ISAT Scoring Will Change—Fewer Highland Park Students Likely to Meet, Exceed Standards

Arbitrary "cut" scores are changing to align ISAT scores with ACT and PARCC assessments. That means students' and schools' performance grades are likely to drop in the categories of English and math.

Don't be surprised if your District 112 son or daughter drops from "exceeds standards" to "meets standards" or from "meets" to "below" standards in the upcoming Illinois Standard Achievement Tests (ISAT). Want Highland Park news in your inbox? Subscribe to Patch's newsletter. The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) last month approved new cut scores that will help align the ISAT results with those of the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) — colloquially called the ACT test — given to 11th graders, and establish a foundation for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam set to debut in the 2014-15 school year.  The higher expectations of the new ISAT cut scores will cause a downward shift in …

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forest barbieri

6:03 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013

As stated, raising the bar on scoring will lower the median performance on a "score" basis. That said, one would hope it will conversely raise the standards of our teachers who will need to improve student comprehension and performance on the test. Remember that US schools are all about teaching to the tests so in reality good will come out of this, as teachers will need to step up their game.   more ›

How Did Your Schools Do on the State Standardized Tests?

Patch put together a searchable database of the percent of students who met or exceeded requirements on Illinois' standardized tests, the ISAT and PSAE. Use it to search for your school or district.

The Illinois State Board of Education released its 2012 school report card data last week. It includes information on how students at each school and school district in the state did on standardized tests. Patch built this database that shows what percent of students met or exceeded state standards on the Illinois Standard Achievement Test (ISAT) and the Prairie State Achievement Examination (PSAE). The ISAT is given to students in reading and math in grades three through eight, and in science in grades four and seven. The PSAE is given to 11th graders in reading, math and science. You can search by your community to see how all the schools near you fared, or by specific district or school by using the drop down menus. The results page …

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Highlands and Ravines

Student Evaluations: An Elementary Problem

Something is amiss in District 112.

Ask any Highland Park resident with children why we choose to live here, and one of the top three reasons will be "the schools."  Understandably, the schools are the centerpiece of our children's upbringing. Until recently, I had simply assumed that a consolidated, single elementary school district in Highland Park and Highwood meant all of our children received essentially the same level and quality of education. Then I met the acronym ISAT and my perspective changed dramatically. For those of us old enough to remember purple dittos and Apple ][ computers, ISATs are the Illinois Standards Achievement Test. Each elementary and secondary student takes the ISATs each spring in grades three through eight. There is no question that the test is…

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