Lyons Township High School students easily outperformed state averages on Illinois’ new standardized test, but officials question the usefulness of data provided at considerable time and expense.
The school’s composite score of 52 percent meeting or exceeding standards surpassed the state’s average of 33 percent of students taking the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career tests administered in two sessions in the spring.
PARCC replaces the Prairie State Achievement Examination, which includes the ACT, used by many colleges and universities for admission. The new standardized test is nationally normed and designed to measure more rigorous Common Core standards in English and math.
“We honestly do not know what the data says, and comparative data is impossible to ascertain from these results,” said Superintendent Tim Kilrea. “We have not seen data we can use to break down student performance by course, so we only know how we did by looking at other school’s scores.”
LT’s scores are in line with those of other high-achieving schools and well above state averages, Kilrea noted.
In the English portion, 60 percent of LT students met the proficiency level, compared to 38 percent of students statewide. In math, 40 percent of LT students made the grade, compared to the state average of 28 percent, according to the Illinois Report Card website.
LT 2015 ACT average scores of 23.9 in English and 24.7 in math also exceeded state averages of 20.0 and 20.5, respectively, though the ACT and PARCC results stem from two entirely different tests and can’t be compared, the school’s website said.
“We’re pleased with the results because the teachers do a fantastic job and the kids work very hard,” Kilrea said. “But to get behind this test is difficult not knowing what the numbers mean. That’s the frustration many superintendents have expressed.”
More Top Picks Best Pit Boss Grills
Kilrea said the validity and comparison usefulness of the PARCC data is “highly questionable” for several reasons. Students were tested in the spring during two examination periods several weeks apart and the results were compressed to one result, he said. In the spring, a shorter test in one session will be given, he said.
Freshmen, sophomores and juniors across the state were tested, rather than students in just one grade level as in prior years. At LT, students taking Algebra I were tested, a course comprised of mostly freshmen and a few sophomores. More advanced freshmen didn’t take the test because they were enrolled in geometry or other higher level classes, the superintendent said.
A third factor making comparisons suspect is the way the test was administered, Kilrea said. LT received a waiver for students to take the test with paper and pencil, rather than on computers. Not enough computers were available and scheduling would have led to 18, rather than nine days of lost instructional time, he said.
In May, the School Board agreed to spend $230,400 to buy 500 laptops for testing in the spring, but the computers have additional classroom applications, officials said.
Administering PARCC tests in the spring posed a number of challenges, Kilrea recalled.
“PARCC is not recognized by colleges and universities and is not considered a high stakes test by high school students,” he said. “The time and money required to rent tables and chairs, pull students out of classes on two testing administrations, alter schedules and handle questions of logistics were challenging.”
Kilrea said officials hope results will be available from the spring testing session much sooner.
“We hope to get useful data before the end of the year so students in classes can see how they did and so our teachers can correlate those performances with final examination data,” he said. “If we don’t get scores until December again, it will not be very useful.”
Twitter: @janemichaels22