Standardized Testing
ITBS SCORES - Grade Equivalency (GE)
ACS and Diocesan Comparison
The Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) are national achievement tests that assess students’ skills in Reading, Language, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science. The ITBS assesses both foundational skills and higher-order thinking skills and provide national and local comparisons. The ITBS is very different from the Arizona state test (AzMERIT) required in the public schools. The AzMerit is a criterion-referenced test that assesses students on the specific state standards for their grade level in reading, math, science, and social studies. The results are compared to students in the state of Arizona only. The ITBS test is a norm-referenced test and includes material both below and well above the grade level being tested. The ITBS compares our students to students across the United States; the 50th percentile is considered average.
The charts below represent the grade level average for the core content areas, Math, Reading, and Language Skills. Our class average scores are compared to the class average scores for all the K-8 schools in the diocese. Students took the test in the first month of the year (2.1, 3.1, etc). A grade equivalent score of 2.5 means the month of 2nd grade.
You can see that the average grade equivalency increases as students progress through each grade level. This is a trend across Catholic schools. In comparison, the public school trend is a flattening of achievement in middle school grades.
2023 ITBS Grade Equivalency Scores
2022 ITBS Grade Equivalency Scores
2021 ITBS Grade Equivalency Scores (Updated 8/18/21 with Diocesan comparison)
2019 ITBS Grade Equivalency Scores
(Note: ITBS testing date moved from Fall 2018 to Spring 2019)
2017 ITBS Grade Equivalency Scores
2016 ITBS Grade Equivalency Scores
2015 ITBS Grade Equivalency Scores
2014 ITBS Grade Equivalency Scores
2013 ITBS Grade Equivalency Scores