Subject: English Language Arts
Grade Level(s): 3 – 8
Measures Growth: No
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The Illinois State Achievement Test is the state developed end-of-year assessment for Illinois. The test measures achievement in ELA, math and science for students in grades 3-8. ELA is tested at all grade levels, using multiple choice and extended response questions, and writing is measured using a separate component (suspended for 2011-2012).
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Assesses a range of students, including those from far below to far above grade level • Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking
Pros: Easy to administer • Data is presented clearly • Data I receive helps me understand where I am teaching well and where I need to improve
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time
The ISAT is taken taken during the 1st week in March and results are not returned until the end of the school year (sometimes later). By then the students are gone and have forgotten all about it. I do not know why it takes so long to get the results back. One more year.
Submitted by Terri in Illinois on June 14, 2013
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer • Data is presented clearly
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
The test aligns with the standards of the state, but not those that all good teachers use to drive their teaching. Sample sizes for specific skills can be rather small thus negating any real conclusions that can be drawn from them. Furthermore, the test is written to below the middle to what is perceived as a common denominator in my district. My high achieving students are not pushed by this test and it does not reasonable measure their skills or growth. In Chicago, this test has a huge impact on admissions to high school based solely on the 7th grade test. The difference of a few questions can be admission versus rejection. Every year, I have deserving students left out of their desired school because of a test that does not adequately differentiate amongst high performing students. I support the notion that kids need to be assessed, but one that focuses on higher order thinking, provides more meaningful insights into students' needs and includes assessment of writing would be more effective and appropriate.
Submitted by peter in Illinois on June 12, 2013
Pros: Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
We get the results in early summer if we're lucky.Far too late to share them with out current students. The metric is too low for meeting standards and now it is being changed so it will show even less growth.
Submitted by Katherine in Illinois on June 12, 2013
Pros: Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Not aligned to the standards I teach • Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
The ISAT, thankfully, will be disappearing from ILLINOIS and replaced with the PARK assessment. I am glad to see this test go. I think it is neither rigorous nor designed in a way that helps teachers improve student learning and mastery. Furthermore, it takes way too long for the test results to come back. There is not much way for it to be a meaningful assessment for students, parents, or teachers.
Submitted by Jayson in Illinois on May 7, 2013
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level • Takes students too long to complete
Cons: Difficult to administer • Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
Takes forever, trys to trick students, results take forver to recieve, causes undue stress on students, staff and teachers, takes away the love of learning, stifles creativity, does not test students at their level so promotes a low self esteem... when students cannot read it they automatically give up and or feel stupid.
Submitted by amanda in Illinois on April 11, 2013
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
This assessment says above that it is an end-of-the-year assessment, when in reality, it is administered in early March. Some teachers feel pressed for time to get through all of the concepts that are "measured" and that makes for a stressful school year, especially as test time nears. This test does NOT show me how much progress my students make from the first day to the last, and we have to compare apples to oranges--we measure results from one year's students to the next or previous year's students!! Very poor and such a waste of my valuable teaching time!
Submitted by Paula in Illinois on April 10, 2013
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Assesses higher-order thinking
Cons: Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level • Takes students too long to complete
Cons: Difficult to administer • Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
This type of assessment is meant to make everyone look bad. I would like to see a growth-based assessment carried out two to four times per year, which gives immediate results.
Submitted by Alfredo in Illinois on April 9, 2013
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer • Data is presented clearly • Data I receive helps me understand where I am teaching well and where I need to improve
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time
ISAT related frameworks provides clear goals and objects which can used for curriculum mapping and quarterly assessment focus skills. The EGN for benckmark grades can be used as a monitoring tool to assess student mastery in the various standards, better preparing the students for academic success on the ISAT.
Submitted by Beverly in Illinois on May 18, 2012
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach
Cons: Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
This was my first year teaching in an ISAT testing grade. I found it extremely stressful, not only for myself but for students. While I had many conversations with my students, encouraging them and assuring them that they will do well and not to worry, many were visibly anxious and stressed on the days leading up to the test. Part of this was the unknown, as I teach third grade, but part was because they knew the test was very important, but were unable to fully grasp why. Throughout the week their nerves settled, but I could see them gradually become exhausted from the focus and concentration required by the tests.
Submitted by Paige in Illinois on March 25, 2012
Pros: Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
As a third grade teacher, I cannot use data from the ISAT to measure student growth nor inform instruction because preliminary results are available at the end of the year and complete data is available the following year. Also, because it is administered in early March, it does not fully assess student learning for the entire year. It narrowly assesses students skills in reading and math, focusing largely on recall of facts with very little opportunity to apply knowledge or demonstrate higher-order thinking. As an urban teacher, I also find that some of the test content (e.g. reading passages, math problem contexts) does not reflect the lives of my students, thereby putting them at a disadvantage. Rich assessments that reflect the whole child and shape instruction based on student needs are more instructive and helpful to teachers, students and their parents.
