This case study offers an in-depth look at how one school achieved change in its culture and in its approach to curriculum and instruction. The unit of analysis for this single case study is South Loop Elementary School (SLES) and the time period is from August 2002 to June of 2007, during which SLES students demonstrated sharply improved…

This study positioned the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002 as a reified colonizing entity, inscribing its hegemonic authority upon the professional identity and work of school principals within their school communities of practice. Pressure on educators and students intensifies each year as the benchmark for Adequate Yearly Progress…

In 2001, Illinois began administering the ACT (American College Testing) test to all 11th graders in Illinois public schools as part of the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE). For the first time, ACT scores and background information were available for most public-school students who would be completing high school one year later, rather than…

Founded in 1983, the Center for Gifted at National-Louis University in Evanston, Illinois "www.thecenterforgifted.com/" offers outside-of-school classes for bright children. Through its 15 programs in 10 Chicago suburbs, the Center now serves more than 3000 talented young people in pre-kindergarten through 10th grades. Although not…

Considers how Illinois has always tested teachers for certification, but now state officials are holding teacher education programs at colleges and universities accountable for "passing rates" on these examinations as part of the Federal Title II initiative which is intended to identify and make public "bad quality" teacher…

Describes one Illinois school district's efforts to develop multiple school and student performance measures that go beyond standardized test scores. (PKP)

Analyses of data from the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) show how strongly associated the socioeconomic characteristics of schools are with school outcomes. Factors such as the percentage of students who are poor, percentage black, and the property values within a district explain over 70% of the variance in school outcomes. However,…

In this article, the author examines the link between high-stakes testing policies and classroom instruction. Using data from classroom observations and interviews with teachers, he argues that these policies influence instruction but are mediated by teachers and filtered through their collegial interactions. He shows that teachers link the…

Teachers at Woodlawn Middle School in Long Grove, Illinois are no different than most. They were discouraged by the amount of testing taking place in their classrooms, frustrated with not having the kind of data they needed, and feeling overwhelmed by the data they did have. The teachers wanted to make better schoolwide instructional decisions,…

The paper cross references test items with curricula used in the Macomb (Illinois) 0-3 Regional Project for rural handicapped and high risk infants and toddlers. The procedure is explained to determine whether the activities a child experiences relate to the test items used at the conclusion of that child's learning period. Three tests (The…

A pamphlet on how to make use of the results of the Illinois Statewide High School Testing Program in an individual school is presented. The 1973-74 testing program includes tests of academic aptitude, reading comprehension and knowledge, communication skills, and mathematical skills. The program reports contain the raw scores of the students in…

A new breed of standardized reading tests, slated for use in Michigan and Illinois, measures integrative thinking instead of isolated skills and gives teachers a valuable diagnostic tool. A breakdown of content areas is given, as well as a preview of actual questions. (IAH)

Many test-based accountability systems, including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), place great weight on the numbers of students who score at or above specified proficiency levels in various subjects. Accountability systems based on these metrics often provide incentives for teachers and principals to target children near current…

This paper traces the evolution of the statutory reforms passed by the Illinois General Assembly to upgrade the quality of those entering the teaching force in Illinois. Part one briefly examines the national trends in testing for admission into teacher education programs prior to certification. Part two focuses on the Illinois movement to test…

A criticism made against standardized tests is that they may be biased against females because males typically outscore females. On the ACT, males perform only slightly better than females. The population of students who take the ACT is self-selected--that is, the ACT has traditionally been taken primarily by those planning to attend college. For…