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Illinois School Board Journal
March/April 2002

PSAE nears second round

by Linda Dawson

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

One year ago, the Illinois State Board of Education inaugurated the Prairie State Achievement Examination (PSAE). As the second round of this mandatory test approaches next month, ISBE representatives believe they are on the right track to finding out what works and how testing should proceed in Illinois.

Despite initial fears and outright objections, many school districts concede that their initial PSAE experience was successful, largely due to the amount of time and resources they dedicated to preparing for the state's newest assessment tool.

So what did the initial round of PSAE testing show? According to Gayle Johnson, accountability consultant for ISBE assessments, results indicated that despite logistical difficulties, like turning off bells to reduce classroom disruptions, districts could conduct two days of testing for just one class of students. In many districts, these juniors responded with some of their school's best attendance days.

In fact, Johnson said ISBE data shows a higher percentage of students participated in the 2001 PSAE testing than they did for former ISAT testing sessions.

When re-contacted by The Illinois School Board Journal, schools that shared their PSAE plans a year ago said they will follow the same procedures this year.

Mary Muller, director of curriculum and assessments with Champaign Community Unit School District 4, said her district will apply again for a waiver to modify the five-hour day rule and release other students during the testing so that bells can be silenced. Taking the junior class off-campus is still not an option, she said, because of the difficulty of finding a suitable place to test 600 students, especially considering transportation, safety and test security issues.

But smaller districts, including Princeville Community Unit School District 326, found that taking students off-campus worked well. Jim Dunnan, who became superintendent after last year's PSAE, said juniors were tested last year in the fellowship hall at a local church. Princeville students scored above average in all categories. His former district, Olympia Community Unit School District 16 in Stanford, also tested off-campus with similar results.

Former Princeville Superintendent David Messersmith made the decision to move off-campus, citing as a high priority the need to provide an environment that was conducive to test taking. At the same time, he wanted to keep other students on a normal schedule, in order to demonstrate the importance of the regular school day.

Other districts used the opportunity to test their younger students with assessments that mirrored the PSAE. Tim Schaap, assessment coordinator at Township High School District 214 in Arlington Heights, said 98 percent of their juniors at six schools were tested in April 2001 and a like percentage of freshmen and sophomores tested the same day. And while pleased with the initial results, he said the district hopes data from the mirror tests will help students improve their performance on the PSAE.

"We're using item analysis from the mirror exams to suggest interventions for the PSAE," Schaap said. That may include mandatory lunchtime classes for students deemed "at risk" of not doing well on PSAE. In addition, the district will help seniors decide if they should retake PSAE during dates offered in October.

Overall last year, just more than half of all Illinois 11th graders met or exceeded state standards in reading, math, writing, science and social science. According to ISBE, about 113,000 students were tested April 25-26, 2001, with all public schools, including charter schools, required to participate in the PSAE.

The numbers of students that met or exceeded the standards were 57 percent for reading, 54 percent for math, 59 percent for writing, 50 percent for science and 58 percent for social science. While some educators considered the results disappointing, the purpose of the first PSAE was to set a benchmark for subsequent test years.

"This is one more piece of trying to make a picture of a good school," said Kim Knauer, ISBE spokesperson. She compares state testing to measuring children's height against marks on a doorjamb. Parents can see by the marks whether a child has grown, but those aren't the only indicators of growth. Other indicators might include outgrowing clothes or shoes, or an increased bill at the supermarket.

The same is true for testing, she said. State tests should be just one of the measurement tools in the school's toolkit. Others may be dropout rates or the percent of students going on to higher education. Just as families look at more than the marks on the doorjamb, school officials need to look at a variety of information to measure the overall quality of education they provide in their district.

"We're just providing the big picture to help you make decisions, like whether you need a new math program in the primary grades," Knauer said.

Such decisions must become part of the district's effort to align what is being taught in the classroom with the Illinois Learning Standards. But what many educators want to know is has the state aligned the PSAE with those standards?

According to the American Federation of Teachers' "Making Standards Matter 2001," Illinois has created "specific and clear standards" in math, English, science and social studies. However, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, in its Fall/Winter 2001 issue of IFT Insight, contends that "at all grade levels, curriculum components needed to be developed or strengthened" in order to make the standards — and not the tests — drive school improvements.

What may be confusing is that even though ISAT reports can link test questions to specific standards, the PSAE does not correlate questions to specific standards because of security issues involved with using ACT materials, Johnson said.

But, she said, the state board is confident that the PSAE does measure the standards, that students have shown they can withstand two days of rigorous testing and that this testing plan adds value to the education process.

With one year of the PSAE behind them, ISBE officials hope to dispel some myths about the assessment process, Knauer said.

The first myth is that state testing is a huge time burden, she said. "The amount of time actually spent is tenths of a percent (of the entire school year). A very small amount."

The second is that the PSAE requires students to undergo special test-taking preparation. "You can help students understand why testing is important, familiarize them with the format and convey that you want them to do their best," Knauer said, "but is it necessary to do special drills? No."

What's important, according to Dennis Goedecke, another accountability consultant for ISBE, is that younger students already know about multiple-choice tests. "Most children are familiar with them by third grade," Goedecke said. "Teaching to the writing rubric or how to complete an extended answer question should be part of the instructional process all the way along."

"Actually," he continued, "drilling has a negative impact. It makes them sick of the tests."

Adults — parents as well as teachers — need to support students in this testing by making sure they get adequate nourishment and sleep leading up to test days, Knauer said, and by making sure they know how much you value an education.

And, Johnson added, "If you teach to the standards, the tests will take care of themselves."

"Standards, reforms, and testing: Is the cart before the horse?" IFT Insight, Fall/Winter 2001

"Making Standards Matter 2001," American Federation of Teachers, available at http://www.aft.org/edissues/standards/msm2001