State to step up probe into low 2007 test scores

Illinois education officials said Friday they're looking to hire an independent party to explore the issue of lackluster high school test scores on the 2007 Prairie State Achievement Examination -- an announcement that comes on the heels of concerns from some local educators that something had gone wrong.

Scores from that test, taken by 11th-graders last spring, showed a 4 percentage point drop in reading statewide. In addition, 328 high schools -- 100 more than in 2006 and more than ever in the last five years of No Child Left Behind accountability -- failed to meet state standards overall.

The PSAE is a two-day test, which includes the college-entrance ACT on the first day and another list of questions on the second day. Scores come from both sections, but the drops were primarily noted on the second-day portion.

Illinois State Board of Education spokesman Matt Vanover said in October the agency was "looking at the PSAE as a whole" because of statewide poor performance. Friday, spokeswoman Andrea Preston confirmed the state is working to find a third-party contractor to investigate.

Educators have suggested the culprit could be a change in the PSAE or its scoring.

Equating a test from year to year "is a very complex process," said Steve Cordogan, who crunches the test score data in Northwest Suburban High School District 214. He said Friday night he's "relieved" that the state will be looking further into the issue.

"We have worked so hard to improve performance," he said. "It would be very demoralizing to think that we genuinely went down (in our scores). I don't think we did."

When contacted in October, ACT officials, who oversee the PSAE, denied that this year's exam was any harder. They also said they use a scoring system that factors in difficulty, adjusting the number of correct answers needed for a top score based on how hard that form is.

Some observers also have surmised this year's test-takers simply suffered from low motivation. Others don't buy that.

This fall, representatives of several districts, including Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211, trekked to Springfield to try to decipher what really went wrong.

"We're working harder than you can imagine … and yet we're seeing drops," District 211 Assistant Superintendent Jeff Butzen said then. "That really disturbs us."