Good Morning. With respect to the late Mr. Rogers, it
has been another busy week in the
General
State Aid Data
New data, including the 2000 census
and other changes, has been factored into our GSA calculations, providing us
with figures that we will use for budget projections throughout the rest of the
legislative session. (We do not
receive final data until July, but there will be no changes between now and
then.)
The new calculations indicate the
following:
Committee
Action on State Assessment Changes
A bill that reflects the state
assessment recommendations of the Assessment and Accountability Task Force was
passed by the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee on Wednesday,
with a vote of 16-0. HB 2352 was
introduced by its sponsor, Representative Jerry Mitchell, who is a member of the
Task Force, and he and I responded to questions from Committee members. This was an important step forward for
House
Appropriations Committee Hearing
On Tuesday, I met with the House
Education Appropriations Committee to discuss federal funding for schools. This was an important dialogue because
federal funding now makes up 27 percent of the $7.2 billion budget administered
by the State Board of Education and the state must meet maintenance-of-effort
requirements to continue receiving some of these funds. In addition, as all of you are aware,
state and local educational programs are increasingly driven by federal
requirements such as NCLB. This was
the fourth opportunity to share information with the Committee and I appreciate
the members’ continuing interest in all aspects of our funding dilemma.
A summary of federal programs and
several audio excerpts from my testimony can be accessed through the State Board
website, http://www.isbe.net.
On Tuesday, March 11, the
committee’s hearing will be devoted to testimony from parties interested in
ISBE’s proposed FY04 budget and in education funding in general. The meeting
will be held at
College
Preparatory Core Curriculum
The State Board of Education is
seeking the assistance of high school and unit district superintendents in
determining how many school districts offer and require students to take a
college preparatory core curriculum.
We are asking you to complete a short survey that can be accessed at https://sec1.isbe.net/iwas/.
Since this information could be used
in the legislative process, we are requesting that you complete the survey by
Supplemental
Service Providers
To fulfill our obligations with
respect to NCLB requirements, we are again soliciting applications from
potential supplemental educational service (SES) providers.
NCLB requires that any school that
fails to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for three consecutive years and any
school that has corrective action or school restructuring status must provide
supplemental educational services for eligible children. Providers of these supplemental services
must have a “demonstrated record of effectiveness.”
Parents will select providers for
their children, assisted by the school district if requested, from a list
approved by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Eligible applicants include local
education agencies (LEA), educational service agencies and public schools
including public charter or private schools, non-profit entities, and for-profit
entities. However, public school districts and schools in NCLB school
improvement are not eligible to apply.
Applications and the list of
districts having schools that may be required to offer supplemental educational
services (SES) is available at http://www.isbe.net/nclb/htmls/sesp.htm
or by calling Dr. Cheryl Bradley, State Board of Education,
618/244-8383.
Spanish
GED Students
Significant changes to the GED
program this year will have a particular impact the Spanish GED candidates in
the state. Therefore, I hope you will pass the following
information to the appropriate staff in your districts.
Illinois Hispanic adults working
toward their GED certificate have until
The GED Testing Service in
Persons who have begun testing in
Spanish, but have not passed all five tests, must do so as soon as possible to
earn the scores needed to qualify them for a certificate before the December
2003 cut-off date. Those not
passing all five tests must begin testing again in January 2004 with the new
Spanish-language GED Tests.
Interest in completing the requirements to obtain a GED by the deadline
has increased and opportunities for testing may be limited during the remainder
of 2003.
The new Spanish-language GED Tests
will be a direct translation of the English-language GED Tests and will continue
to measure the significant and lasting outcomes of a four-year high school
course of study in English Language Arts, social studies, science and
mathematics.
The tests incorporate the most
current, widely used curriculum standards and standardized assessment practices
available. Graduating high school
seniors will continue to set the benchmark by which passing scores are
set.
Local
Superintendent Joins ISBE Leadership
Last week’s message included
information about appointments to management vacancies that were created by the
retirements of key personnel. Among
those appointments was a local superintendent, Donna Luallen, who is replacing
Gary Ey as Manager for School Finance.
Donna was the superintendent at the
Fact
Sheet on Student Assessment Changes
Background
State Superintendent Schiller
appointed an Assessment and Accountability Task Force in September 2002 and
co-chaired it with Dr. Robert Nielsen, Superintendent of Bloomington District
#87. After five public hearings
statewide and numerous meetings, the task force agreed with the required changes
due to the No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) as well
as other changes which would ensure a more useful system of state
assessments.
The Assessment and
Specific
Changes
v
There will be changes in the Illinois Standards
Achievement Test (ISAT) by no later than 2005-06 (see chart
below):
o
assess all students in reading and math in grades 3-8
and 11;
o
move assessment grades in social science from grades
4 and 7 to grades 5 and 8;
o
increase writing assessment so that students in
grades 3, 4, 6 and 9 are assessed (now grades 3, 5 and 8);
and
o
State testing shall not exceed 40 hours for ISAT (now
states 25 hours).
v
There will be no changes in the Prairie State
Achievement Examination (PSAE).
v
Language is clarified regarding assessing students
with limited-English proficiency, consistent with NCLB for
those pupils in a year 4 or a year 5 bilingual
program.
v
Clarifies that there will be a state testing window
rather than a common month.
v
Voluntary testing would be available if there is
sufficient federal funding available to support it, for local diagnostic
purposes, additional high school writing, and additional physical development,
health, and fine arts standards.
v
There is a definition of "all pupils" in order to
assure that students in all settings are assessed.
Action needs to occur in the 2003
General Assembly session in order to have the Illinois State Board of Education
incur costs with a contractor(s) for test development and piloting for the
proposed testing schedule.
Factsheeton
State
Assessments Required by
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11 |
12*** |
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Mathematics** |
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Writing |
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Science |
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Social
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PD/Health
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*Does
not include Illinois Alternate Assessment (IAA) or Illinois
Measure of Annual Growth in English (IMAGE). **Grade 2 was tested in 2002 in Title I
schools in which the highest grade was grade 2, in order to hold all schools
accountable. ***Grade 12 PSAE
testing is for the voluntary October retake. Green indicates required tests that are
now being given. Violet indicates
voluntary testing.
Proposed
ISAT and PSAE Schedule
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ISAT |
PSAE | ||||||||
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Subject
Tested |
3 |
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12**** |
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Mathematics* |
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Writing** |
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Social
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PD/Health*** |
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Green
indicates required tests. Violet
indicates voluntary testing.
*Adds
grades 4, 6 and 7 ** Writing
tests have been spread across 4 grades, with only one writing genre required for
grades 3 and 4 ***Physical
Development/Health continues to be included with science testing; Fine Arts
continues to be included with social sciences testing. ****Grade 12 PSAE testing is the
voluntary October retake.
Robert
Schiller
State
Superintendent
of
Education
statesup@isbe.net