Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)

The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) will be administered to all second and fifth grade students between November 10 - 14, 2025. This assessment indicates the level and pattern of a student’s cognitive development in comparison to other students enrolled in the same grade-level and/or who are of the same age. 

The CogAT is comprised of three sections, each taking approximately 30 minutes with breaks in between.  

• 2nd and 5th: Quantitative - measures a child’s understanding of relational mathematical concepts and ability to discover patterns, to figure out a rule or principle, and to transfer this information. 

• 2nd and 5th: Non-Verbal - measures a child’s ability to reason using pictures and shapes. In addition, this section appraises a child’s ability to use his/her cognitive resources in new situations.

• 5th ONLY: Verbal - measures a child’s ability to remember and transform sequences of words, to understand them and to make inferences and judgements about them. 

2nd Grade will take their assessments on November 10th and 12th.

5th Grade will take their assessments on November 12th, 13th and 14th.

How your child can prepare for assessment—and what you can do to help

A student who is well-rested and well-fed and has a positive attitude about testing is best prepared for testing. You can help your child do his or her best by considering these tips:

• Make sure that your child is in school and on time on her or his assigned test day.

• Make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep and eats a healthy breakfast before each day of testing.

• Remind your child that these tests are only one measure. Emphasize that you have confidence in his or her ability to do the best job possible.

• Remind your child to listen to the directions and read each question carefully during testing.

2024-2025 IAR Reports

During the spring of 2025, third through eighth grade students participated in the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) and fifth and eighth grade students participated in the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA). Your student’s results include a scale score and performance level, as well as a Student Growth Percentile that will allow you to compare their performance to other students and to prior years. A paper version of the information will be sent home with your child today.  

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has adopted new, research-informed, and right-sized assessment performance levels to give students, families, and educators better data on academic achievement and college readiness. Prior performance levels mislabeled many students in elementary and high school, often indicating that students were less academically successful and prepared for college than they actually were. The new, unified levels correct long-standing misalignment between Illinois’ state assessments and other real college and career readiness expectations. More information about this process can be found in ISBE’s proficiency benchmarks fact sheet.

While every attempt was made to provide each eligible student with the opportunity to complete all sections of the assessment, there are students who were absent during the administration of an IAR/ISA section. In these instances, a student will only have results for the subject in which the assessment was completed. 

The IAR is designed to measure students' current performance in relation to the Illinois Learning Standards for mathematics and English language arts. English language arts/literacy (ELA/L) assessments focused on writing effectively when analyzing text. Mathematics assessments focused on applying skills and concepts, understanding multi-step problems that require abstract reasoning, and modeling real-world problems with precision, perseverance, and strategic use of tools. In both content areas, students also demonstrated their acquired skills and knowledge by answering selected-response items and fill-in-the-blank items. The ISA is designed to assess the Illinois Learning Standards for Science, incorporating the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

The results from state-wide testing can be a helpful tool in measuring your student’s success in school, but are just one of the many ways readiness for the next grade is monitored.

Student performance on the IAR and ISA is described on the individual student report as follows:

1. Your Child’s Score: This section of the report provides information related to your child's overall scale score and performance level, as well as an estimate of expected changes to that score if he/she were to take the test many times. Performance levels are categories used to report overall student performance by describing how well students met grade-level expectations.
2. A Closer Look
   • IAR - Areas of a Subject: Subclaim performance indicators for the IAR are reported using categories that indicate how the student performed relative to the overall performance of students who were proficient or approaching proficient for the content area:
     • Higher level readiness is represented by the letter H
     • Middle level readiness is represented by the letter M
     • Lower level readiness is represented by the letter L
     • Additionally, IAR English language arts/literacy reports provide separate scale scores for both Reading and Writing. IAR Reading scale scores range from 10 to 90, and IAR Writing scale scores range from 10 to 60.

• ISA - Three Areas of Science Readiness: The included table shows student domain scale score, state scale score mean, and student percentile rank for the three science domains. The overall scale score or the performance level above should not be compared to the three domain scale scores below as the scores are not on the same scale. The three domains are broad topic areas of science. Combinations of life, physical, and Earth space science can be used to answer questions about observable and measurable phenomena. Engineering, technology, and the application of science are incorporated into the three science domains.

The IAR provides the following additional information:

1. Student Growth Percentile: Student growth percentiles estimate individual student progress by tracking student scores from one year to the next. With a range of 1 to 99, higher numbers represent higher growth and lower numbers represent lower growth. In addition to performance levels, this information is being provided to help students, educators, and caregivers better understand student learning. Looking at both the SGP and the student’s current score provides a more comprehensive picture of what the student learned from one year to the next. 

• Student growth percentiles compare a student's performance to that of his or her academic peers within the state. "Academic peers" are students in the state who took a similar assessment as the student in prior year(s) and achieved a similar score. The student growth percentile indicates the percentage of academic peers equal to or above whom the student scored higher.

• Individual Student Reports for students in grade 3 will not include student growth percentile, as these students did not participate in similar assessments in the prior year. 

Principal’s Day - Thank you!

Dear Elm School Community,

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks for the recognition, kind notes, and beautiful flowers on Friday, October 24th. Your thoughtfulness truly brightened my day and reminded me how fortunate I am to work in a community as caring and supportive as Elm. I feel privileged to partner with all of you and your children each day. The students are the heart of our school, and their curiosity, enthusiasm, and growth makes our work deeply meaningful. Thank you again for your generosity and for making Elm such a wonderful place to learn, grow, and collaborate.

With gratitude,

Sara Olson

Head Lice Notification

We are sending this letter to all parents/guardians to increase head lice awareness. Direct, physical, head-to-head contact is the usual method of transmission. Lice do NOT jump or fly. Head lice die within two days when not on the head. Eggs not attached to the head will not hatch. Indirect transmission may occur through sharing of bedding and other personal items such as brushes, hair accessories, or hats of an infected person. Remember, head lice do NOT transmit disease.

                                 
HELP KEEP HEAD LICE OFF YOUR CHILD 

• Check your child’s head weekly for signs of head lice 

• Teach your child not to share or trade personal items 

• Contain long hair in braids or ponytails 

• Teach children to avoid head-to-head contact

• Even though they do not jump or fly, they can spread from one student to another by sharing combs, brushes, clothing, hats and in bedding. To reduce your child’s risk of getting head lice, make sure that long hair is tied up. Head lice can happen to anyone. It is not a sign of poor health habits or being dirty. Remember - Anyone can get head lice – they have no preferences for cleanliness, hair color, hair type, ethnicity or age.

• Please reach out to our building nurse, Kim Pavich If you have any questions or concerns KPavich@d181.org or 630.861.4008