Re: Illinois ISAT Results Out, On line

[Raymond Larrabee <rlarrabee@MEDIAONE.NET>]

Massachusetts does the same thing with the mcas. This year the overall results
were reported in the media a couple of weeks ago. Individual students will not
receive their scores until early December. Everyone, so far,  is rallying around
the high stakes flag pole, in the media, anyway. Except for Tim Wise's excellent
satire on the exam, in the Globe,  there has been very little anti-testing
sentiment expressed publicly. We, unlike Illinois,  however, can read the whole
test over the internet.
Alyson Sousa

George N. Schmidt wrote:

> 11/25/99
>
> Hello Colleagues:
>
> Yesterday, Illinois jumped into the stakes sweepstakes with the release of
> the ISAT (Illinois Standards Assessment Tests) test results by the Illinois
> State Board of Education. Newspapers all over the state jumped into the
> "World Series" approach to interpreting the test results, listing "top" and
> "bottom" schools based on the scores. The Chicago Tribune did a more careful
> job than most, breaking out schools by per pupil spending and teacher
> salaries (but not by race).
>
> Probably the most interesting thing about the results is that these tests
> were administered nine months ago (!) during February 1999, and the results
> are only being released now. A brief flurry of activity hit in September when
> there were criticisms of the results of the math tests. Partly as a result of
> all of the "test anomalies" the state has decided not to use the tests to
> place schools on its academic warning lists this year.
>
> Typical of the approach to the coverage is the following quote (from the jump
> of the Tribune story which began on Page One, November 24, 1999):
>
> "This is the first time the state has used the Illinois Standards Assessment
> Tests, which is part of a nationwide movement toward well-defined educational
> standards."
>
> Both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times have posted the
> information on their websites:
>
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/go/schools/
>
> http://www.suntime.com
>
> You can also hit the Illinois State Board of Education for more information.
>
> The Sun-Times again published "sample" question provided by the state, but
> there are no public plans to release the entire tests for public scrutiny.
>
> None of the media coverage of the event that I caught was critical of the
> testing program itself. It is of some interest that Illinois waited until the
> week of Thanksgiving (typically, a time when news does not focus on
> education, since retail sales and travel are so important) to release the
> material. At least it was released before Thanksgiving, and not this coming
> weekend.
>
> One small note of interest which I am checking out. None of the children I
> know (my son included) has been given the 1999 ISAT results. I don't know yet
> whether this is a Chicago situation or is true for the whole state. This is
> an additional example of how the program bears no relationship to
> instruction, despite the fact that the state claims that the ISAT is better
> than its predecessor because it is "correlated" to a 144-page "standards"
> book.
>
> We will file Freedom of Information requests for the complete tests, for the
> technical manuals for the overall program and for each of the subtests, and
> for all other validations of the materials.
>
> George N. Schmidt
> Editor, Substance
> 5132 W. Berteau
> Chicago, IL 60641
> 773-725-7502
>
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