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Illinois School Board Journal
March - April 2001

Pencils poised
Getting ready for PSAE

By Linda Dawson

Linda Dawson is IASB director of editorial services and Journal editor.

Preparing for the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) is like a statewide construction project. The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) developed the blueprints and will provide materials. The construction basics -- where to test and whether other students stay home -- are decisions left to individual contractors, i.e. districts.

In April, every 11th grader in Illinois will be tested in two time blocks -- three hours the first day and five hours the second day. Students will take ACT assessments in English, math, reading and science reasoning on Thursday, April 25th. Friday, April 26th, the tests consist of other writing, science and social science assessments developed by ISBE, as well as math and reading assessments known as "Work Keys." The latter are used by business and industry to measure job-skill readiness.

ISBE staff tried to help districts find their way through this initial test year. The agency issued guidelines to set up official test sites and needs full cooperation with test start times and supervision. But ISBE wanted to leave some choices, such as testing on-campus or off-campus, up to individual districts.

Some districts, like Champaign Community Unit District 4, sought waivers so non-junior students did not have to attend class during the tests. Sharon Neely, ISBE principal planning consultant, has handled those requests to modify the requirement that all students have five hours of instruction per day. Districts had to request schedule modifications for this year, she said, but ISBE will seek legislative clarification for applying the five-hour rule to future test dates.

Michael Cain, CUSD 4 superintendent, said his district has "banked" enough hours to release other students for half days on April 25-26. "Banked" hours means students have accumulated more than 300 minutes per day by having longer days the rest of the year.

"Most already go past the mandated (five-hour) limit," Neely said of schools that plan to use "banked" hours. However, "banked" hours must be accumulated prior to the test dates.

With nearly 700 students to test, Cain said, dismissing other students for half days seemed to be their only option because that number of students would be too unwieldy to test off-campus.

Wauconda Community Unit School District 118 in Lake County will bring other students back for the afternoon on Thursday. Friday will be a full day off for everyone but juniors, according to John Rayburn, high school principal.

"One of our biggest concerns is to provide the best environment for the test -- no bells, no interruptions (from other classes)," he said.

To offer an uninterrupted environment and still keep more students in school, some districts have decided to test underclassmen on those dates. Township High School District 214 in Elk Grove will administer ACT look-alike tests to freshmen and sophomores. Sandwich Community Unit School District 430 will have freshmen and sophomores take Iowa Basics those days. Seniors will be allowed to job shadow or attend the Indian Valley Vocational Center on test days.

At least 100 districts have asked ISBE for permission to test off-campus. By early February, about half of those districts had their sites approved, according to Gayle Johnson, a principal consultant in ISBE's assessment division. Others received follow-up letters requiring clarification of plans, but she believes many, if not most of them, will be approved.

The biggest problem, she said, is assuring security for ACT materials. Schools with multiple off-site locations must have multiple, trained off-site supervisors.

"We have no choice," Johnson said. ISBE and the school districts must adhere to security rules or risk breaching the state's five-year contract with ACT. Rules include seating arrangements, adequate supervision and exact timing, as well as proper identification for all students being tested.

One district choosing to test off-campus is Princeville Community Unit School District 326. Juniors will be tested in the fellowship hall at a local church, with lunch catered by Pizza Hut.

"We wanted to provide an environment that would hopefully be more conducive to taking the test," said superintendent David Messersmith. The board and administration believes taking the 65 students out of the building and keeping everyone else on a normal schedule shows a serious approach to the test, as well as the importance of education.

Whether testing is on- or off-campus, deciding whom to test and who needs accommodations for the PSAE also are questions for schools to address.

Districts have asked whom to consider an 11th grader, Johnson said, but each district should have set criteria for how they determine student progress. If students don't meet those criteria on test day, then they're not juniors for test purposes.

Another consideration is a requirement to bring special education students back to their home districts for the PSAE. Johnson said the State Board realizes this is a burden, especially if those students are enrolled in therapeutic, co-op or alternative school environments. However, she said ISBE did make one concession in early February: special education students who attend a regular high school, even if it is not their home district, can be tested at that school.

Johnson said she also has fielded many questions about accommodations offered to special education students. Accommodations may involve extra time or special assistance for those with sight or physical disabilities.

According to the ISBE's Web site ( www.isbe.state.il.us), students with disabilities must take the exam unless their Individualized Education Program (IEP) identifies the PSAE as inappropriate. Those students must take either the Illinois Alternate Assessment or the Illinois Measure of Annual Growth in English.

With deadlines past to seek waivers and accommodations, all that remains is the test -- unless it's giving a pep talk to the students.

In Wauconda, teachers and administrators have talked with 11th graders about encountering content they may not have covered, trying to ease fears for some about the ACT, a test usually associated with entering college. Adding Work Keys components -- tests which measure workplace skills -- may allow some of those students to do better than they would on an ACT alone, Rayburn said.

"We're ready to go," said Princeville's Messersmith. Many of his students are excited -- as are their parents -- because they can take the ACT at no cost and not have to give up a Saturday.

Except for student athletes who want to play sports for an NCAA team, students can use the ACT portion of their PSAE for college consideration. Results will be coded as a "state test." But according to the ISBE Web site, "various colleges, universities and the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC)" have confirmed they will recognize the scores in awarding scholarships. According to NCAA rules, athletes must take the ACT on a prescribed national test day.

Whatever the day, taking the PSAE in a church may give Princeville students a real advantage, according to their superintendent.

"Some people say the best thing to do before a test is pray," Messersmith quipped. "They'll be in the right place."