About a year after new math placement criteria were approved, a Glenview School District 34 task force has made adjustments to the process through which students can test into higher level math classes next school year.
The Glenview School District 34 Superintendent Task Force created new math placement criteria during the 2016-2017 school year that would allow more students to take advanced math classes after administrators determined that the previous placement process, which relied on test scores and comparisons of student scores, was set too high, officials said.
Some parents had complained that the math placement criteria were too stringent and unclear, and prevented students who wanted a challenge from taking tougher courses.
The task force, made up of parents, teachers board members and Glenbrook South High School representatives, met in December and January to discuss the placement process, said Beth Tsoumas, assistant superintendent of curriculum, assessment and instruction.
The placement criteria remains the same as what was approved last year, Tsoumas said. Fourth through eighth grade students are given various points based on their Measures of Academic Progress math and reading scores as well as Cognitive Abilities Test non-verbal and quantitative test scores, along with points based on their student performance rating scale, according to the district website.
The students can receive up to 10 points total, and math placement is determined based on the total points received for the test scores and performance rating, Tsoumas said.
The task force has now tweaked the process by changing when and with what point total students at various grade levels are allowed to take a supplement test to be reconsidered for a higher math placement, according to a district report.
For example, under the current process, sixth through eighth grade students who received three or four points are placed in grade-level math with the opportunity to take a supplement test to be considered for single accelerated math, Tsoumas said. Under the new process, only students who scored a four can take the supplement test, she said. The students with four points can only take the test if they score 68 percent or higher on the Measures of Academic Progress math test, according to the report.
Similar changes were made to the process for testing into higher math classes across grade levels.
The changes were made based on current student performance and teacher feedback, Tsoumas said. The adjustments won’t result in fewer students taking advanced math classes because current students will remain in their math path moving forward, but the process has been “fine tuned” for students entering fourth grade, she said.
“It isn’t about having fewer or more students, it’s fine tuning the criteria for when students are placed that it is a match between the curriculum and the program for advanced or accelerated,” Tsoumas said. “It’s not taking away any opportunities for students, that’s why there is still (supplement tests) and (parent appeals).”
The task force also made changes to the appeal process by including eligibility criteria based on Measures of Academic Progress math test score averages and math class grade average for the current school year, according to the district report.
Last year, the task force recommended allowing students to fill out a survey to advocate for themselves to take a higher math class along with the supplemental test and other surveys, Tsoumas said.
For the 2018-2019 school year, the task force decided to remove the student survey because the results “did not support the overall placement process in determining the best ‘academic fit,’” according to the report.
The task force will continue to review the criteria and placement process moving forward, Tsoumas said.
“What makes this entire process unique and child-centered is that it is a process that is occurring every year, because we know that students grow at different rates,” Tsoumas said. “I would imagine that this time next year the group will come back together again and we review again student performance.”
akukulka@chicagotribune.com
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