Plummeting scores on the reading portion of the most recent statewide standardized test for elementary and high school students indicate:
A. There’s a reading crisis in Illinois.
B. There’s something wrong with the test.
C. None of the above.
D. A and B.
If you answered D, go to the head of the class.
Since 1993, student performance on the state-mandated Illinois Goal Assessment Program reading exam has declined by 14 percent in 6th and 8th grades and 18 percent in 10th grade. Sixth-grade scores statewide dropped 8 percent in the last year alone, with Chicago posting a 12 percent decline.
Whether that constitutes a crisis depends on your definition of the word–and on how kids in your school district did on the test–but it certainly is cause for alarm.
But wait. If B also is correct and the test is flawed, is it possible that all those kids really do know how to read? Probably not, but they may be better readers than the test indicates.
Here’s why: Declining reading scores on the IGAP test generally have not been duplicated on other standardized tests. In Chicago’s suburbs, scores on the SAT and ACT tests–taken by students preparing to go to college–are up. And in the city, kids showed year-over-year improvement in reading on the most recent Iowa Test of Basic Skills, a nationally normed test the schools use to determine academic success.
Some educators say students may score lower on the IGAP reading test because it’s confusing–reading passages run on for two pages and there can be more than one correct answer for each question.
That could account for some of the gap, but it doesn’t mean there’s not a very real problem. The decline statewide is too steady, and in Chicago the scores by any measure are too low to brush off with a “blame the test” shrug.
Mindful of that, State Schools Supt. Joseph Spagnolo on Thursday outlined a “Right to Read” initiative that, among other things, calls for schools to offer specialized classes and summer programs for low-achieving readers.
The State Board of Education is planning to rewrite IGAP tests to reflect new learning standards. They must make sure the new tests provide an accurate and reliable measure of student achievement, because if tests are flawed, it’s a problem–but if schools aren’t teaching kids to read, it’s a tragedy.
