Q&A: What Do ISAT Scoring Changes Mean For District 200 Students?

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) earlier this year approved new cut scores that will help align the ISAT results with those of the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE)—the ACT test—given to 11th graders, and establish a foundation for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam set to debut in the 2014-15 school year.

With higher expectations, school districts statewide expect to see a downward shift in the number of students who meet or exceed standards. 

Community Unit School District 200 prepared staff and parents to see a drop in student performance before ISAT started March 4. At a Feb. 27 board meeting, District 200 Assistant Superintendent for Educational Learning Faith Dahlquist compared the ISAT changes to a teacher changing the grading scale for a test. "You're not answering fewer questions correctly—(but) the grading scale has changed," she said.

Patch asked Dahlquist to explain what the ISAT changes will mean for students:

What do changing the cut scores mean? 

It’s very similar to having a teacher change the grading scale on a test.  What once was an A might be a B if the scale changes, even though the number of questions answered correctly stayed the same. The “cut score” is the score it takes to be considered proficient.

Why is the state changing the cut scores?

One reason the state is doing this is to better align the test to the new tests that will be here in two years with the new common core standards.  A second reason is to provide more alignment between the tests that students take in grades 3-8 and the test that students take in grade 11. 

Will some students who had been “proficient” on the state tests now be below? 

Yes, there is a good chance that some of the students that had been at the low end of meets on the state tests will now be scored as “below” if their scores do not improve on this year’s test.

Does District 200 predict that the district percentage of students meeting proficiency will decrease? 

Yes, please see the graphs. The state has also reviewed the state-wide change in scores. (See attached graph from board presentation.)

What is District 200 doing to help students prepare for the new common core standards? 

We have been focusing more on informational text which is much more present in the new common core standards. Last year, each elementary school purchased new supplemental reading materials to meet this need. We are making additional purchases this year. We have also created new reading framework(s) (K-5) and (grades 6-8 will be finished in May) to help meet the needs of all students.

In math, we have developed the new standards and have purchased a new math series for K-5 next year. All K-8 math teacheres have participated in 1.5 days of math training in the last month.   

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In addition to that, at all levels (preK - 12) we are implementing professional learning communities. This process involves having all staff work in teams to review standards (new common core when applicable), create assessments, and respond to student needs (above or below) based on that data. We are seeing lots of success with this process in its initial stages.  

Professional Learning Communities will continue to provide professional development and dialogue for change as we prepare our students for college and career readiness.