New testing rules proposed

All Illinois high school students will have to take state achievement tests in their third year whether they have enough credits to technically qualify as juniors or not, under a proposal before the state board of education.

State board of education spokeswoman Mary Fergus said the proposal isn't specifically related to a 2009 testing controversy at Warren Township High School District 121 in Gurnee.

Warren was found to have violated federal law when it blocked 150 third years from taking the Prairie State test in spring 2009, saying they didn't have enough credits to earn “junior” status.

State Superintendent of Schools Christopher Koch issued the finding last December.

District 121 board members had approved an administration proposal that juniors must have earned 11 credit hours up from eight and completed other requirements to take the Prairie State test.

But in his ruling on a complaint filed by former Warren teacher Rick Bryan, Koch found the district used a dual system with credit hours to exclude 150 lesser-achieving juniors for testing purposes.

Warren officials maintain the more rigorous academic standards were not devised to prevent some students from taking the exam to boost annual report card scores.

Under the proposal before the state board of education, students in “grade 11” would be required to take the Prairie State exam. Grade 11 would be defined as “the third school year after a student successfully completes grade 8.”

District 212 Superintendent Phil Sobocinski questions the idea of forcing students to take the exams at a set time in their high school careers especially if they have not demonstrated they are prepared.

Everyone learns at different rates, he said.

“It's like taking a driver's test,” Sobocinski said Monday. “You have to have certain skills before you can take a driver's test.”

Fergus said the proposal before the state board is not a reaction to District 121, but to a U.S. Department of Education directive that all high school students should be assessed for accountability purposes.

High school students must be tested for proficiency in at least language arts and mathematics at least once in grades 10 through 12, according to No Child Left Behind standards.

Illinois juniors go through the Prairie State process, which includes the ACT college entrance exam.

Fergus said the recommended changes to the Prairie State testing may be voted ion by the state board Dec. 15 or 16.

State officials said Warren Township High School is not the only school to have excluded some juniors from the Prairie State Achievement Exam.