Newly released grade-level reading test scores show some hiccups in the rollout of Idaho’s new reading test given to students in grades K-3.
School districts across Idaho are figuring out what works best for testing young students from headphones to the number of test takers at a time, to what hand-held device kids use.
In Boundary County, only 11% of kindergartners scored reading at or above grade-level this fall, the lowest in the state.
That’s due in part to the protective cases on iPads that prevented the testing software from accurately capturing voices, said Andrea Fuentes, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment at the district.
Scores improved when the district switched students to touchscreen Chromebooks.
The new Idaho Reading Indicator, was given for the first time in October.
The test was redesigned after Istation, the previous test provider, merged with Amira. The old test was multiple choice, while on the new test students read a passage off of a device, which then records and analyzes their response with an AI algorithm.
Idaho Ed News reached out to school districts with variances in proficiency to see if they ran into issues implementing the test. The issues they reported largely had to do with how to administer the test.
“I would say that the rollout was not very smooth for most districts,” said Susan Luke, administrator at Compass Charter.
Still, the Idaho Department of Education says it is confident the scores are an accurate measure of proficiency for most students.
“We have compared them to other school years, and for the most part, they are very similar,” said Kacy Proctor, IRI coordinator at IDE. “Do we have room for improvement? Yes, but it’s the first year of administration.”
More on the fall 2025 statewide results here.
Districts report hardware, testing group size issues
For Boundary County, equipment made an impact on scores, but likely just in kindergarten, Fuentes said.
Students scored proficient or higher in Boundary County at:
- 11.2% Kindergarten
- 39.2% First grade
- 51.4% Second Grade
- 61.8% Third Grade
Scores improved after teachers fixed the iPad issue.
Gooding: Hindered by iPad tabbing and test-group size
At Gooding Elementary, students from kindergarten through second grade also struggled to take the test on iPads for a variety of reasons, said Principal Brandee Sabala.
The new test is web-based, not in an app like Istation, so students were accidentally clicking out of the tab. They would also rotate the screen, another unforeseen issue.
The largest problem, Sabala said, was getting younger students to speak loudly and clearly enough to register with the program.
“We just found that really difficult for the younger grades to do,” Sabala said.
Students scored proficient or higher in Gooding at:
- 26.6% Kindergarten
- 25.3% First grade
- 39.1% Second grade
- 71.6% Third grade
While test scores statewide are historically lower in the fall due to learning loss over the summer break, Sabala said the spread between grades in previous years has been narrower.
During training from the state on the test, Sabala was told Amira’s voice detection ability was similar to Amazon’s Alexa speakers, so teachers could test a whole classroom at once if kids were spread out.
But in Gooding, they found it was in students’ best interest to test groups of four to six in the back of a classroom. Teachers then found a quiet activity for the other students during that time.
“It has just been a management thing for teachers,” Sabala said.
About Amira
Istation has been Idaho’s test provider since 2016. In 2024, as Istation merged with Amira Learning, the combined company was selected to administer the Idaho Reading Indicator for another 5 years.
The 2025-26 year is a pilot year, so Amira will not receive any funds, but for each following year the company will be paid $650,000.
Learn more about Amira here.
Learn more about standardized tests here.
Compass: Preparation produced results
When Susan Luke, K-12 administrator at Compass Charter, learned that the new Amira test would require a large speaking component, the school began practicing with iStation’s little-used speaking portion.
That led to the idea of purchasing headsets with microphones for all students to help the program better capture students’ voices.
“That has made a big difference in the accuracy piece,” Luke said.
The school tests half of a class at a time while the other half does a digital assignment. Students from kindergarten through second grade used iPads while third graders used Chromebooks. Luke plans to transition second graders to Chromebooks in the spring after they have learned more keyboarding skills.
Students scored proficient or higher at Compass:
- 62.6% Kindergarten
- 75.8% First grade
- 88.3% Second grade
- 89.1% Third grade
While the physical gear did help, Luke also attributes the school’s above-average scores to its curriculum, which includes reading throughout the day and focuses on choral reading over students silently reading to themselves.
Teachers also focus on reviewing skills as they build upon them. Those skills include a heavy focus on learning norms at the start of the school year, including digital ones like “think before you click,” Luke said.
Luke agreed with other educators that having Amira only available in a web browser was “unhelpful.”
Luke said that IDE did a good job of addressing issues this fall, but thinks the test scores weren’t as accurate as they could be.
West Ada: Helped by new equipment, teacher training
In West Ada, the state’s largest school district, students completed a practice assessment in September.
Then staff worked out bugs, like having to restart computers or issues with headphones, ahead of the assessment reported to the state in October, said Rhonda McDonough, chief academic officer of teaching and learning.
All students used headphones and the majority used laptops, a small number used Chromebooks.
“We don’t want the equipment to be the variance,” McDonough said.
The district bought 8,845 headsets for this school year for $173,986. Each headset cost $19.50. Some students muted and unmuted their microphone during the test, impacting the results, which led the district to spend an additional $6,500 for capsules to cover the mute button.
The district guidance is to test whole classes at once unless a student has an accommodation that requires small group assessment.
Like other districts, West Ada is in the learning stage, McDonough said. The team met with Amira directly and department of education leaders to learn more about analyzing their data, especially in the new system.
“I think we’re at an advantage because we have such a huge data set,” McDonough said.
Students scored proficient or higher in West Ada:
- 66.5% Kindergarten
- 81% First grade
- 74.4% Second grade
- 80.3% Third grade
The district rolled out its own phonics curriculum last year for Kindergarten teachers, based on the science of reading research. Last spring, that resulted in IRI scores over 80%.
McDonough attributes high first grade scores this fall to that program, which has since been rolled out to teachers and interventionists for first and second grades.
IDE: It’s “a learning year”
Overall, the challenges that schools faced this fall are an expected part of rolling out a new exam, said Proctor, who coordinates the exam for the Idaho Department of Education.
Hardware issues like headphones and the number of students being tested at once can make an impact, Proctor said.
“I would say the biggest thing we’ve noticed is districts changing headphones,” Proctor said of things that improved scores.
While Amira says that any group size can be tested with or without headphones, schools have reported that students remain calmer in smaller groups, she said.
Five to seven students seems to be the sweet spot, she said.
One positive to the small group is that teachers can test over a handful of days, Proctor said.
Statewide, the biggest drop in scores was for kindergarteners.
“We can attribute that to many things, one, we’re asking kindergartners to speak,” Proctor said. “Kindergarteners are very shy and maybe they’ve never been away from their parents before.”
The new test also took away the guessing element of multiple choice, she noted.
“The most important thing for school districts to know is that it’s our first year of implementation,” Proctor said. “It’s really important to take our first year as kind of a learning year.”
