Illinois parents are getting their first complete look today at data showing a dramatic drop in the number of elementary and middle school pupils who are passing state standardized exams for reading and math.
But the decline likely has little to do with lower performance.
Rather, the drop is part of changes to the Illinois Standards Achievement Test that students in grades 3 through 8 took last spring.
State officials raised the score needed to pass, saying the change was needed to be more in line with new learning standards and to bridge a gap between the test and the one for high-schoolers. Across Illinois, the overall passing rate slid from 82.1 percent in 2012 to 61.9 percent this year for the math, reading and science portions of the exam. At some Metro East schools, pass rates for those who met or exceeded standards fell 30 to 40 percentage points.
People are also reading…
“It’s extremely disheartening,” said Matt Klosterman, superintendent of the Belleville grade school district. “They arbitrarily raised the cut score. For a child that suddenly does not meet … we’re having to explain to parents what that means.”
The Illinois State Board of Education made public today the school and district standardized test results, including new data online at illinoisreportcard.com that aims to show parents whether students are on track for success at college or in the workforce.
It also shows the academic progress students have demonstrated from one year to the next in reading and math. But the change that raised the passing score this year on the test for elementary and middle school pupils has hit some schools hard.
“It’s painful to live through, but it’s something that will help us going forward,” State Superintendent of Education Christopher Koch said in a conference call with reporters this month.
It’s all a part of broader changes Illinois and other states are making as they move toward education reforms such as individual student growth. Under that approach, schools would seek to zero in on changes in performance by individual pupils — rather than entire classrooms or schools. Teachers would then be evaluated partly on the improvements those pupils made over the course of a school year.
Schools in the state also are moving toward new national learning standards called the Common Core, which define what English and math skills public school children should learn at each grade level. About 20 percent of the 2013 test questions were written to the Common Core.
This year’s performance can’t be viewed in isolation because it is part of an unprecedented level of changes to better prepare students for the world that awaits them after high school, said State Board Chairman Gery J. Chico.
“I know that it’s a lot of new expectations and it’s difficult to see school scores decline. But we needed to give families a better indication earlier on of college and career readiness,” Chico said.
Illinois has been criticized in the past for making it too easy for students — particularly at the elementary and middle school levels — to pass state exams.
The changes seek to address a disconnect between the elementary and high school exams. About 82 percent of pupils passed the ISAT last year, while only 51 percent of high-schoolers met or exceeded standards on the Prairie State Achievement Exam.
Schools are in the process of distributing individual pupil test scores and poring over the results with parents. Because the state had predicted a drop in passing rates on the ISAT after changing the cut scores, many schools have been working to communicate the changes to parents for months. But for those who now see dramatic changes in their child’s scores, the news may become more difficult to handle.
“Everybody wants to know, ‘Well, golly, why did your scores drop?’” said Robert Green, superintendent of Collinsville schools. “What we’re trying to focus on is the individual growth of students and giving parents a clear picture of what their students are doing in the classroom. I’d put more stock in those measures than I would a once-a-year test.”
On the Prairie State Achievement Exam, given to 11th-graders, the passing score was not raised because the test includes the ACT. Those overall scores increased just slightly this year.
Missouri released its test results for public schools in August. The percentage of students statewide who passed math this year dipped slightly, to 53.9 percent. Reading scores were flat, at about 56 percent passing.
While Missouri had a waiver for the past two years on goals set by the No Child Left Behind Act, Illinois still is awaiting approval. The state has disagreed with federal officials on the timeline of new teacher evaluation systems — an Illinois law passed a few years ago calls for a slower phase-in, with some districts beginning to use the new evaluation system as early as this year and all districts on board by 2016-17.
The holdup on the waiver means Illinois schools still are held to what is called “adequate yearly progress” standards, which the majority of schools in the state have not met. Without the waiver, it means Illinois schools still face sanctions, such as allowing students in schools that did not meet goals to transfer within the same district to schools that do. In some cases, schools must also pay for outside companies to tutor students.
This year’s new report card includes responses to a controversial statewide survey on learning conditions, the first of its kind in Illinois. More than 70 percent of all teachers and eligible students across the state took part.
The state’s new online report card will show the responses for each school, but the Chicago Tribune reported this month that the state will hide the ratings that show how schools and principals perform compared to their peers. That was after complaints from administrators. Full results are supposed to be available next year.
Walker Moskop of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.