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Profile Narrative Report Interpretive Guidance for Grade 4 Iowa Department of Education This leaflet was designed for use by parents of Iowa students to provide interpretive information about scores from the Iowa Tests. In particular, this information offers assistance in determining the achievement level of a student in relation to the standards adopted by the Iowa Department of Education for purposes of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The law requires public school districts to report annually each student's level of proficiency in reading comprehension and math to the parent or guardian. The scores shown by the bar graph on the left side of the Profile Narrative Report are labeled NPR, meaning National Percentile Rank. The NPR tells the percent of students in the same grade who obtained lower scores than this student did when tested at the same time of year. So if the NPR for Reading Comprehension is 48, for example, this means that 48% of the students in this same grade in the nation obtained lower scores. For purposes of NCLB, the achievement of Iowa students is described in NPR score ranges as Low, Intermediate, and High. Students with NPRs of 1-40 are in the Low level, those with NPRs from 41 through 89 are in the Intermediate level, and those with values from 90 to 99 are in the High level. Each state is required to decide which levels of achievement are considered proficient and less-than-proficient. In Iowa, the Low level as defined above is "Less-than-Proficient" and the Intermediate and High levels together are regarded as "Proficient". To help the parent/guardian further clarify their student's achievement, the three achievement levels are divided into six achievement ranges. For the Low achievement level, students with NPRs of 1-9 are considered to be in the Weak range, followed by those with NPRs of 10-40, who are considered to be in the Marginal range. For the Intermediate level, those with values from 41-75 are in the Moderate range, and those with values from 76-89 are in the Skilled range. Finally, students with NPRs from 90-94 are considered Accomplished, and those with NPRs from 95-99 are considered Distinguished. The following pages contain the content expectations for each student for the Iowa Tests at each grade level. This Content Summary is followed by the Performance Level Content Summary Grade 4 Reading Comprehension Students in grade 4 read a variety of fiction (e.g. stories, folktales), non-fiction (e.g., general science, social studies, biography, functional text), and poetry. They are expected not only to understand the literal meaning of grade-appropriate text, but also to interpret meaning through complex processes of analysis, inference, and generalization. To read grade-appropriate text with comprehension, students in grade 4 must demonstrate the processes of: Factual Understanding • Understand stated information • Determine the meaning of new words from their context Inference and Interpretation • Draw conclusions, make inferences, and deduce meaning • Infer traits, feelings, and motives of characters • Interpret information in new contexts • Interpret non-literal language Analysis and Generalization • Determine the main idea of a text • Identify the author's views or purpose • Analyze the style or structure of a text At this level, the content and process dimensions of reading comprehension emphasize factual understanding, inference, and interpretation of grade-appropriate text. Performance Level Descriptors Grade 4 Reading Comprehension The performance level descriptors on the Achievement Levels Report for The Iowa Tests are provided to Iowa schools to describe the level of performance of groups and monitor progress in the distribution of performance over time. For each achievement level- High, Intermediate, and Low -descriptors on the report identify what the typical student in each level is able to do. Students in a particular level satisfy the standards described for performance in lower levels. Students at the High and Intermediate Performance Levels meet the standard for proficiency in reading for that grade. High Performance Level: Understands factual information and new words in context, is able to make inferences, can interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts, and can determine a selection's main ideas and analyze its style and structure. Distinguished: Understands factual information and new words in context. Can make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Can determine a selection's main ideas and analyze its style and structure. Accomplished: Usually understands factual information and new words in context. Usually can make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Can determine a selection's main ideas and analyze its style and structure. Intermediate Performance Level: Usually understands factual information and new words in context. Usually is able to make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Often can determine a selection's main ideas and analyze its style and structure. Skilled: Usually understands factual information and new words in context. Often can make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Can determine a selection's main ideas and analyze its style and structure. Moderate: Usually understands factual information and new words in context. Sometimes is able to make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Usually can determine a selection's main ideas and analyze its style and structure. Low Performance Level: Seldom understands factual information or new words in context. Sometimes is able to make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Rarely can determine a selection's main ideas or analyze its style and structure. Marginal: Seldom understands factual information or new words in context. Sometimes is able to make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Sometimes can determine a selection's main ideas and analyze its style and structure. Weak: Seldom understands factual information or new words in context. Rarely is able to make inferences or to interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Seldom can determine a selection's main ideas or analyze aspects of its style and structure. Content Summary Grade 4 Mathematics Students in grade 4 must understand mathematical concepts and estimation strategies, solve single- and multistep problems, and interpret detailed graphical displays of data. They are expected to demonstrate reasoning in numerical, algebraic, and geometric representations, as well as word problems and graphical displays. The content and process dimensions of mathematics knowledge in grade 4 include: Number Properties and Operations • Represent, classify, and describe numbers and their properties • Demonstrate ways of performing operations • Use place value; write numbers in standard and expanded form • Use standard rounding, order of magnitude, and number sense to estimate Algebra • Use operational and relational symbols • Solve equations • Use algebraic expressions to model and explore numerical patterns Geometry • Identify, classify, and compare geometric figures • Describe geometric properties, patterns, and relationships • Apply the concepts of perimeter and area Measurement • Measure length/distance, time, temperature, weight • Estimate measurements with appropriate precision • Identify appropriate units of measurement Probability • Apply probability concepts and counting rules • Apply measures of central tendency Problem Solving • Solve single- and multiple-step math problems • Identify insufficient information in problems • Determine a method for solving a problem Data Interpretation • Read scales of pictographs and bar graphs and locate amounts in tables • Determine ranks, sums, and differences from data displays • Identify trends and generalize from data displayed in graphs and tables Performance Level Descriptors Grade 4 Mathematics The performance level descriptors on the Achievement Levels Report for The Iowa Tests are provided to Iowa schools to describe the level of performance of groups and monitor progress in the distribution of performance over time. For each achievement level- High, Intermediate, and Low -descriptors on the report identify what the typical student in each level is able to do. Students in a particular level satisfy the standards described for performance in lower levels. Students at the High and Intermediate Performance Levels meet the standard for proficiency in mathematics for that grade. High Performance Level: Understands math concepts, solves word problems, and often is able to use estimation methods. Can interpret data from graphs and tables. Distinguished: Understands math concepts and is able to solve word problems. Can use estimation methods and interpret data from graphs and tables. Accomplished: Usually can understand math concepts and solve word problems. Often can use estimation methods and interpret data from graphs and tables. Intermediate Performance Level: Usually can understand math concepts and solve word problems. Sometimes is able to use estimation methods and usually can interpret data from graphs and tables. Skilled: Sometimes can understand math concepts and usually is able to solve word problems. Often can use estimation methods and interpret data from graphs and tables. Moderate: Sometimes can understand math concepts and solve word problems. Sometimes is able to use estimation methods and interpret data from graphs and tables. Low Performance Level: Sometimes can understand math concepts, but seldom is able to solve word problems. Rarely is able to use estimation methods or interpret data from graphs and tables. Marginal: Sometimes can understand math concepts but seldom is able to solve word problems or use estimation methods. Sometimes can interpret data from graphs and tables. Weak: Seldom can understand math concepts or solve word problems. Rarely can use estimation methods or interpret data from graphs and tables.
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