Parents, Teachers and Community Leaders Advocate for Fair Testing in Illinois Public Schools

Chicago Public Schools CEO Arnie Duncan expressed his discontent at the Illinois State Board of Education in regards to ISAT testing for ELL students

During the last 2 years, Chicago Public Schools and several other school districts tried unsuccessfully to convince state officials to allow for a delay in the testing of ELL students (termed “English Language Learners”) in order to allow for translations of portions of the test into students’ native languages. On Monday March 3rd (the eve of ISAT testing in the CPS), school officials, parents and other community based organizations discussed the implications of the state’s policy on the testing of ELL students.

Concerned about the amount of Latino and foreign students that would be affected in our surroundings, The Pilsen Educational Task Force was present at this special Press Conference held at the Casimir Pulaski Academy in the Logan Square community. As unfair as it may sound, this year, for the first time ever, students who are not yet proficient in English will have to take the Illinois Standards Achievement Tests (ISAT), entirely in English. These are approximately 55,000 students across Illinois, with about 22,000 of them in Chicago’s public schools.

In this Press Conference, put together in part by CPS Arnie Duncan, CEO of Chicago Public Schools and the administrators of Pulaski School, the public expressed their discontent with the Illinois Schools Board of Education (ISBE) by not being proactive in implementing a just and sound evaluation tool that would replace the ISAT test in order to be fair to the massive population of ELL students in the state. Mr. Duncan stated that the state already had 2 years to come up with a sound and fair evaluation tool for ELL students. However, now the ISBE, and through a mandate by the Federal government, has eliminated the creation of such evaluation tool, forcing thousands of ELL students to take the ISAT. 

According to many of those present, the ISBE accommodations allowing for a 15 minute extension to take the ISAT test, will not be sufficient for the students. It would be unfair since language proficiency should be not be the motif for measurement as the ISAT is to measure the student’s critical thinking skills needed for academic success.

At closing, Mr. Duncan and CPS assured everyone that the scores from the ISAT test this year will not be used as a tool to promote students. They will look at other factors such as attendance, grades, behavior. However, the question remains as to what is going to happen next year and what is ISBE going to do fix this problem.