IPSA-T

The IPSA-T (Irish Primary Science Achievement Tests) is designed to assess pupils’ scientific knowledge and skills across the strands and strand units of the primary school curriculum. The three levels of the IPSA-T make it possible to assess science achievement at the end of Second Class, the end of Fourth Class and the end of Sixth Class. Using a mixture of Multiple Choice and Short Answer items, pupils just need to tick boxes, circle items and/or write a short sentence to respond to the questions. Information from the IPSA-T can be used to guide teaching and learning in Science at the class or whole school levels and as a basis for reporting pupil progress to parents. Given that the IPSA-T has been trialled with over 2000 pupils in a range of Irish primary schools, teachers can use data on the performance of these pupils as a benchmark for making judgements about how their own pupils did in the tests.

The Teacher’s Manual provides directions on how to administer and score the tests. It also includes information on how to interpret the results, a class record sheet and advice about reporting to parents. All Test Booklets use full colour photographs, drawings and illustrations, and are attractively laid out to appeal to pupils in the primary school.