The latest academic achievement tests scores in School District 150 show a two-percent decline year-to-year. Peoria Public Radio’s Alex Rusciano reports on the Northwest Evaluation Association exam numbers:
Also known as the NWEA, the results show 56-percent of students met or exceeded reading scores in third through eighth grade, and 60-percent for math. The data comes as the state transitions from the I-SAT test to the PARCC test that includes benchmarks similar to the federal Common Core measurements. Some are voicing concern about the amount of time students spend learning to take a test versus learning actual course material. Superintendent Grenita Lathan:
“How do we make sure we’re not losing instructional time that these tests are meaningful to teachers and its truly informing and driving instruction. And so we still have work around that helping teachers and principals understand how to analyze that data and then to develop a plan after they analyze it.”
Lathan says the district will start administering the PARCC exams next spring. She says the national test has more in-depth writing questions and better measurements of student growth compared to the I-SAT.