plan templates are now posted live to the IIRC web site for schools and districts. Included are School Improvement Plans, District Improvement Plans, and Technology Integration Plans. Please note we are still fine-tuning the PDF print-report functionality to install some improvements in the next several days – but current report functionality is working.
To access the e-Plans, go to your school or district profile page on IIRC, and click the link in the header, “Login to e-Plans for this School [or District].” Need help with accessing or using the e-plans? Email to
eplans@niu.edu. For state or federal requirements or information on whether plan submission is required for your school or district, contact the appropriate office at the Illinois State Board of Education.
The 2009 templates for School Improvement Plans, District Improvement Plans, and Technology Integration Plans will be posted to IIRC e-Plans screens on Tuesday, September 1.
The 2009 individual student PSAE and IAA test results will be posted on IIRC, for all schools and districts, effective September 8, 2009. The passwords sent by e-mail to superintendents on August 18 at the release of the individual ISAT results will access PSAE and IAA results as well.
The new 2009 Item Analysis Summaries will be posted on IIRC effective September 8, 2009. If you have any questions or need more information please email
iirc@niu.edu, or call Val at 815-753-0978.
The 2009 individual student ISAT test results are now posted on IIRC, for all schools and districts. An e-mail blast to all superintendents went out providing the passwords for accessing the data for their district and schools. If you have any questions or need more information, please email
iirc@niu.edu, or call Val at 815-753-0978.
School and district test results for the 2008 ACCESS for ELLs™ English Language Proficiency Test are now available on IIRC. You can use the search engine to go to any school or district profile page, click on the Test Results tab, then on the next row of tabs, click on ACCESS. To see aggregated results for the state as whole, go to User Resources on the IIRC homepage, click on the link for State Report Card (IIRC), then follow the same steps.
The 2008 Honor Roll schools awards announced this week by the Illinois State Board of Education are now posted on the IIRC. A total of 989 exemplary schools are being honored, including 499 Spotlight Schools, 153 Academic Improvement Awards, and 388 Academic Excellence Awards. Congratulations to each of these schools. For a list go to the Find Schools tab on this web site, or look for the honor roll school icons on the search schools lists and school profile pages. For complete information, visit the Illinois Honor Roll (
http://www.ilhonorroll.niu.edu ) website.
The IIRC now provides the ITEM ANALYSIS SUMMARY reports for ISAT assessments for schools. The reports drill down into ISAT results for Reading, Mathematics, and Science for grades 3 to 8, displaying the percent of test items correct on each of the Learning Standard assessment objectives. The reports, which allow schools to analyze at a glance instructional effectiveness on specific topics, were developed by the Illinois State Board of Education. To locate a report, select a school, then click on the Test Results tab, and next click on the Item Analysis hyperlink on the right-hand side of the gray menu bar. Comments or feedback can be sent to
iirc@niu.edu.
Individual-level student test results are now available in an easy-to-use format for all Illinois school districts. ISBE has posted individual student results for state assessments given in 2007 and 2008 to a secure web link on the IIRC.
Features of the student data site provide users with a rich variety of ways to understand test data that can be used to raise student achievement, such as –
- Sort and compare students by performance levels, content strands, national norms, and other measures
- Select and create customized student groups for review
- Analyze group means and differences
- Track performance of individuals and groups of students over time
Local superintendents have received passwords for accessing this confidential, secure site. To access the student-level information, follow these steps:
- Go to the IIRC site at http://iirc.niu.edu
- Locate your school or district profile page
- Click on the “Test Results” tab in the navigation bar that starts with School Profile
- Select “Student Data” at the far right of the “Test Results” sub-tabs
- On the security screen, type in the username and password supplied by your superintendent
Questions or suggestions about individual student data? Contact Melissa Perez at the IIRC by email
(MelissaMPerez@niu.edu) or phone her at 815-753-9629 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
The updated web site now includes the results of spring 2008 assessments for all schools and districts. You will also find enhancements to many other features on the site including Assessment Frameworks, Scatter plots, Compare Schools/Districts, e-Plans, and Achievement Gap resources. The site has undergone a thorough redesign to offer improved access and ease of use. Send us any comments or problems you encounter to
iirc@niu.edu.
A State Report Card feature has been created and installed on IIRC. Comparable to information you have been able to access for public schools and districts, the new feature provides summary and detailed assessment results for the state as a whole, including ISAT and PSAE results for the period 1999-2008. To access this feature, go to “User Resources” on the home page and click on “State Report Card,” or go to the same link on the Find Schools page.
