Illinois Kills Three Birds with One Stone: Abolishing Writing Skills Test Will Save Money, Make Test Fraud Easier, and Help Abolish the “Black-White

Test Score Gap”!
By Nicholas Stix
Revised at 5:02 a.m., on Thursday, July 7, 2011.

Illinois Drops Writing from Standardized Exam
By Anonymous, Associated Press
Updated 7/6/11 1:42 p.m.
Posted 7/6/11 8:31 a.m.

CHICAGO (AP) - Illinois will assess only reading and arithmetic now that high school juniors will no longer be tested on their writing skills during standardized exams every spring, according to a published report.

Cutting the writing exams will save about $2.4 million amid the state's budgetary shortfalls. Writing tests for elementary and middle school students were dropped last year.

"We're trying to minimize the damage" of the cuts, Schools Superintendent Christopher Koch told the Chicago Tribune for a story published Wednesday. "Writing is one of the most expensive things to assess."

Federal law doesn't require or fund writing tests. Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, public schools are evaluated based on their reading and math test results.

Illinois isn't alone in struggling with how to offer an effective education for less money. Oregon and Missouri also recently made money-saving cuts to their writing exams.

Illinois education officials expect to restore the writing assessments in 2014 when a new state testing plan will require students to periodically take online tests, Koch said.

And the end of the writing section on state standardized exams for now doesn't mean students won't be tested on their writing at all. Many Advanced Placement exams given in May require writing, and the SAT college entrance exam has a writing requirement.

While some teachers and advocates lamented that the changes may take attention away from writing instruction, others said it may open some doors.

Without having to focus on the tests, "I think it offers some freedom," said teacher Heather Schwartz of Pfc. Omar Torres Charter School in Chicago.

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I found a second version of the above story, which may be of interest to my readers.
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Wednesday, Jul. 06, 2011
Illinois will not assess high school juniors on writing skills
From staff and wire reports

Illinois will assess only reading and arithmetic now that high school juniors will no longer be tested on their writing skills during standardized exams every spring, according to a published report.

Cutting the writing exams will save about $2.4 million amid the state's budgetary shortfalls. Writing tests for elementary and middle school students were dropped last year.

"We're trying to minimize the damage" of the cuts, Schools Superintendent Christopher Koch told the Chicago Tribune for a story published Wednesday. "Writing is one of the most expensive things to assess."

Metro-east school leaders agree that testing writing is expensive, according to St. Clair County Regional Superintendent of Schools Brad Harriman. But he said it's worth it.

"I think the problem, one of the issues is that they have, is that they need to hire readers and it's very expensive to score. Meanwhile opinions vary so two different readers grading the same piece might have completely different opinions."

While it might be more expensive to test reading than math or science, Harriman said it's one of the most important skills a person must be armed with in the working world.

"Writing is fast becoming a lost art," Harriman said. "And that's a sad thing. I'm very disappointed that this has happened."

Susan Sarfaty, assistant regional superintendent in St. Clair County, said she hopes the lack of writing testing will only be a temporary thing.

"The good news about writing, in general, is that there is a heavy piece about performance assessment. embedded in the new English arts standard that is being worked on," Sarfaty said. "We're hopefully going to start assessing writing again in the 2013-2014 school year."

Sarfaty said, however, that it is not known how writing will be tested or to what extent. She said it's the wrong time to be cutting writing programs when teenagers of the day are learning to speak in text message language instead of their native tongue.

"I wonder how many times teachers has [sic] circle [sic] the letter U [sic] [sic] used in the place of the word you [sic]," Sarfaty said. "We have become so casual in our writing that formal writing needs to be taught now more than ever."

Federal law doesn't require or fund writing tests. Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, public schools are evaluated based on their reading and math test results.

Illinois isn't alone in struggling with how to offer an effective education for less money. Oregon and Missouri also recently made money-saving cuts to their writing exams.

Illinois education officials expect to restore the writing assessments in 2014 when a new state testing plan will require students to periodically take online tests, Koch said.

And the end of the writing section on state standardized exams for now doesn't mean students won't be tested on their writing at all. Many Advanced Placement exams given in May require writing, and the SAT college entrance exam has a writing requirement.

While some teachers and advocates lamented that the changes may take attention away from writing instruction, others said it may open some doors.

Without having to focus on the tests, "I think it offers some freedom," said teacher Heather Schwartz of Pfc. Omar Torres Charter School in Chicago.

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N.S.: Two hurdles remain, before Illinois educators can effectively abolish the racial gap in testing: School districts must find and hire teachers of color who themselves can pass the reading and arithmetic tests, so that they can effectively proctor examinations, giving proper guidance to student testees of color; and they must find and hire competent testing management administrators, so as to prevent the occurrence of Atlanta-style scandals in Illinois.