Chicago school board increases graduation cut score

["George N. Schmidt" <Csubstance@AOL.COM>]

August 23, 2001

Chicago's 'New' School Board increases ITBS graduation and promotion
requirements in face of federal order to stop abuse of normed referenced test

By George N. Schmidt
[Special to Substance newspaper. An expanded version of this article will
appear in the September 2001 Substance, which will be mailed to subscribers
on September 4).

(Chicago. August 22). Chicago's newly appointed school board president
Michael Scott moved quickly at the board's August 22 meeting to keep the
board firmly in the tradition of former president Gery Chico and former Chief
Executive Officer Paul Vallas by moving that the board approve a motion which
increases the "cut score" on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills which elementary
students will need to pass third and sixth grade and to graduation from
eighth grade during the 2001-2002 school year.

By a unanimous vote, the Chicago Board of Education approved a report
entitled "Adopt a New Elementary School Promotion Policy" (Board Report
#01-0822-PO3).

The policy requires that the following "grade equivalent" scores be reached
on the reading comprehension and math computation portions of the Iowa Test
of Basic Skills (ITBS) in order for pupils to move on to the next grade (at
third and sixth grades) or be promoted (from eighth grade) next June.

Grade       ITBS Score Range
8th     8.0 or above
6th     6.0 or above
3rd     3.0 or above

The policy was submitted by Arne Duncan, who replaced Paul Vallas as Chief
Executive Officer last month. Duncan, a 35-year-old Chicagoan who played
professional basketball in Austrailia, has no exeperience in teaching,
administration, or education prior to his appointment two months ago by Mayor
Richard M. Daley.

Two new appointees to the Duncan administration previously were with the
Consortium on Chicago Public Research. John Easton is now director of
research for the Chicago Board of Education and Melissa Roderick is now
director of strategic planning.

Neither Easton nor Roderick spoke out against the graduation "standards",
which Duncan told the press "raised the bar" in Chicago's so-called
"accountability."

Although Duncan made clear that the ITBS cut scores would continue to be the
single determinent of graduation and promotion, the policy itself includes
wording regarding other criteria, in an apparent attempt to comply with a
federal order to stop abusing the Iowa tests.

Chicago has made it clear that it will continue to use the Iowa tests in this
way. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has demanded that all Chicago students be
brought to a point where they are reading at least at what he called "grade
level". Despite the fact that many members of Daley's cabinet understand that
"grade level" as used in the Iowa (and other normed referenced) tests is the
mathematical median, no one with influence in the city -- including the
university professors who are generally subsidized by the school board and
the city's education reporters -- have noted the absurdity of Mayor Daley's
postion.

Daley's position ignores the fact that half of any group will be "below
average" on tests such as the Iowa and is therefore being ridiculed in some
circles as another example of the Lake Woebegone Effect in action.

Both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, the city's major daily
newspapers, continue to discuss standardized test scores in the terms set by
the mayor.

The regularly quote academic sources from the University of Illinois, the
University of Chicago, Northwestern University, DePaul University, and
Northeastern Illinois University in support of the school board's an mayor's
positions.

The combined amount of money that has gone to these institutions and to
selected professors on their staffs since Daley took over Chicago's public
schools in 1995 now exceeds $10 million. A full report on professorial
patronage and its impact on the discussion of so-called "accountability" in
Chicago's public schools will be appearing throughout the 2000-2001 school
year in the pages of the monthly newspaper Substance.

George N. Schmidt
Editor, Substance
5132 W. Berteau
Chicago, IL 60641

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the ARN-L list, send command SIGNOFF ARN-L
to LISTSERV@LISTS.CUA.EDU.