Where Did The ISATs Go?

As we enter the month of December we still have not received the results from the ISAT tests administered last March. You may remember the story of how Harcourt was given the contract to develop a new state achievement test, allegedly through the efforts of a crony of the Governor and the award was so late they ran into all sorts of problems attempting to deliver a test that was complete and on time for the March testing dates. Many districts received their materials late and found mistakes in the printing of the test booklet. Nevertheless, we did take the test and then the next part of this disaster took place as Harcourt tried to score the tests and return the results to district in the required timelines that would have had results back by May 2006. Naturally that did not happen and some tests were lost and then found. It has been a nightmare not only for school districts but also for the State of Illinois since we will certainly run afoul of the Federal Department of Education for not meeting any of their reporting timelines. The Illinois State Board of Education has tried to put a happy face on all these missteps by changing printers and test scoring companies. Newspaper reports this week, indicate that the high school tests had to be re-scored due to errors with the test key and those results will not be available until February of 2007.

In July, we were notified that our District had met AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) based on the scoring of our tests. Our Districts does very well on these tests and scores in the 80th and 90th percentile in students meeting and exceeding standards. This past year we had targeted our special education students to provide support and help to improve their performance on these tests and they also met AYP this year. In our District, the sub group that has the most trouble with the ISAT and meeting AYP is obviously our special education students who are forced by the state to take the same test as the rest of the students at their chronological age level. Obviously, this is not a rationale or well thought-out concept to expect children with documented disabilities to make the same gains and achieve at the same levels as students without handicaps.

The main difficulty we face by not having our test results is how to prepare for the 2007 administration of the ISAT. Last year’s test was a brand new test and without knowing how individual students have performed, it is difficult to make curricular corrections to our program to be sure that our students do their very best on these tests. Building principals are making plans for the 2007 test administration without all of the information needed to prepare our students. Hopefully we will not have any further problems in this area with the 2007 testing.