03/04/13 Friday afternoon Captain ISTEP and his sidekick Test Buster made their annual visit to Riverside Intermediate School in preparation for this week’s ISTEP testing.

  Fifth and sixth grade students were cheered into the school’s gymnasium with high-fives and rock-in music.  The convocation was to get the students excited and prepared for this year’s ISTEP. 

Principal Jeni Hirschey told the students they have been preparing for this testing for the past couple of week by giving them tips for testing.  She said “This is the big championship test for you.” 

  There were skits by teachers including the “Angry Stomach” which encouraged students to get plenty of rest and eat a good breakfast. 

  Cheers lead by Mrs. Badell and her cheerleaders and even a video showing the kids last Thursday’s staff meeting which included the teachers doing the Harlem Shake. 

  Captain ISTEP and his sidekick Test Buster reminded the students the method a making a good guess and encouraged them not to take too much time on a guess.  At one point of their performance Test Buster threw a glass of water on Captain ISTEP and in return Captain ISTEP threw a bucket of water on Vice-Principal Boyer.  Mr. Boyer then grabbed a bucket and chased Captain ISTEP and eventually threw the bucket which was full of confetti on the students. 

  The purpose of the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress Plus (ISTEP+) program is to measure student achievement in the subject areas of English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science (Grades 4 and 6), and Social Studies (Grades 5 and 7). In particular, ISTEP+ reports student achievement levels according to the Indiana Academic Standards that were adopted in November 2000 by the Indiana State Board of Education. An Applied Skills Assessment and a Multiple-Choice Assessment, which are required components of the ISTEP+ program, are used to measure these standards.

   Riverside’s website had the following information: Our students will be taking the ISTEP test Monday through Friday of next week. We will be testing in the morning of each day, concluding around 10:00 A.M. This is a high stakes test and our students have been preparing for this throughout the school year. In the last several weeks we have discussed several test taking tips:

  Eat a healthy breakfast
Go to bed early and arrive to school on time
Have a positive attitude
Use your time wisely
Read and follow all directions carefully
Check your work and revise your answers
Restate the question as part of your answer
Show all of your work
Do your personal best

It is our hope that parents will set early bed time hours and make sure that students have had a healthy breakfast. We thank you in advance for making sure that students are in school each day.