A Letter from the State Superintendent of Education

“Our real freedom comes from being aware that we do not have to save the world, merely make a difference in the place where we live.”
– Parker Palmer

I’m sharing a letter to parents from the State Superintendent of Education:

 

On behalf of State Superintendent of Education Tony Smith, Ph.D., ISBE’s Public Information Division is sending the letter to parents announcing the start of the 2016 Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessment testing window. A copy of the letter will also be posted in the Superintendent’s Corner at www.isbe.net.

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March 8, 2016

Dear Parents and Guardians,

The testing window for the spring 2016 administration of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessment opened March 7 and continues through June 10. Districts have selected their 30-day testing period within this time frame and will provide those specific dates for your child’s test.
This is the second year Illinois has participated in PARCC assessment. The 2016 exam has a simpler format to improve the testing process while still providing reliable information about student achievement. This year’s results will allow you to see how your child is growing in his or her knowledge and understanding of the state’s learning standards, which are focused on college and career readiness.

No assessment can ever fully capture the skills and abilities of a great teacher or the extraordinary benefits and positive impact of a great school. This assessment is simply one reflection of your child’s academic growth. Assessments help provide a sense of where and how we are succeeding and where and how we must improve, along with other indicators, such as classroom work samples and teacher observations. The PARCC assessment is designed to give schools and teachers more information to support improvement efforts and personalize teaching to better guide your child’s learning.

These spring assessments correspond with what your child is learning in the classroom and with the performance expectations of the Illinois Learning Standards in English language arts and mathematics. They should not require time outside of school to prepare for the test.

This year ISBE expects to receive PARCC assessment scores much sooner than the 2015 results, allowing our teachers to tailor instruction to meet specific student needs. Districts should receive score reports in the fall.

The PARCC states have released many test items from last year’s assessment to help parents and teachers understand the types of questions their students will be asked. These questions are available through the Partnership Resource Center at https://prc.parcconline.org/assessments/parcc-released-items, which houses a variety of supports available to teachers in PARCC states.

About 85 percent of students are expected to take the assessment online this spring, compared to 75 percent in 2015. You may enjoy sitting down with your child to take the PARCC practice assessment. This is a good opportunity for you and your child to go through what will be expected and become more familiar with the format before your child takes the assessment. You may access the PARCC practice assessments at www.parcconline.org/assessments/practice-tests.

You may also find more information at ISBE’s PARCC Place at www.isbe.net/parcc-place/default.htm and ISBE’s Hot Topics page at www.isbe.net/hot-topics.htm. Scores from last year’s test administration have provided a new baseline for student performance going forward.

The State Board is proud of our students who took the PARCC assessment last year and is confident in their abilities as we work together to prepare them for success in college and career. Learning begins at home, and we thank you for your partnership in your child’s education.

Sincerely,

 

Tony Smith, Ph.D.

State Superintendent of Education

PARCC Research information from IL State Superintendent #ISBE

“We rise by lifting others.”
– Robert Ingersoll

IL
Message From State Superintendent Tony Smith, Ph.D.

Hello,

The American Institutes for Research has released the National Benchmarks for State Achievement Standards study. The study reviewed test results for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, and ACT Aspire exams from 2015 and benchmarked them against NAEP, identifying which tests had the highest and lowest performance standards compared to NAEP.

Key findings from the study include:
PARCC college-ready standards are comparable in difficulty to the NAEP Basic level for English language arts and comparable to NAEP Proficient in mathematics. PARCC college-ready standards are comparable in difficulty to the ACT Aspire college-ready standard for grade 4 reading. However, PARCC standards are significantly higher than ACT Aspire standards for grade 4 mathematics and for grade 8 English language arts and mathematics. PARCC college-ready standards are significantly higher than those of Smarter Balanced. Smarter Balanced college-ready standards are comparable in difficulty to NAEP Basic levels.
Overall, the results show that PARCC has set higher performance expectations than the two other multi-state tests that were evaluated and most of the other state tests. These findings reaffirm the strength of the PARCC assessment as a tool to assure that our children are on the path to college and career readiness. To read more, visit www.air.org/resource/national-benchmarks-state-achievement-standards.

Have a great week,
Tony

Tony Smith, Ph.D.
Illinois State Superintendent of Education

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More information from Dr. Smith …

Illinois Student Assistance Commission

College Illinois! 529 Prepaid Tuition Program Available to Families

The College Illinois!® 529 Prepaid Tuition Program is committed to helping make college more affordable for Illinois families by offering parents a way to lock in the cost of college by prepaying for their child’s future college tuition at today’s plan rates. College Illinois! will cover the tuition and mandatory fees at the college or university in their plan – no matter how high tuition climbs by the time their child is ready to attend. And College Illinois! isn’t limited to Illinois public institutions – the value of plan benefits can be applied at private and out-of-state schools.

More than 30,000 students have already gone to colleges nationwide using College Illinois!. A College Illinois! 529 Prepaid Tuition Plan can help make college possible for families across the state, so administrators and educators are encouraged to share information about this important option with families who are beginning or in the midst of the college planning process.
· Consider forwarding via email or share on social media the College Illinois! explainer video, which offers a short overview to introduce parents to the program.
· Schedule a College Illinois! information session for the parents in your school district.
· Place College Illinois! brochures in school offices. Brochures can be ordered by calling (847) 831-8013.
For additional information call Sandra Houston, director of College Illinois!, at (312) 814-6306 or email sandra.houston@isac.illinois.gov.

