FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2002
Quality of Illinois tests rated “A” in
national survey
Illinois is one of 11 states to receive an “A” in test quality,
according to a national survey of school accountability systems released
today.
Testing the Testers: An Annual ranking of State Accountability Systems
prepared by The Princeton Review gave an overall ranking for Illinois
that places it among the highest one-third of the States and District
of Columbia.
“We are pleased that The Princeton Review ranked the quality of
our tests among the highest in the nation,” said State superintendent
of Education Respicio F. Vazquez. “This report adds reinforcement
to evaluations of other outside groups such as Quality Counts, the annual
survey of school accountability conducted by Education Week.”
The most recent Quality Counts gave Illinois an “A-“ – one
of only seven states to achieve the A range. Vazquez said that even though
the state’s accountability system gets high marks, the State Board
is working to make it even better.
“We want to do everything we can to make our accountability system
support schools in their efforts to improve student achievement,” Vazquez
said. “The Princeton Review’s report outlines some areas where
we can improve. We are already working on them, so I would expect to
see our overall ranking improve in future studies.”
Vazquez said he will be creating a task force to advise the State board
on ways to improve the state’s assessment and accountability system.
The entire study is on the web at www.princetonreview.com/statestudy
|
