Iowa Tests of Educational Development

The most recent edition of the Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED) was published in 2001 (Form A) and 2003 (Form B) by Riverside Publishing Company. It is the 10th edition since the tests were first published in 1942. The tests provide objective information about high school (Grades 9–12) students' development in the skills that are the long-term goals of secondary education—skills such as

• Comprehending a wide variety of reading materials (both literary and informational)
• Solving quantitative problems
• Recognizing the essentials of correct and effective writing
• Critically analyzing discussions of social issues and reports on scientific matters
• Recognizing sound methods of scientific inquiry

The nine tests that comprise the ITED are Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Language: Revising Written Materials, Spelling, Mathematics: Concepts and Problem Solving, Computation, Analysis of Social Studies Materials, Analysis of Science Materials, and Sources of Information. About 4 hours of testing time are required to administer all nine tests. All questions are in the multiple-choice format and have four or five options each. Students mark their answer choices on a separate answer folder. The answer folder also contains space for students to respond to Interest Explorer (IE), an instrument that helps students identify career areas of interest to them. When students are exploring career options, the combined ITED/IE results can be a useful guidance tool.

The ITED were designed to fulfill three main educational purposes: (a) to obtain information that can be used to support instructional decisions (i.e., to describe a student's developmental level within a test area and to identify a student's areas of relative strengths and weaknesses in the tested areas), (b) to examine the progress of grade groups as they pass through the school's curriculum from year to year, and (c) to provide information to students and their parents that helps them monitor a student's growth from grade to grade.

The ITED are standardized, norm-referenced achievement tests. The normative information was obtained in 2000 by administering the tests to thousands of students in Grades 9–12 across the nation. The normative data for the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (a battery of tests intended for students in Grades K–8) were gathered at the same time, and the two batteries are linked through their score scales. Thus, the two tests can be used to provide longitudinal achievement data for students in Grades K–12.

The ITED is developed at the University of Iowa. Over its long history, it has been known for its consistently rigorous measurement properties. A critical evaluation of the ITED can be found at the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements: Test Reviews Online (www.unl.edu/buros).