Is i-Ready Testing a Waste of Time?

Is i-Ready Testing a Waste of Time?

Annelise Sin (9th), Reporter

What is i-Ready testing and what does it do?

i-Ready testing is a diagnostic assessment to see how much students have improved throughout semesters. Grade levels 9-11 take the i-Ready test 3 times a year. The score ranges from 0-800. 800 is the highest grade you can achieve on i-Ready testing. The score average is above a 500 for grades 9-11. What does it do? i-Ready allows students to complete lessons that are personally designed for their own learning skills. It lets students move at their own pace while learning, and it tracks students’ growth and progress in learning throughout their high school career. 

Why do schools make grades 9-11 take i-Ready testing?

Schools have students test on i-Ready to get an idea on what students are understanding in their units. This testing also helps schools see where they can improve on the work they share with their students. It can show teachers what they need to work on and shows them how they can help their students overall. School districts have high school students take i-Ready testing so they can move at a pace that fits their own learning. It allows the teachers, as well as the students, to get an idea of where the grade levels need improvement. 

Does it help students improve?

The i-Ready testing was designed to help grades 1-8 improve their reading and math skills.

There’s evidence that i-Ready testing has a big improvement on helping younger students (elementary and middle schoolers) with their math and reading skills, but there is not much evidence that it helps high school students improve anything in their learning abilities. 

Is it useless?

i-Ready testing can have many advantages, but also many disadvantages. i-Ready testing is a good diagnostic assessment to see where students are at in their learning, but it can also take up a lot of time which makes students miss class time where they would be learning more and improving in their work. Overall, i-Ready is a good diagnostic assessment tool for younger students grades 1-8, but it doesn’t do much for the students once they are older and in high school. It’s a good tool for school districts to see how they can improve as staff members, but I think it’s partially a waste of time for high school students who have already achieved most of their learning skills in lower grades. 

I interviewed Carmen Barajas, Emily Musgrave, and Alexis Acevedo on i-Ready testing. Here’s what they said:

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

  1. Do you like i-Ready testing? Why or why not?
  2. How do you feel about i-Ready testing?
  3. Do you think it’s useless?

Carmen Barajas 10th grade: “I don’t like how time consuming it was and how it took away from our class time. I don’t think it’s useless but I don’t think it should be as long as it is. It refreshed everything I’ve previously learned but I don’t like how many questions there were. I don’t like i-Ready testing because it’s too long and takes away from my class time.“

Emily Musgrave 9th grade: “I think i-Ready is boring and I think it’s useless because it doesn’t help us at all. I don’t like it because it’s boring and I don’t wanna sit there for hours and do nothing.“

Alexis Acevedo 9th grade: “I did it and I did really good, but I don’t think we should be taking it because we have school. I think it’s very useless because it takes time anyway from being able to work in class and spend time with my friends. I don’t like i-Ready testing because it takes a long time and we’re already learning stuff in class.“