Plainfield Schools See Double-Digit Drop in ISAT Scores

At the same time District 202’s scores on the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) given to high school juniors improved.

As well, the District composite score on the ACT college entrance exam dropped slightly for the first time in five years. However, District 202 scores on the Advanced Placement exam continued to rise.

Though the state standardized exam scores are lower, district families should not panic.

“We knew this was coming, so we are not surprised,” Glenn Wood, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction told the Board of Education at its September 23, 2013 regular meeting.

District 202 officials have publicly predicted the drop since last year when the state announced it was raising the “cut scores” for its tests – the minimum score needed to “pass” – as part of the transition to the more rigorous Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

As well, about 20 percent of the questions on the ISAT last spring reflected the new Common Core standards.

District 202 is implementing the Common Core standards for math this year and will implement the new English Language Arts standards next year.

“It is important to understand that these scores do not mean that our students are any less prepared or that our teachers aren’t teaching as well as before. This is simply a reflection of some major changes to the state testing system,” Wood said.

ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS

As part of the No Child Left Behind act, a percentage of students must meet state learning expectations each year for a school to make “adequate yearly progress” (AYP).

The percentage rises each year by an arbitrary 7.5 percentage points. Last spring, 92.5 percent of students were supposed to meet learning standards. Every student is supposed to meet state learning standards by 2014.

Scores are reported for “all” students, and for nine racial, academic and socioeconomic subgroups. If any one of the subgroups does not meet standards, then the entire school is labeled as not making AYP.

This year, Ridge and Crystal Lawns elementary schools were the only two of the 28 District 202 schools that took the state standardized assessments last spring to make AYP, both because of a special provision in the formula used to calculate AYP.

In fact, other District 202 schools actually scored higher on the ISAT, but didn’t make AYP. This apparent discrepancy shows yet again the impact of the radical changes made to the state testing system, Wood said.

“All of our schools are doing very well on the state exams, and yet only two make AYP this year because of the changes to the system,” he said.

School districts nationwide, among every socioeconomic group have struggled more and more in recent years to make AYP as the NCLB expectations continue to rise.

ISAT SCORES DOWN, BUT BETTER THAN STATE

Illinois administers the ISAT to third through eighth graders each spring as part of the federal No Child Left Behind act.

In reading, 69 percent of District 202 students “met” learning expectations, down from 81 percent last year.

Likewise, 71 percent of students met learning expectations for math, down from 87 percent last year.

However, even with the drop in scores District 202 students beat the state average of about 59 percent meeting in both reading and math. Last year, the state average for both reading and math was about 85 percent meeting.

PSAE UP, EXCEEDS STATE

Illinois also administers the PSAE to all 11th graders each spring. The PSAE includes the ACT college entrance exam. Illinois is one of only nine states nationwide to require all of its juniors to take the ACT whether they plan to attend college or not.

The state did not raise the “cut scores” for the PSAE like it did for the ISAT.

This year, 60.5 percent of District 202 junior met reading expectations, up by 12.5 percentage points over last year. Statewide, 54.8 percent of students met reading expectations.

Likewise, 57 percent of juniors met math expectations, up four percentage points. Statewide, 51.8 percent of juniors met math expectations.

As well, 52.4 percent of juniors met science expectations, up nearly one percentage point from last year. Statewide, 49.3 percent of juniors met science expectations.

ACT

Composite scores for 2013 graduating District 202 seniors on the ACT college entrance exam fell slightly after four straight years of record-setting marks, partly due to a significant change in how the ACT counts students’ scores.

Overall, 2,184 graduating seniors from Plainfield High School – Central Campus, and Plainfield North, South and East high schools posted a composite score of 20.4. That’s down from last year’s record-high 21.3. This year’s state composite score is 20.6.

The ACT measures students’ readiness for college, and is widely used for college eligibility by Midwestern institutions of higher learning. The ACT is scored on a 36-point scale, with 36 being the highest possible score. The scores represent the best results on the ACT taken by students who graduated last spring.

All Illinois students take the ACT as part of the state’s Prairie State Achievement Exam as juniors. Students may also take the ACT privately as sophomores, juniors or seniors. This data represent their best scores from any of those assessments.

MAJOR ACT SYSTEM CHANGE YIELDS LOWER SCORES

This year, for the first time ever, ACT counted the scores of special education students who must take the ACT as juniors to meet state law, but are allowed extra time to take the exam. ACT added these scores in an effort to more accurately reflect overall student achievement.

There were 263 “extended time” students whose scores were factored in to the district’s 2013 achievement results.

However district officials emphasized that the scores from the additional extended time students were not the only reason for the lower overall ACT marks.

Removing the extended time students from the mix, the district’s composite score would have been 21.1 – still lower than last year’s composite, but on par with the state composite of 21.1 (which also removes the extended time student scores statewide.)

“We are certainly concerned any time our academic performance declines,” said Dr. Dan McDonnell, director for high school curriculum and instruction.

“But we saw four years of continuous record-setting improvement before this year, and we are confident we can and will do it again,” he said.

ADVANCED PLACEMENT SCORES AT RECORD LEVELS

A record-high 231 District 202 high school graduates and current students have been named 2013 AP Scholars based on their performance on the Advanced Placement exams given during the 2012-2013 school year.

The 231 AP Scholars – including eight students who earned the highest Scholar designation (double last year’s number) -- is up 68 students, or 42 percent from last year’s 163 AP Scholars. This is the most AP Scholars ever for District 202.

The Advanced Placement (AP) Program lets motivated and academically prepared high school students take challenging, college-level courses and get college credit, advanced placement or both for successful performance on the AP Exams.

District 202’s ongoing success with the AP Scholar program is a continued affirmation of the work the district has done to empower and encourage students to take more challenging courses, Wood said.

The district has increased the number of AP classes offered, increased access to those classes and provided additional support to students who choose to take them, he said. In 2006, District 202 offered only four AP courses. This year District 202 offers 24 AP courses. 

Students do not have to take the AP exams associated with their courses, but most do. Students may earn college credit for their subject area by taking the tests for their AP classes.

This year’s results follow major initiatives implemented over the last several years to improve high school achievement, by raising the number of more challenging courses, making it easier for more students to take such courses and eliminating some lower-level classes, among numerous other systemic upgrades.

“As much as anything, our AP scores continue to make the point that any one exam is not a perfect picture of our overall student achievement,” Wood said.

“District 202 has always done an excellent job educating its students, and will continue to do a great job, even as the teaching and testing systems continue to change,” he said.