Submitted by Amanda in Illinois on March 2, 2012
Pros: Assesses higher-order thinking • Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Not aligned to the standards I teach • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
ISAT is aligned to some of the standards I teach. The problem is the test is administered in early March, before I've had an opportunity to teach everything students will need to master the test. In addition, I teach at a Track E school where students have a number of weeks off prior to the test that further prevents me from teaching the range and scope of concepts and skills necessary to do well on the test.
Submitted by Michelle in Illinois on February 29, 2012
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach • Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
Not only does it take almost six months to get final scores back for this test, the scores are not helpful in knowing how to drive future instruction. The teacher receiving the scores is not the same one who worked with the students to get the scores.
Furthermore, this test sets an extremely low bar for achievement in Chicago, is not aligned to Common Core Standards, and does not measure growth of a student throughout the year. Also, the test is not aligned year to year to account for attrition and therefore cohorts of students are not the same from year to year, and test difficulty is not the same from year to year, creating huge jumps in cohort scores one year only to see drops the following year.
In all, growth assessments are a much better measure of teacher efficacy and student learning, in so far as a test is able to measure these things.
Submitted by Rachel in Illinois on February 26, 2012
Cons: Does not assess higher-order thinking • Takes students too long to complete
Pros: Easy to administer
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
Although the ISAT is easy to administer, it takes too much time and the return of the results do not help me whatsoever. Results coming in after the school year do not help me in grouping students because I no longer have those students sitting in front of me. At best, the results inform us as to how well we teach to that particular test for that given year. Questions reduce learning to a set of skills. While basic skills are necessary, how do we measure the parts of learning that truly count? Student engagement, growth, and creativity? Students love or appreciation of reading? Student ability to connect reading and writing to the world in which they live? Reading stimulates the mind, connects us to experiences we may not have had, and should not be reduced to filling in the correct bubble. In short, if the ISAT is supposed to be a year-end assessment, then leave it at that and test the students in June rather than March!
Submitted by Tracy in Illinois on February 26, 2012
Pros: Takes students a reasonable amount of time to complete
Cons: Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Easy to administer
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
The most challenging aspect of ISAT is that it does not adequately reflect my students' progress. I am a 6th grade teacher in an inner-city Title 1 school who has students whose reading ranges from 1st through 10th grade. The ISAT does not adequately assess my students' progress, nor does it provide data that can help me differentiate for this wide range of needs.
Submitted by Peggy in Illinois on February 19, 2012
Pros: Aligned to the standards I teach
Cons: Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level
Pros: Data I receive helps me understand where I am teaching well and where I need to improve
Cons: Results are not returned quickly
If results are used properly, the data from the ISAT can help teachers differentiate instruction for each individual student.
Submitted by N in Illinois on February 15, 2012
Cons: Not aligned to the standards I teach • Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level • Takes students too long to complete
Cons: Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
This is a one time test that students take the first week of March. It takes 4 days of instruction to complete and full scores are not released until the summer. There is no way to show growth since it is a one time test taken in the middle of the year. Data is not useful because feedback is so tardy. The test also misses some students that are above or below grade level.
Submitted by Tracie in Illinois on January 21, 2012
Cons: Not aligned to the standards I teach • Does not assess higher-order thinking • Misses growth of some students, such as those far below and/or far above grade level • Takes students too long to complete
Cons: Difficult to administer • Results are not returned quickly • Doesn't help me track my students' learning gains over time • It is hard to use the data • Is not helpful to my professional growth as a teacher
As my school is now in its second year of using the CCSS, ISAT provides no useful information in regards to students knowledge in relation to the Standards. At best, it provides basic information about students' reading comprehension at their current grade level. Students who are not reading at the test's level have very little benefit in taking the exam. It gives the teacher no real idea of growth unless students are progressing at the exact level of the test, and since it is only once a year, is not useful for planning purposes. The test's extended response section must be taken twice each year, with one prompt used for piloting purposes. Many questions on the multiple choice section are also only for piloting. I feel this is an unreasonable waste of students' instructional time. In addition, the ISS are low-level standards that provide very few opportunities for higher-order thinking, and this assessment reflects that. Thankfully, it only has two years left in practice.
Submitted by Kristin in Illinois on January 18, 2012
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