The General Assembly has gone into overtime and the
status of many things remains in limbo. Today’s message includes important
information for student assessment data
verification.
We will be sending out a separate special message for
teacher certification today. Please review the important information contained
in it regarding highly qualified teachers and other certification
matters.
We will be cutting down to a summer schedule in regards
to my weekly messages and will send them out to you as needed. We will also be
moving away from our current listserv which in some cases may be outdated and
will be moving forward with our most reliable contact information through the
IWAS system. I would hope that each of you distribute the message accordingly to
the most appropriate people in your districts.
Robert Schiller
State Superintendent
of Education
Also in today’s message:
Legislative
Update
In what should have
been the final days of the Spring 2004 session of the
General Assembly, only one substantive education bill passed both chambers and
will be sent to the Governor for consideration. HB4225
changes how Special Education categorical funds are reimbursed. The change will reduce the amount of
paperwork that school districts and special education cooperatives currently
have to complete in order to be reimbursed. It its final form, HB4225 has a hold
harmless provision for Fiscal Year 2005 until Fiscal Year 2005, and it requires
that reimbursement for individual students with disabilities whose program costs
exceed four per capita shall be claimed with costs encumbered for the 2004-2005
school year and
after.
Senate Bill 3001, which would have
transferred the authority of ISBE to develop the grant index for school
construction projects, failed to pass the Senate. The bill also contained the bonding
authority for school construction which will likely be revived during the
ongoing budget negotiations.
Several key measures have not yet cleared both the House
and the Senate, including Senate Bill 3000 which would give the Governor the
authority to appoint seven new members to the State Board of
Education.
House Bill 929 which now contains the reauthorization of
the TRIP program and the much needed revisions to teacher certification is also
still pending.
Update
on Key Steps in the 2004 State Assessment Data Verification
Process
An updated timeline of key steps is posted on the ISBE
Web site at www.isbe.net/assessment.
First
Data Correction Window Opens June 10
In May, the ISBE Student Asessment Division sent a letter regarding the 2004 data
correction process to all district superintendents. The letter provided information about
two correction windows this summer, the first of which will open June 10. Next week, superintendents will receive
a memo from Pearson Educational Measurement that provides the User IDs and
Passwords that superintendents must use to access Pearson’s SchoolHouse Illinois
Data Collection Web site and make any needed data corrections. (IDs and Passwords that can be given to
school principals will also be provided.)
IPA to
Provide Regional Training Sessions the Week of June
14
The Illinois Principals Association is offering training
sessions this month in each of its regions on the 2004 state assessment data
verification process. Each session
will address key steps in the process, the types of data to be reviewed, the
operation of Pearson’s electronic data collection system on SchoolHouse, things
to check when reviewing data, and medical exemptions and students new to the
Districts
to Receive Targeted Information Regarding Enrollment Data
Status
Pearson is sending targeted e-mails to district
superintendents whose first-day-of-testing enrollments reflect any of the
following situations: enrollment
data for one or more schools is missing, incomplete, not confirmed, or not
approved by the district superintendent.
These targeted messages are being sent to help superintendents identify
exactly what needs to be corrected or finished in the data entry
process.
Identifying
Students Who Are New to the
During both data correction windows this summer,
districts will be able to identify tested students who are new to the
Identifying
Medically Exempt Students
Based on information received from the U.S. Department
of Education, students who experience severe medical emergencies at the time
of state testing may now be identified as medically exempt.
Data
Correction Process for 2004 Grade 2 Tests
For the Illinois Grade 2 Assessment of Reading and Mathematics
only, the first-day-of-testing enrollments and demographic information
for tested students will not be verified online. Rather, ISBE will
mail to district superintendents Grade 2 demographic verification reports
(denominator data), student information rosters (numerator data), and preliminary
AYP participation reports during the June 10-28 data correction window.
Specific instructions will be included that explain how to make any
needed corrections. This information will also be sent to
the principals of schools that administered the Grade 2 tests in 2004. Contact Megan Forness in the ISBE Student Assessment Division with any questions about this process (mforness@isbe.net or 217/782-4823).
Even
Start Family Literacy Program Update
A total of 49 competetive proposals were
received for FY05 for the Even Start Family Literacy Program, requesting a total
amount of $9,505,294, which far exceeded the amount of funding available. Award letters have been issued to 25
applicants in the amount of $3,960,000.
As established by law, each proposal was
reviewed by a three-person team which included an early childhood professional,
an adult education professional and an individual with expertise in family
literacy. Proposals were reviewed using a review rubric based on the criteria
for review and approval found in the Even Start Family Literacy Request for
Proposals.
Newsclips
To read this week’s news clips, please visit http://www.isbe.net/news/2004/newsclips/040604.htm