PARCC Student Score Reports Explained

“Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.”
– Michael Jordan

With the recent release of the PARCC scores and our district’s sending student score reports home, we found this video that clearly shows what the new report will look like. It’s worth a watch for anyone involved in education, PARCC reports, and especially for parents. Another source of information is the website referenced in the video: Understandthescore.org

Sharing excerpts from a note we sent to all parents in the school district:

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“During the 2014 – 2015 school year, students in grades three through eight took the PARCC Assessment for the first time ever. This assessment was given in two parts over multiple days and was a replacement for the ISAT. Soon, the results of the PARCC assessments will be released and we wanted to share accurate information regarding our scores.

Each student who took the assessment will be given a scaled score in the areas of Math and English Language Arts (ELA). The scores are then broken down into five categories:

Score of 1 – Did not meet expectations for College & Career Readiness
Score of 2 – Partially met expectations for College & Career Readiness
Score of 3 – Approaching Expectations for College & Career Readiness
Score of 4 – Met Expectations for College & Career Readiness
Score of 5 – Exceeded Expectations for College & Career Readiness

Illinois considers a score of four or five to be meeting college and career readiness standards. When Illinois released the preliminary results in September, just over one-third of the students in the State scored at a level four or five.

We do not believe that our students have changed in any way and we know that this does not reflect reduced standards or lower performance than past years. It does represent a higher standard and a new roibaseline for which our scores will be measured against in future years.

During the coming weeks, we will be sending you a copy of your child’s score report. Information about the PARCC Assessment is available on our website and we will be holding two parent information sessions on January 6, 2016 (10:45 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.) at the District Center, 517 Deerfield Road, and we will walk through the score reports, the assessment, and our plans for using these data.”

isbe_bIf you would like to learn more about PARCC, please read the Illinois State Board of Education’s PARCC Place webpage from the IL State Superintendent, and the Parents’ Guide to New Assessments in Illinois, from the Illinois PTA and ISBE.

In District 109 people may contact Amy Rubin, District 109’s director for learning and assessment services if you have questions about PARCC testing in District 109.

ENGAGE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER
ENGAGE, INSPIRE, EMPOWER

Summer Learning Resources from the IL State Superintendent

Message From State Superintendent Christopher A. Koch

The General Assembly’s spring legislative session is scheduled to wrap up later this week. Things move quickly during the end of session, as evidenced last week when lawmakers began work on a budget that significantly reduced funding for education. That proposal was soundly rejected Friday morning in the House with only five members voting for it and 107 voting against it.

I was pleased to join Governor Pat Quinn and Secretary of State Jesse White last week in encouraging students from across Illinois to access free online tools designed to promote reading, maintain math skills and inspire learning during summer vacation.

The free online Find a Book utility provides a way for parents and children to quickly and easily search books that match a child’s reading level and interests as well as locate a local library carrying each title. The Summer Math Challenge is a free math skills maintenance program targeted to students who have just completed grade 2 through 5 and is designed to help children retain math skills learned during the previous school year. From June 23 through Aug. 1, parents who enroll their children in the program will receive daily emails with fun activities and links to educational resources.

We hope that you can help disseminate the letters to parents, principals and librarians that was sent out last week as part of this annual promotion. You can also find copies of those letters and other resources on ISBE’s Summer Learning Webpage at http://isbe.net/find-a-book/default.htm.

Finally, I hope you had a safe and relaxing Memorial Day weekend.

Chris

More information from Dr. Koch:
llinois Virtual School

IVS Offers Summer School Opportunities for Students Across Illinois

Attention principals and guidance counselors, Illinois Virtual School (IVS) can be the summer school destination for students. IVS can be your resource for students needing:
· Credit recovery options to graduate on time;
· Opportunities to take a foreign language, or other course not offered at your school;
· Opportunities to strengthen reading and/or writing skills by enrolling in Reading Skills and Strategies or Writing Skills and Strategies;
· a chance to take a course for enrichment.

Visit http://ilvirtual.org/summer4 to learn more about what IVS has to offer this summer. Please share this link with parents that may be looking for summer school programs for their middle or high school students.

School Funding Legislation

Illinois state seal - click to see all state seals

Recently a group of area K-12 superintendents and business officials from the area (North Shore and NW Suburban areas) met with State Senator Julie Morrison and State Senator Daniel Biss along with two representatives of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). Senators Morrison and Biss invited us to attend in an effort to get feedback on a proposed piece of legislation called SB16 sponsored by Senator Andy Manar. The bill sounds good as it calls for a weighted student formula to allocate state funding across the state. What’s bad is that it seems to fly in the face of the Illinois Constitution’s declaration in Article X that “…the State has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education.”

And what concerns us in Deerfield and the general local area is that SB16 presents a scenario where districts like ours LOSE scarce state dollars. Under the proposed legislation, proposed by the way, without clear financial impact models from ISBE, could cost DPS109 more than $2,000,000 each YEAR. Currently the Board of Education in DPS109 has been able to balance the budget, maintain facilities, support exemplary education, and actually lower the property taxes (this year) because of the current system of funding.

No one argues that the current system of funding is adequate or equitable, but those of us paying high property taxes will argue that any funding scheme from Springfield that cuts state funding does not take into account the effects or impacts of such bills on local taxpayers and local business. During our meeting wiht the senators and the ISBE officials we asked how a bill for education funding could come forth without review from the Education Committee, we were told that this was “fast track” legislation put forth to force a conversation. We applaud the senators for reaching out to we local educational leaders – I only hope our meeting was not too little too late!

I’m proud to represent our school District with other local leaders and legislators. I encourage readers to stay informed – school funding affects us ALL!

Link to ISBE MEMO

Link to ISBE presentation on SB16