Test scores don't best define success

If you want a clear picture of how well students are learning in Illinois classrooms, don't bet on standardized tests providing you with such clarity. Results from another round of state testing give reason for optimism just as they give cause for dismay.

Nearly 200 elementary, middle and high schools had strong test scores. Reading and math scores improved noticeably in grades three through eight. But nearly 900 schools statewide posted scores that are not up to expectations. Many are high schools, including nearly 20 in the suburbs, that came in with test scores that are lower than last year's.

How can there be such inconsistency in achievement, as defined by test results, despite the fact that school districts insist they have worked hard at revamping curricula and providing remedial attention to struggling students?

And how is it that students can do so well in elementary school testing yet fall so far behind a few years later at the high school level?

It could be lack of uniformity in the testing regimen. It could be that high school kids are not as motivated to do well on state tests irrelevant to college admissions. Maybe it's a matter of them being exhausted from all the testing during their school years.

But the validity of the testing process must be reviewed, though that is no reason for schools with dreadful test scores to pass them off as a statistical anomaly. Maybe it isn't the tests. Maybe what they believe is working just isn't good enough.

But the truest picture of how well a school system is preparing children to succeed in the work world is never going to come from a test score. The most reliable assessment would reveal how well graduates are doing in college or other post-secondary training programs. What do colleges think of the higher education readiness level of high school graduates? What do skilled labor trainers think of the level of preparedness of their apprentices? What do employers in general think about the academic skill set of their employees?

The views of these groups are essential in both evaluating education and shaping classroom instruction. And it's encouraging that they are going to have a presence in education planning via a new state law that will go into effect next June.

The law creates an Illinois P-20 council that will provide advice on how to create a state education system, from pre-kindergarten through graduate school, that is aligned with goals aimed at assuring the state has the best and most appropriately educated work force. Council members will come from state business organizations, parent groups, civic groups, local government, organized labor, community and four-year colleges, state education boards and early learning councils.

Such a group will not quibble over the meaning of test scores. It will instead provide real-world advice to educators on what they need to do to give children the skills they need to succeed at every step, from pre-school to post-secondary school. They, better than test designers, can define success in the classroom.