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Health & Fitness

State Testing: It's Complicated

Yes, the state of Illinois doesn't always get it right, but it looks like it's on the right track with upcoming changes to improve schools and student learning.

As maligned as No Child Left Behind has been, it’s hard to dispute that it has led to some needed changes in education. True, it hasn’t been enough for some schools and their students, but I’m hoping we’re on the right path.

Although I’ve been ambivalent about our state’s assessment system, I do support testing. I have been on several committees to provide feedback about the assessments through the years, and the state has usually been a good listener. For example, the current format of ISAT tests resulted from a lot of feedback on its lack of reliability as well as complaints about the “excessive testing” quandary districts found themselves in. Many wanted a nationally normed comparison as well as a state comparison of achievement all in one test. The revised reading and math tests were a decent product. Questions were fair, on grade level and included enough nationally-normed questions to give a national percentile achievement score. Reports to parents provided more information than just the student, school and district scores.

The problem, as most people now know, was that the minimum pass score was so low as to be laughable. In order to avoid a “below” rating, a student had to answer between 50 to 55 percent of the questions correctly. In order to “exceed”, a student needed about 75 percent of the answers correct. So all those schools listed in the newspaper that were the “best” schools may indeed be great, but I hope they were looking at the actual scores of students to be sure most of their students exceeded. That would be a better measure of a truly excellent school. And those schools at the bottom of the list? That’s where we, as a state and nation, need to concentrate our resources. If half the students can’t answer 50 percent of the questions correctly, we need to figure out what’s going on.

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Two new developments hold out hope.

First, the state has wisely asked for a waiver from NCLB requirements. The plan has been to redesign assessments to include a measure of student growth, which state-wide committees have been working on for a couple of years. Most teachers will welcome this type of measure because they know that not every child comes to school with the same background and abilities. The playing field is never level when it comes to kids, and to see a child who has worked very hard and made good progress fail the state test can be heartbreaking.

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With an added growth measure, we will have two ways to look at learning and achievement for each child instead of just one make-it-or-break-it test.

If you think about your own children, you know they have different strengths. One may be a math whiz but not so great with language; another may be your bookworm but struggles with some math or science concepts. When they’re learning, you want to know where they fall compared to their peers, but it’s also important to know how much they’ve learned in a year.

It might be appropriate to think of learning as a race, particularly since the federal government has named their program “Race to the Top.” Your son has a head start with reading. He’s always been a precocious reader and loves language and always scores at the top of his class. He’s probably starting the race so close to the end (or beyond) that it’s a cakewalk. But your daughter struggles with reading. She is way back, behind the start line. Her goal, like her brother’s, is to run all the way to the finish line but there’s just no way she can make it. When time is called, she may only be halfway there.

But if these two were measured on how much growth they’ve made, it may turn out that she’s made a year’s worth of growth or more, but he’s actually made negative growth because he’s been coasting. (See more about the state’s plans for restructuring assessment on their webpage).

Measuring growth as well as achievement will benefit all kids. The important piece for our state, I think, is to go beyond using reliable measures based on the common core standards (see the English and Math Common Core Standards as well as the PTA Guide for Parents on standards) and ensure that the minimum scores reflect what we believe is truly the minimum. If, indeed, 50-55% is what it selects again, then individual districts and schools will need to evaluate what they expect for their student population.

The second development is that Illinois once again didn’t get the federal dollars in the Race to the Top competition. Obviously, this is bad news because the state desperately needs the money. But there is good news, too.

Race to the Top has been an incredible motivator to our state to get moving on improvements to education. These include changing teacher and administrator evaluation to include student learning, adopting the common core standards, changing how students are assessed, and now how we educate our youngest children.

Parents in the suburbs take for granted that their children will go to preschool, but this isn’t an expectation in all cities and towns. A quality preschool experience can make a big difference for those students who live in poverty, live in a home where English is a second language, or are delayed in their development (check this quick video out).

I'd like to see the state focus on finding ways to get these students into a quality preschool program. What I’m a little afraid of is that it will focus more on measuring student readiness (they are working on a kindergarten measure of academic and social readiness) than on supporting quality preschool education for all who need it.

The NCLB requirements forced us to look at student learning and to measure it. Race to the Top has forced us to look at what our students are learning to prepare them for post-secondary experiences, and to make teachers and administrators accountable for this learning; and it’s now looking at improving early childhood learning.

The state is on the right path. I have no doubt that the road will be bumpy, but let's hope it stays on track!

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