IDAT: The International Diagnostic & Admissions Test announced an agreement last month with International Schools Group (ISG) in Saudi Arabia. ISG operates five individual schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: American School Dhahran, British School Dhahran, ISG Dammam, ISG Jubail American School, and Sara Village School.
IDAT was launched in 2019 as an idea by our very own Koala News contributor, Heidi Reid. After years of teaching in international schools, ELICOS and primary schools, she saw a very real need for schools to have a different kind of admissions test. K-12 students are about so much more than their academics and the IDAT creates a profile of students that can help schools know how to support their learning plans into their futures.
The IDAT is for all levels and ages in the K-12 space, and includes English (both language and literature), Math, Logic, Critical Thinking, Science & Technology and a Character Self-Assessment, which tells you a students preferred learning style, attitudes and aptitudes. With different versions of the test that cover different areas and price limitations, the IDAT is quickly becoming a favourite for International Schools and have more 80 schools using it across the world and it’s growing rapidly including being accepted for admissions and entrance purposes by more than 30 independent schools in Australia and by the Victorian Government Department of Education and Training – International.
With a curriculum based on a cross-mapping exercise of the Australian, Canadian, UK and US curricula, it is truly international. Whatever their background, the IDAT can offer an assessment that shows how “ready” they are for the mainstream classroom in English anywhere in the world, across the spectrum of subjects, ages, and cultural backgrounds.
Monica Barden, Director of Admissions, St. Stephen’s School, Rome (user of the IDAT for IB) says “The IDAT test offers a smooth and intuitive applicant testing experience. The results provide our school with detailed, individualized feedback for each student applying that is easy to interpret and analyze. We appreciate the flexibility of being able to tailor the test to our school’s specifications and the ability to look beyond English and Math skills to areas such as Critical Thinking and General Knowledge. The IDAT support team is always responsive and supportive to all our queries and needs.”
The IDAT is completed online but is always fully and completely proctored in a secure way. It can be supervised in schools or the using the IDAT Secure 360 system, which when created in 2022, results in IDAT being a Finalist for the Pieoneer Awards for Digital Innovation in Assessment. It includes writing components and an interview in an avatar for schools to watch.
“The results are instant and clear to read, meaning we can send it to our teachers, our principals and our admissions staff and we can see clearly a basic overview of where the student is currently sitting and where we need to support them. I love that I can adjust the level/stage to suit our ELL learners and it is so great that the test is so accessible and involves so many components.” Says Paula O’Connell, Head Of Admissions, Marketing & School Development, QISS Qingdao, Shandong Province China. (user of the IDAT Concise)
When I asked Heidi Reid what the secret to success was, she said it laid in their attention to security, quality and being responsive to schools. “Because we have a big team of teachers who re-write and update all test questions every 4 months for security reasons, we also have the opportunity to listen to schools and their needs and tweak the test to make it better and better.” She said.
Having worked in international education for a decent amount, I am pleased to not only work with Heidi Reid as a writer for the Koala News, but to see the success of IDAT and her team.
Congratulations from The Koala.
