IOWA YOUTH SURVEY
The survey that has been completed every two or three years since 1975. The survey is conducted with students in grades 6, 8, and 11 attending Iowa public and private schools. The IYS includes questions about students’ behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs, as well as their perceptions of peer, family, school, neighborhood, and community environments.
ACADEMIC PROGRESS
West Hancock CSD assesses student academic progress with a variety of tools. We use the results of these assessments to guide the decision-making process in our curriculum planning, staff development, and daily instructional adjustments to meet the needs of all our students. The Iowa Department of Education collects a variety of information about every district in the state. The District Report Card provides information on student testing proficiency, graduation rates, and daily attendance.
Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress
All students in grades 3-11 take the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress. The results of the ISASP are reported to the state and federal education departments as part of the ESSA requirements.
FAST: The Formative Assessment System for Teachers (FAST)
is a suite of assessment tools designed for screening, progress monitoring, and program evaluation as part of a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) model of service delivery. The FAST literacy suite of assessments meets the requirements of the Early Literacy Initiative as part of Iowa Code Section 279.68. Assessments utilized in the West Hancock Elementary include: CBM Reading to measure Oral Reading fluency in grades 1 – 4 and early Reading to measure Concepts of Print, Onset Sounds, Letter Names, Letter Sounds, Word Segmenting, Sight Words, Nonsense Words and Sentence Reading in kindergarten and first grade.
District early literacy data is managed through Panorama Student Success hosted by the Iowa Department of Education. Panorama works seamlessly with FAST to display universal screening and progress monitoring data, and support the tracking of individual student interventions, assisting educators in making effective data-based decisions.
Annual Report To The Public
Each year the district publishes an annual report for the prior school year. This report details, among other things, annual improvement in terms of Iowa Assessments and ACT scores. The report is primarily presented here on the website, but printed copies are available for review at the school buildings and the district office, upon request.