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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Standards Achievement Test, which | ||||||
| 3 | scores are critical to Illinois' compliance with the federal No | ||||||
| 4 | Child Left Behind Act of 2001, is being delivered late to | ||||||
| 5 | school districts across Illinois and with incomplete or | ||||||
| 6 | incorrect testing documents; and | ||||||
| 7 | WHEREAS, The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 | ||||||
| 8 | requires all states to measure each public school's and | ||||||
| 9 | district's achievement and establish annual achievement | ||||||
| 10 | targets for the state to show adequate yearly progress; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, Adequate yearly progress calculations in Illinois | ||||||
| 12 | are now based on three factors: (1) the percentage of reading | ||||||
| 13 | and mathematics scores that meet or exceed standards, compared | ||||||
| 14 | to the annual State targets; (2) the participation rate of | ||||||
| 15 | students in taking the State tests, which must meet or exceed | ||||||
| 16 | 95%; and (3) the attendance rates of students in elementary and | ||||||
| 17 | middle schools and the graduation rates of students in high | ||||||
| 18 | schools, which must meet or exceed the State's annual targets; | ||||||
| 19 | and
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| 20 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Standards Achievement Test is | ||||||
| 21 | scheduled to be administered in all school districts between | ||||||
| 22 | March 6 and March 24 for students in grades 3 through 8 in | ||||||
| 23 | reading and mathematics and for students in grades 4 and 7 in | ||||||
| 24 | science; and
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| 25 | WHEREAS, The State Board of Education entered into a new | ||||||
| 26 | contract with assessment vendor Harcourt Assessment, Inc. in | ||||||
| 27 | 2005 to administer the standardized test for the State of | ||||||
| 28 | Illinois; and
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| 29 | WHEREAS, Harcourt Assessment, Inc. has not adequately | ||||||
| 30 | performed its contractual duties for the State of Illinois, | ||||||
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| 1 | jeopardizing the validity of the State standardized test | ||||||
| 2 | because of multiple problems with timely delivery and the | ||||||
| 3 | accuracy of testing documents; therefore, be it
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| 4 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 5 | NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 6 | we request the State Superintendent of Education to attend a | ||||||
| 7 | joint hearing of the House Elementary and Secondary Education | ||||||
| 8 | Committee and the House Elementary and Secondary Education | ||||||
| 9 | Appropriation Committee to (1) produce the RFP request, with | ||||||
| 10 | all subsequent responses from interested parties, e-mails, | ||||||
| 11 | correspondence, and all other information concerning the | ||||||
| 12 | procurement of Harcourt Assessment, Inc.; (2) outline how the | ||||||
| 13 | contract with Harcourt Assessment, Inc. was derived; (3) | ||||||
| 14 | explain all provisions of the contract, in conjunction with the | ||||||
| 15 | State Board of Education's expectations for compliance with | ||||||
| 16 | contractual duties; (4) explain why the State Board of | ||||||
| 17 | Education was not aware of Harcourt Assessment, Inc.'s | ||||||
| 18 | inability to perform its contractual duties; and (5) explain | ||||||
| 19 | how the multiple problems with the delivery of tests and the | ||||||
| 20 | accuracy of testing documents put the 2006 standardized testing | ||||||
| 21 | in jeopardy of being invalid; and be it further
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| 22 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
| 23 | delivered to the Speaker of the House, the members of the House | ||||||
| 24 | Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, the members of | ||||||
| 25 | the House Elementary and Secondary Education Appropriation | ||||||
| 26 | Committee, the members of the State Board of Education, and the | ||||||
| 27 | State Superintendent of Education.
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