Contrary to the experience of many schools during the past year and a half of COVID-19, Mount Vernon students in grades 3-11 did not show a decline in standardized test scores for core subjects from 2019 to 2021 despite the challenges of the pandemic
In fact, almost every grade of Mount Vernon students given the tests improved their core subject test scores in spring 2021 over spring 2019. The district did not give any standardized tests in the calendar year 2020 due to COVID.
The continued improvement in test scores shows that Mount Vernon is doing a good job with the interventions and reteaching practices it has put in place to make sure students are learning the core subject matter being taught, said superintendent Greg Batenhorst.
“We put in interventions and are sprinkling in things kids didn’t learn the first time, so kids are continuing to learn,” he said. “I think it’s at least one indicator that the wheels didn’t come off because of COVID.”
“This is a 13-year marathon,” Batenhorst said, meaning that students have all 13 years of their schooling to learn what they need to know, and teachers are using all 13 years to teach what students need to know.
The core subject tests Mount Vernon gives are the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) tests, developed by Iowa Testing Programs at the University of Iowa. The district started giving them in 2019, when they were first available.