 Advance Illinois recently released a report card for Illinois
schools. The report looks at students from early learning classes
through college, and it gives the state very poor grades.But
Advance Illinois also gives the state a rather large "incomplete"
because there is simply not enough information to measure
performance, according to executive director Robin Steans.
"We've got no way of knowing whether our kids are ... starting
school better prepared developmentally, socially, emotionally, as
well as cognitively, because we don't have an agreed-upon way to
look at that and then talk about it," said Steans.
Steans said the report card from Advance Illinois looked to go
beyond just pass or fail test scores. She is quick to point out that
there is a lot more to education than just test results. But test
results did play into Illinois' grade for K-12.
Advance Illinois gives the state's schools a C for kindergarten
through high school, in part because Illinois students continue to
flounder on state tests.
"Our fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math scores on national
tests are in the bottom half of the country -- only 33 percent of
our kids are where they ought to be on those tests," said Steans.
And older students are in just as bad a shape. Steans said too
many high school graduates are not ready for what they'll face at
community college or a state university.
"By the end of high school, only 22 percent of our kids are
getting college-ready ACT scores across the board," she said. "Which
means they're really not going to be ready to go on and be
successful at the next level."
Steans and Advance Illinois insist Illinois' leaders need to work
to reverse the poor showings and also need to do more so that
students can be measured. The organization suggests a number of new
requirements that would better track student learning, teacher
performance and the effects of changes in the classroom.
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Matt Vanover, spokesman for the Illinois State Board of
Education, said the state is working on all of that.
Vanover points out that the state board agreed last year to move
toward new classroom standards, and lawmakers approved a new
measuring stick for teachers.
"A lot of what the (Advance Illinois) report talks about are
areas where the state is already moving forward, like a new
longitudinal data system," said Vanover.
That new data system will better track students as they move from
kindergarten through high school. And one of Advance Illinois' other
suggestions, tracking student performance and teacher evaluation, is
also in the works.
Vanover said lawmakers adopted a plan to link student performance
with teacher evaluations as part of the Race to the Top process in
January of this year.
As for getting students college-ready, Vanover said the state
board adopted new, tougher learning standards. Those are expected to
be formalized this fall, but students will not be tested on the new
standards for a few more years.
Steans and Advance Illinois don't want parents to think the
state's schools are failing. Instead, Steans said Illinois leaders
need to see that there are areas of real need that need to be
addressed immediately.
___
Online: Advance
Illinois
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By BENJAMIN YOUNT]
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