District 47 Board President Explains ISAT Results

The State of Illinois recently released the ISAT (Illinois State Achievement Test) scores for school districts throughout Illinois. 

This has caused a lot of focus on the test results for every school district, including District 47. As a school board member, it is a yardstick which we use to evaluate the performance of our schools, both within the district and against the county and state averages.

It is also a time to get re-acquainted with the alphabet soup of testing:

• ISAT – Illinois State Achievement Test (grades 3-8)
• NCLB – No Child Left Behind
• AYP – Adequate Yearly Progress
• CCSS – Common Core State Standards
• PSAE – Prairie State Achievement Exam (11th grade)
• ACT – American College Testing

The ISAT is a mandatory test required to measure whether a school and a district are meeting the requirements of the NCLB. 

The NCLB established yearly benchmarks (the AYP) to assure that all students would meet certain educational requirements in math and reading in every grade level, culminating in a benchmark of 100% in 2014 for all students.

Those schools and districts which fail to meet the ever-increasing benchmark are labeled as “failing," and the NCLB details actions which must be undertaken when this happens.

In 2013, the state changed the components of the ISAT to better align the test to the PSAE, which is given in the 11th grade. The PSAE is given prior to taking the ACT.

The adjustment was made for two reasons:

1) to better align the ISAT and PSAE to reduce the “gap” between test results for students taking the two tests, and 2) to introduce 20% of the questions to be aligned to the CCSS, which will be introduced next year.

The result of this realignment was a reduction in ISAT scores throughout the state. The easiest way to explain this is to think of a classroom where the grading curve is shifted downward. While it isn’t perceived to be great news to see test scores declining year-over-year, it is hoped that the realignment will result in a closer correlation between the test results for tests administered in elementary, middle and high schools throughout Illinois. But in the short term, it causes some confusion, and additional work to track results year-over-year.

What should parents do?

We live in a time where an unbelievable amount of information is available to us, starting on your local school district’s web site. Take the time to look to see how your individual school performed, and measure that against the district performance.

When you get your student’s individual test results, look for the areas for improvement, and work with your child and his/ her teacher to focus on those areas.

The test results provide a single point of reference, but it is the everyday school work and grades which will provide much better, real-time information about how a student is doing.

As a school board member, I look for the change in results from the prior year, and I want those to always be positive. We should expect that our schools will outperform the state average, and we should expect that they will continue to improve each year, which shows that we are not only educating, but challenging each student.

The NCLB target of 100% achievement at each grade level was and is a noble target, but no school should be labeled as “failing” so long as they continue to improve.

It is up to all of us in the community to continue to support our students and teachers to provide the very best education for our children. The board, administration and educators share District 47's commitment to continuous improvement, and will continue to monitor how our students are performing at all levels - classroom, school and district - and make adjustments in our instructional programs as necessary.

Jeff Mason,
President, District 47 Board of Education