Posted on 12/17/2010 2:37:20 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Come April, Illinois 11th-graders will need to sweat through two days of state testing before they can advance to the senior class.
Illinois education officials approved the new rules Thursday, taking aim at a loophole some schools used to keep academically weak juniors from taking the test, thereby avoiding accountability for their scores under federal law.
The new regulations would allow local schools to continue to determine what it means to be a junior, whether by counting a student's years at high school or the number of academic credits earned. But students must sit for the Prairie State Achievement Exam in April of their junior year. They cannot officially become seniors unless they take the test and the results count toward the school's performance under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The exam is only offered once a year. That means that students who miss it for any reason in their junior year could not be counted as a senior until the spring of what would typically be their fourth year of high school. In some districts, that could mean missing out on perks reserved for seniors, such as parking permits and prom……..
About 8 percent of Illinois 12th-graders skipped the PSAE when they were in their third year of high school, according to a review by the U.S. Department of Education earlier this year. These students were listed as sophomores in May 2009, and months later appeared as seniors.
The Tribune shone a light on the practice in November 2009, after its analysis found that thousands of Illinois sophomores were never considered juniors for test-taking purposes....
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
This is part of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind. I am neutral on this test. I guess I could care less.
I wouldn’t have a problem with an objective form of testing that ensures that students meet the bare minimum qualifications needed to advance to the next grade. It just seems that what is going on now, students are tested for nearly everything, and they learn nothing.
Wonder if this includes private schools?
I know, it's happening in our school system every year. My youngest grandson (3rd grade) is at a K level at best, my son has fought with the school since August of this year to get him tested, they resisted, guess it costs them to do this!!
He even asked for him to be held back in 2nd grade & they refused! Finally, they tested him in Oct. and we get the reports tomorrow!
They stalled & stalled & I guess they have 60 days from the time of testing to meet with the parents & now they are rushing to get the meeting in so THEY aren't in trouble with the state. Yes, this is in Illinois!!!
His teacher actually goes over his work, corrects all his mistakes & writes on the paper, grade was 48, now 100!!!!and a smiley face!!!! Does this make sense, the poor kid is learning nothing other than, 'someone will fix it for you'!!!
Absolutely appalling!
If there is any way possible, get your kid out of the public schools.
Public schools ruined my kid. He started out as a bright kid, but was shunted into the special education system because he wasn’t talking at age 3. (I didn’t talk until age 4, but have genius IQ—not talking isn’t necessarily a sign of a learning disorder.) The school system then taught him that he couldn’t do anything on his own, that he was stupid, and he took the attitude that it’s better to actively fail than to even try to succeed.
He is almost 28 and still at home. I wish I could go back in time and do things right, starting with getting him out of the public schools and either home schooling or sending him to private schools.
Private schools don’t participate in NCLB.
“and he took the attitude that it’s better to actively fail than to even try to succeed.”
The message of today’s democrat party.
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