The Achievement Gap feature has now been programmed and installed. It allows you to see performance differences between student ethnic and low income categories over time, by showing the gap in percentage meeting or exceeding on the state assessments. This feature has been provided in hopes of narrowing the gaps and bringing everyone up to par. To access this feature, go to a school or district, select the “Test Results” tab and, on the next line, click on “Achievement Gap.” You can customize the comparisons by a number of criteria of your choosing. Be aware that there must be at least 10 individuals in both groups of the comparison for the achievement graph to populate (for confidentiality protection).
IIRC allows you to track performance of students by cohort, subject, and in comparison to school, district and state results.
- Cohorts – Observe the performance of the same group of students on tests they took in grades 3, 5, and 8.
- Subjects – Track progress in reading or mathematics over nine years.
- School, district, and state – See how your students are doing in comparison to others.
An old favorite of IIRC users - comparison of schools and districts - has returned to the IIRC in a new, easy to use format with greatly increased capabilities. Now, you can compare schools and districts on all report card variables and over time. The new Compare feature works just like the rest of the IIRC, so your learning curve should be short. There are two ways to access this tool.
- Click on Find Schools and then select either Compare Schools or Compare Districts. This is a "wild card" search, meaning you can construct your own group of up to 15 schools for study
- Go to any school or district and click on the Compare button just above the School Profile tab. This method allows you to compare a target school or district to up to 14 selected others
If you have suggestions for improving the comparison process, please let us know at
iirc@niu.edu
The streamlined, interactive school and district improvement plans are now available on the IIRC. Teams can work on their School Improvement Plans or District Improvement Plans at any time and store them on a secure server. The IIRC automatically fills in student performance and other report card data for your planning documents.
To access your e-Plan, go to your school or district profile page by using the Find Schools tab located at the top of this page. Click on “Log in to e-Plans” on the right side of the information banner across the top of the page.
Passwords
e-Plans are password protected. These passwords are available by calling Gail Buoy, Federal Grants and Programs, 217-524-4832, or sending an email to
eplans@niu.edu. Caution: e-Plan passwords are not the same as the passwords for IIRC student data services.
The IIRC has designed new screens to help parents, educators, and the public understand report card information about the 2006 assessments. In addition to tracking seven years of test results, the IIRC will also display performance on the new content strands, along with comparisons to national standardized tests such as national percentile rank, normal curve equivalent, stanines, and lexiles. Users will also find increased and easier access to ISBE's learning tools - assessment frameworks, standards, performance descriptors, and classroom assessments.
The IIRC now indicates schools on the State Board of Education's 2005 Illinois Honor Roll of exemplary academic performance. You can see a full list of schools receiving awards by going to Find Schools. The schoolhouse icons indicate the award-winning schools - blue for Spotlight Schools, green for Academic Improvement Awards, and purple for Academic Excellence Awards. For more information go to
Illinois Honor Roll .
ISBE's classroom assessments are now available on IIRC either on the homepage, or from any school or district screen.
From the homepage, click on "What Students Should Know" on the top, then select either "Learning Standards" or "Descriptors & Assessments." The classroom assessments are linked to each goal and stage on either set of screens.
Alternatively, from any school or district screen, click on the "Learning Tools" tab, and go to "Learning Standards" or "Descriptors & Assessments" from there.
Coming Soon: The Standards Aligned Classroom Initiative's lesson plans.
e-Plans for school district improvement planning are now available on the IIRC. These plans automatically incorporate test scores and other report card data, allowing you to concentrate on the most important aspects of planning.
To access the e-Plans, go to "Find School or District", and once you have selected and opened your school (or district) page, click on the "Access the school (or District) Improvement e-Plan" in the information banner on the top of the page. Questions? Send an email to
eplans@niu.edu.
2005 Report Card data is now available on IIRC.
IIRC introduces the ability to compare trends in school and districts performance - the 'Trends' tab. This is the seventh (sixth for a district level page) tab in the second row of tabs for any school. Clicking on the tab will open up three tabs, from which you can:
- Track the performance of schools & districts over time for the same cohort ('Cohorts' tab).
- Compare the performance of multiple grades in any one subject, by subgroups ('By Subject' tab).
- Compare the performance of school with the district & state by grade, subject & subgroup ('By School, District & State' tab).
Check out the redesigned school and districts comparison feature on IIRC. You can now select more than one option in each criteria for comparison, select schools/districts by name and add them to the comparison pool iteratively, or select districts to compare by county. Once you select the schools/districts for comparison, in addition to comparing test performance results, you can compare the schools/districts on Adequate Yearly Progress to find areas of weaknesses among subgroups You can also compare schools/districts on an interactive scatter plot graph.
Are you looking at the scatter plots on IIRC and wondering about the school in the corner of the chart? The enhanced scatter plot feature is now interactive with 'mouse over' and 'click and show' features. Put your mouse over any dot and the name of the school appears in the bubble; click on the dot and the school information page opens. Additionally, you can view the scatter plots by grade and subject. This feature also works for scatter plots for districts.