Illinois tosses out 80,000 tests used for academic standards

CHICAGO -- Some Illinois schools met federal math and reading standards this year because more than 80,000 tests used to measure the schools were tossed out by state education officials, according to a published report.

Discarded test scores helped 23 schools avoid failing in reading and 22 schools avoid failing in math, the Chicago Tribune reported in its editions today.

Overall, 1,380 schools increased their passing rates by at least 1 percentage point with the help of disqualified scores and some schools were judged on only a fraction of the students who were tested.

The Tribune requested the data from the state Board of Education under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and analyzed math and reading scores for about 3,800 grade school and high school students.

Most of the scores were tossed out because of a policy meant to avoid penalizing schools with a high population of homeless, migrant or poor children who move around a lot and tend to fall behind, the state said. If a child was not attending a school on or before Sept. 30, that student's score was not counted.

Scores also were considered invalid if a student didn't answer enough questions, officials said.

But local educators said so many tests were eliminated in some districts that the state must have made mistakes in how students were labeled.

Scott Tonsor, principal at Staunton High School in southeastern Illinois' Macoupin County, said he was infuriated when state data showed that only 14.3 percent of his students met standards in reading. He was sure 46 percent of students had passed.

Tonsor said he later learned that 72 of Staunton's 93 reading tests -- or about 77 percent -- were disqualified. One test was judged not valid. But 71 others were negated because the state said those students enrolled after Sept. 30.

Tonsor suspects the state made a mistake.

"I really don't know what is going on or how the state makes their calculations," Tonsor said.

Illinois State Board of Education spokeswoman Karen Craven said schools had several opportunities to correct any errors in data they provided to the state. She said it's the responsibility of local schools or districts to identify when students enrolled.

Schools aim for a 40 percent passing rating on the tests. That's required to avoid a "failing" label under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Three of the 10 schools with the most test disqualifications were Chicago Public Schools. Almost 93 percent of scores at Hirsch Metropolitan High School, 82.5 percent of scores at Tonti Elementary School and 75 percent of scores at Dugan Alternative High School were thrown out.

Dan Bugler, the chief of research, evaluation and accountability in the Chicago Public Schools, said he suspects mistakes were made either by local or state officials.

"There has been a lot of confusion, in general, over the report card data and we are not sure exactly what happened with these test scores," Bugler said. "But we are looking into it and talking to principals about whether these students actually came after Oct. 1."