State says Warren High violated federal law in not testing 150 juniors
Warren Township High School violated federal law by preventing 150 juniors from taking a state achievement exam last spring, according to Illinois' education boss.
Gurnee-based District 121 violated the law by using a dual system to exclude some juniors from the Prairie State Achievement Exam in April, State Superintendent of Education Christopher Koch ruled last week.
In the determination issued Dec. 9, Koch agreed with a recommendation that Warren should not be stripped of federal funding because of the violation. He added the state will monitor how District 121 uses new student promotion and testing policies approved in the wake of the controversy.
District 121 board members last year 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.
Warren officials have stressed the more challenging academic standards applied last spring were not devised to prevent some juniors from taking the exam to boost annual report card scores.
District 121 spokeswoman Carolyn Waller said officials declined to comment on the ruling.
"We just consider the matter closed," Waller said Thursday.
Retired Warren teacher Rick Bryan filed a complaint in July with the Illinois State Board of Education about 150 juniors being treated differently for testing purposes. Bryan said he was satisfied with the state's ruling.
"It's just been always true that schools want ... everyone to think they're doing a good job," Bryan said.
Education board spokeswoman Mary Fergus said Warren wasn't alone in excluding some juniors from the achievement test in the 2008-09 school year.
About 11,500 seniors statewide did not take the test as juniors in April, Fergus said. She said state analysts found 2,000 students were marked as absent.
Under No Child Left Behind, federal law requires juniors to participate in the Prairie State process, which includes the ACT college entrance exam.
State education officials, in a memorandum of findings and recommendations, wrote it must be ensured all 11th graders participate in the achievement exam. Fergus said the state is weighing how to proceed and is not reacting specifically to the Warren case.
"Given that districts have created policies and practices that have resulted in the exclusion of some students in the state assessment and accountability system, agency staff intend to pursue legislative and/or regulatory modifications," the recommendation to the state schools chief says.
State education officials reviewed Bryan's complaint and District 121's response before finding the school system violated federal law by having the dual system for classifying juniors. Koch agreed with the panel's findings and recommendations.
Warren officials had maintained nothing improper occurred. They said the affected juniors didn't have the 11 credit hours or meet higher standards for English, math or science, so they couldn't join their classmates for the achievement test.
Bryan questioned why the 150 juniors were allowed to attend Warren's Almond Road upperclassmen campus and participate in activities for their grade if they were academically unqualified.
Warren's actions defeated "the entire purpose of an accountability system" by not having all juniors take the Prairie State Achievement Exam in April, according to the state board of education. The juniors were later properly listed as absent on testing day, and the recalculated scores showed District 121 failed the 2009 report card, state officials said.