HJ0098 LRB095 19046 NHT 45227 r

1
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Education has indicated
3 through its peer review process that the Illinois Measure of
4 Annual Growth in English (IMAGE) reading test is no longer an
5 acceptable achievement test for English Language Learner (ELL)
6 students; and
 
7     WHEREAS, The State Board of Education made a decision to
8 eliminate the use of the IMAGE test; instead, ELL students will
9 have to take the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) and
10 the Prairie State Achievement Examination (PSAE); and
 
11     WHEREAS, School districts were informed of this decision in
12 November; and
 
13     WHEREAS, The impact of this decision will mean that ELL
14 students will be taking tests that are inappropriate to measure
15 their academic performance because the ISAT was never developed
16 for an ELL population; the ISAT was never normed on an ELL
17 population; and, by definition, students receiving English as a
18 Second Language (ESL) services (students who score 3 or lower
19 on the ACCESS test, the State-required English language
20 proficiency assessment) are not able to work at grade-level
21 standards; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, The Illinois Advisory Council on Bilingual
2 Education has made the following recommendations to the State
3 Board of Education:
4         (1) to not penalize schools and districts that do not
5     make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2008 solely because
6     of the ELL subgroup;
7         (2) to include ELL students only in participation
8     calculations;
9         (3) to not include ELL students' scores on the reading
10     and math tests in AYP calculations for up to 2 years from
11     the time the student enters the Illinois school system; and
12         (4) to exempt ELL students who have a composite score
13     of 3 or less on the ACCESS test from the State content
14     assessments for one year; therefore, be it
 
15     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
16 NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
17 SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we encourage the U.S. Department
18 of Education to approve the request made by the State Board of
19 Education in its letter dated January 8, 2008 with respect to
20 the IMAGE test; and be it further
 
21     RESOLVED, That students scoring 3 or lower on the ACCESS
22 test should not be required to take the ISAT and PSAE or
23 participate in the State's testing program until a new and
24 appropriate assessment can be developed by the State Board of

 

 

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1 Education; and be it further
 
2     RESOLVED, That should the U.S. Department of Education not
3 approve the State Board of Education's request, that the State
4 Board of Education still not require testing of students
5 receiving an ACCESS score of 3 or lower; and be it further
 
6     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
7 delivered to the U.S. Department of Education, the State Board
8 of Education, and each member of the Illinois congressional
9 delegation.