The following article was selected from the Internet Edition of the Chicago Tribune. To visit the site, point your browser to http://chicagotribune.com/. ----------- Chicago Tribune Article Forwarding---------------- Article forwarded by: Cayata Dixon Return e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Article URL: http://chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/article/0,2669,ART-44869,FF.html ---Forwarded article---------------- High school test scores take tumble By Michael Martinez After years of steady gains, test scores from Chicago public schools dipped this spring in high school reading and elementary school math, erasing two years of improvement. Elementary school reading, however, continued the climb that began when Mayor Richard Daley took over the schools in 1995. The results, released by school officials Thursday, show that 37.8 percent of pupils in 3rd to 8th grades read at grade level, a bump of 1.6 percentage points over last year's scores. These mixed results fuel concerns among some that gains from reform have begun to flatten out. And they come on the heels of Daley's much publicized campaign to boost reading scores, which had momentarily led to an open dispute between Daley and schools chief Paul Vallas about control of the school system. Their dispute ended amicably, and Daley later held a national conference on reading to emphasize the subject's importance. "The mayor has always acknowledged that while there is much to be proud of in the public schools, there is still a lot more to do and a long way to go, and today's results underscore the point," Jacquelyn Heard, Daley's press secretary, said Thursday. Later this month, the board is expected to announce a reorganization of top administrators to heed Daley's call for better reading scores. "Am I satisfied? No, but you still see evidence of progress," Vallas said of the scores. "I'm glad (elementary) reading scores are up." Vallas said the drop in elementary math scores was an expected "leveling off" after large gains since 1994. This year's scores show that 43.8 percent of 3rd to 8th graders do math at grade level, 2.6 percentage points below last year's results. High school reading scores fell 3.5 percentage points. Results show that 31.8 percent of 9th and 10th graders now read at grade level, or national norms. Reasons for falling scores Vallas said high school reading scores may have fallen because the system promoted hundreds of 8th graders last year who failed to pass their Iowa Tests of Basic Skills but were sent to high school based on strong classroom grades. "I'm not making excuses about high school reading, but we anticipated that the classroom weightings (used in promoting 8th graders last year) were going to make some impact. A lot of kids were promoted (to high school) who had strong classroom performance but not strong test scores." Vallas also said his high schools may not have taken this year's Tests of Achievement and Proficiency seriously because the system is going to use another standardized test next year. Under a trial of that test this year, high school students did better in reading compared with the TAP, but worse in math when compared with TAP scores from recent years. Critics of Daley's centralized control of the system say the results signal a setback. They pointed out how the Chicago system has used one 1988 version of the Iowa Test six times in the last six years in May, August and January testing sessions. "I find it shocking that the scores haven't gone up more than they have just by virtue of using a familiar test," said Julie Woestehoff of Parents United for Responsible Education. "I don't think that what they're doing is working." Don Moore of Designs for Change said this year's results show "the pace of improvement is not being sustained." "They've given the same test repeatedly, and the research shows nationally, the impact of teaching to the test wears out. I think that's what's happening here," Moore said. Vallas intends to use a 2000 version of the Iowa Test in elementary grades next year. Some experts were upbeat over the test scores. "I was kind of surprised to see the elementary reading scores continue to go up because we had been seeing these declining gains in the last couple of years, but they went up considerably," said John Q. Easton, deputy director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research. But the falling high school scores, another expert said, spell trouble for Chicago's nationally watched ban on "social promotions," which is the practice of automatically promoting students to the next grade. The Chicago system has steadily raised the test-passing mark for the promotion of 3rd, 6th and 8th graders, but it recently began considering good grades as a mitigating circumstance for promotion. Social promotion ban debated School districts around the country are considering following Chicago's lead on banning social promotions, and some experts see the new test scores as an indicator of some pitfalls. "They weren't equipped to holding (a large number of low-performing 8th graders) back, and probably this is what you're going to see on a national stage. ... Chicago is living through what's going to be a national nightmare," said Mary Ann Rafoth, professor of educational and school psychology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Next year, Chicago plans to use different nationally standardized tests in 9th and 10th grades that are preparation tests for the ACT, which is given to all 11th graders by the state board of education. Under pilot testing this year of the new 9th grade test -- called Explore -- the number of Chicago freshmen meeting national norms was 35 percent in reading, 32 percent in English grammar, 35 percent in math and 31 percent in science. Taking the 10th-grade test -- called Plan -- sophomores fared better: 52 percent met norms in reading, 35 percent met norms in English grammar, 43 percent met norms in math and 49 percent met norms in science. ---------------------------------------------------- This is the CPS Mathematics Teacher Discussion List. To unsubscribe, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://home.sprintmail.com/~mikelach/subscribe.html>. To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/science%40lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
