International Schools’ Assessment (ISA) and Interactive Computerised Testing System(InCAS) results now available

International Schools’ Assessment (ISA)

In October 2021 all students in Year 4, 6, 8 and 10 participated in the International Schools’ Assessment (ISA), a programme developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and designed specifically for international schools.

If you have a child in Year 4, 6, 8 or 10 your child’s ISA results and a PDF copy of these are now available by logging into Gateway

Click the Assessments block on the Landing page

The ISA assesses students in the three learning areas of mathematical literacy, reading and writing using online tests designed for Years 4-10. Please note that the grade levels in the ISA assessments transfer to our context on Hong Kong as:

To the right of each page of the report there is a column with a scale marked at intervals of 100. This is the “ISA scale” for each domain. Within each learning area, the scale has the same meaning for all grades. For example, an ISA scale score of 450 for a Year 4 (Grade 3 ISA) student indicates the same level of proficiency as an ISA scale score of 450 for a Year 10 student: it would indicate a very high level of performance for a Year 4 student in comparison with other Year 4 students, and a below average performance for a Year 10 student. 

Your child’s achievement in this assessment is shown with a large circle on the column. The skills, knowledge and understandings typical of a student at this level of achievement are described in words in the text alongside and below the large circle. The dark shaded band across each section of the report indicates the proficiency of the middle 50% of all students at this grade level who participated in October 2019 ISA.

Gateway also has detailed information on the scales by clicking on the ‘Information’ link at the top of the ISA window.

You can find more information about ISA by going to  www.acer.edu.au/isa

Please remember that these assessments are only one of the components that we use when assessing students’ achievement and progress, and their main purpose is to inform teaching and learning. Over the course of the school year teachers are continually assessing the progress of the students in their class, using a range of assessment methods in order to identify areas where students can improve their learning. 

Interactive Computerised Testing System (InCAS)

In December 2021 all students in Year 3 took the InCAS. InCAS is an online test developed by the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) run by Cambridge University. At the end of Term 3, Year 6 students will also sit this test.

If you have a child in Year 3 your child’s InCAS results are now available in Gateway.

Students are assessed in these five key areas:

• Reading – word recognition, decoding, and comprehension

• Spelling

• Mathematics – includes counting, arithmetic, fractions, patterns, algebra, measures, shape and space, and data handling

• Mental Arithmetic – addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division

• Developed Ability – picture vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning

Understanding results

Results are presented in bands for each of these areas based on the chronological age of the child at the time they took the test. Children are placed in 6 month bands above, or below their chronological age based on a comparison with the total group doing this test. In the majority, this group is made up of English government schools. For your reference please note that DC students, on average, perform above this group in all areas.

For example the fictional child with the results below is performing above the average for Developed Ability, General Maths, Mental Arithmetic and Reading and slightly below in Spelling.

You can find more information about InCAS by going to  https://www.cem.org/incas

As with ISA, please remember that these assessments are only one of the components that we use when assessing students’ achievement and progress, and their main purpose is to inform teaching and learning. Over the course of the school year teachers are continually assessing the progress of the students in their class, using a range of assessment methods in order to identify areas where students can improve their learning. 

Josh Blue                       Mark Poulsum
Head of Primary          Head of Secondary