\doc\web\2000\07\igap.txt
In a message dated 7/6/00 2:12:10 PM, ArthurH@TANGIS.COM writes:


<< Does that


mean


every state education head is promoting high stakes testing?  >>


The Illinois state schools superintendent (Gleen "Max" McGee) is appointed,
not elected. He recently told a meeting in Chicago that Illinois would never
use the Illinois tests (once called IGAP and ISAT, now dubbed "Prairie State
Exams" for high school students) for individual high stakes for students. We
will be reporting on that meeting in our summer Substance (due out in about
two weeks). If you need the information earlier than that, Email Sharon
Schmidt (smgschmidt@aol.com) and she probably has the article on her hard
disk and can send you a draft.


Right now, the only stakes attached to the Illinois tests are that schools
get placed on a "watch list" if their scores are low.


A lot of confusion has arisen because Illinois also hosts one of America's
most vicious high stakes realities: Chicago's student retention and school
"probation" policies.


Since 1996, Chicago's high stakes tests used against both teachers (at the
high school level) and students (elementary level). This seems to be an
example of a specifically urban phenomenon where the school district with a
large percentage of minority students is being forced to undergo high stakes,
while the rest of the state (here read, the wealthy suburbs where the two
most powerful Republican Illinois legislators live) are exempted from any
stakes.


Michigan and New York are now implementing a similar plan to the Illinois
plan (attack the big city, ignore the rest of the state when high stakes are
imposed).


George Schmidt


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