By Erin McCarthy

GALESBURG — Third through eighth-grade students throughout Knox County are urged to get plenty of rest, eat a good breakfast and arm themselves with a sharpened No. 2 pencil this week in preparation for the Illinois State Achievement Test.

The ISAT is one of two standardized tests used to determine whether districts make Adequate Yearly Progress, part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The other is the Prairie State Achievement Exam, which includes the American College Entrance Exam, which high school juniors will take later this spring.

Last year, all junior high and elementary schools in Abingdon, Galesburg, Knoxville, ROWVA and Williamsfield districts made AYP by having at least 77.5 percent of students meet or exceed testing standards. While this year’s AYP benchmark is raised to 85 percent, principals and teachers say they are keeping a positive attitude and maintaining high standards.

“We’re constantly supportive of students in guiding them to achieve their goals and celebrating their successes,” said Silas Willard Elementary School Principal John Shelly. “We work all year preparing them for the ISAT, teaching study skills and meeting the needs of struggling students.”

Silas Willard fifth-grade teacher Michael Rux said that, based on past results, his students are “successful learners” and are “prepared and ready to go.” Rux’s student Anna Gugliotta agreed.

“I’m a little nervous, but not really, because I’m sort of used to it, and we’ve been working on the material a lot,” said Gugliotta. “Even if I get stuck, I eventually understand the questions.”  

In addition to the regular curriculum, Rux provides his students with Scholastic and National Geographic magazines and also takes them to a website called “Study Island” as supplementary materials.

“Study Island gives them questions similar to those that would appear on the ISAT, and it also may touch on something that we haven’t gone over or word it in another way for them to connect to the material,” said Rux.
“And then the magazines show them different kinds of articles they might see on the test but aren’t in the text books.”

Gale Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Jenny Crock-Sibbing said she also incorporates trivia games and songs for her students, “so hopefully they’ll get stuck in their head when they’re taking the test.”

Crock-Sibbing performed with other teachers as part of the ISATions at Gale’s “Rocking the ISATs” pep assembly last week, changing the words to Gloria Gaynor’s  “I Will Survive,” to include test-taking strategies.
Her fourth-graders also led the students in a sound-off about extended response questions.

She said the assembly was mainly about “building them up” and having fun.

“We tell them to believe in themselves, because their parents, teachers and principal all believe in them, and we know they can do it,” said Crock-Sibbing. “We have very high expectations, and the students always seem to rise to meet them. Every student, no matter where they’re coming from, we set the bar high for them.”

Gale Principal Ellen Spittell said her students also received buttons made by high schoolers promoting the ISAT.

“All of this just gives it a little personal touch, something to get them motivated,” said Spittell. “We’ve never done this before.”

Pep assemblies, T-shirts, posters throughout the hallways and other added efforts are all evidence of increased awareness of a rising benchmark that District 205 Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Joel Estes said eventually may not be met by any school.

“One of the flaws with No Child Left Behind is that it measures students against artificial hurdles,” said Estes. “They say this year that 85 percent should meet or exceed, but that says kids in different schools in different settings with different backgrounds should all achieve at the same level, and most experts say that’s not a realistic goal.”

Estes said despite Illinois’s adoption of the new Common Core State Standards, which will change the way in which students are assessed, schools are in a “holding pattern” until they are put into effect, supposedly in 2014.

“They still have not reauthorized NCLB, so the beat goes on, even though it’s widely accepted that it’s a very flawed law,” said Estes. “In the meantime, schools and ultimately children are being harmed by it.

“But we don’t have much choice. The tests arrive, and kids are expected to take those tests, and on we go.”
 
Estes said the only difference in this year’s ISATs is that the writing portion was removed from the fifth-grade version due to state budget cutbacks. All grades will be tested in math and language arts, with science incorporated at fourth- and seventh-grades.