ISAT scores get another look
Looking for a sneak peak as to how your child's school scored this year in state report cards?
Don't hold your breath. It'll be awhile.
After noticing wild swings in this year's Illinois Standards Achievement Test scores, state education officials have decided to rescore the exam.
Results from will be delayed by several weeks, state Superintendent Christopher Koch said in a recent e-mail to school districts.
The state's do-over, officials hope, will lend a more accurate view of third- through eighth-graders performance in the reading and math portions of the test taken this year.
While Illinois State Board of Education officials say the annual school report card will still be released on time Nov. 1 - the do-over will throw a wrench into some failing districts' contingency plans.
The federal No Child Left Behind law this year requires 62.5 percent of students to read and calculate math at grade level, up from 55 percent last year. The expectations mount until 2014, when all children are to test at grade level.
Under the law, schools that miss their targets for two consecutive years must offer students supplemental educational services or school choice.
Koch urged districts to "err on the side of caution" to begin making plan to provide those programs in case test scores would trigger those actions.
Judson ranks up, loans down: With a journalist's salary, paying off my double-digit loans from Villanova and Queen's U. sometimes seems like an impossible dream.
Not for Judson University students. According to U.S. News and World Report's Best College's Survey, released Aug. 22, the Elgin school was one of five schools in the Midwest with graduates accruing the least amount of debt. On average, Judson students leave with just $12,000 in loans.
New law mandates teaching Internet safety: A new Illinois law, signed last week, will require public schools to teach Internet safety to third- through 12th-grade students at least once each year.
The curriculum must include lessons on cyberbullying, safe online communication, privacy protection and the importance of sharing information with responsible adults.