Schools just get 2016 Illinois science test results | Belleville News-Democrat

Results from a new state test have been released two years after students turned it in, and the budget impasse is getting the blame for the delay.

But some local educators say there’s still plenty to learn from the dated scores about the way they teach.

The Illinois Science Assessment was given to students in 2016. That’s when the state expected schools to have a new curriculum in place based on updated standards for what children should be learning about science.

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In Highland District 5, Assistant Superintendent Derek Hacke said the lessons became more hands-on with students, from building things to doing experiments in class.

“We’re trying to do science rather than just read about science,” he said.

Some school officials who saw their students fall short on the assessment said that their curriculum changes either hadn’t hit classrooms by 2016 or that the concepts may have been too new for students to grasp them.

“The two-year-old data will be viewed as a baseline from which to grow,” said Sydney Stigge-Kaufman, spokesperson for East St. Louis District 189. She said schools have since made changes to help students.

The students who are required to take the Illinois Science Assessment each year are in fifth and eighth grades. High school students taking biology for the first time are also tested.

Statewide, an average of 57.5 percent of fifth-graders and 61 percent of eighth-graders in 2016 were considered proficient in science. An average of 40 percent of high school students met the expectations.

More than 90 metro-east schools scored above those averages.

What are top-scoring schools doing right?

Leaders from the top-scoring local schools said, in general, it helped that they were already teaching students what they were expected to know about science. O’Fallon District 203, for instance, didn’t have to change its curriculum in preparation for the test, according to Assistant Superintendent Martha Weld.

O’Fallon Township High School topped the list of local high schools with 66.5 percent of its students meeting the standards on the 2016 assessment.

Children in some of the metro-east schools who performed well on the new science test also had access to technology and resources that other districts might not have.

Superintendent Lynda Andre said Edwardsville District 7 students have interactive whiteboards in every classroom, microscopes and other equipment, plus an online library of material to help them from home. She said the district can spend up to $1 million on science resources and that having an involved parent-teacher organization is helpful for funding.

“We invest heavily in having good, functioning science equipment,” Andre said.

District 7 had two schools among the top-scoring in the five-county area: Albert Cassens Elementary School and Edwardsville High School.

At Marine Elementary School in Triad Unit 2, every student has a Chromebook laptop to use in school and to take home after class. Triad Superintendent Leigh Lewis said the parent-teacher organization there helps with purchasing those resources, too.

Marine Elementary School fifth-graders helped Triad break into the top-scoring schools in the area for the first time in the last three years of state testing.

Lewis thinks their scores might be higher on the 2016 Illinois Science Assessment because students were tested in May, near the end of the school year, which she said gave them more time to learn the new standards. Students usually take state assessments in the spring, between March and April.

Triad also gives students opportunities to learn about science outside the classroom on field trips and through camps, according to Lewis.

“Science is one of those things that can easily be enhanced out of the school day,” she said.

How do schools plan to improve?

East St. Louis District 189 had six schools among the lowest-scoring in the metro-east on the 2016 science assessment. District spokesperson Stigge-Kaufman said educators there were just beginning the process of updating the science curriculum when students were tested.

According to Stigge-Kaufman, teachers and other staff have since received training, and students are getting more hands-on and virtual lab opportunities in East St. Louis classrooms.

She said District 189 has also hired new employees, including:

▪  A science content specialist in 2015 to help with the curriculum.

▪  Science instructional coaches for each middle school in 2017 to help teachers come up with their science lessons.

Stigge-Kaufman said District 189’s elementary school teachers now specialize in specific subject areas — either science and math or English language arts and social studies.

“This departmentalization allows teachers to focus on subjects they are strongest in and increases their effectiveness with student learning,” Stigge-Kaufman said.

In O’Fallon, most eighth-graders at Joseph Arthur Middle School didn’t meet the state’s standards when they took the science assessment. Central District 104 Superintendent Dawn Elser said the new standards hadn’t been in place that long in 2016 and that students and teachers didn’t know what to expect from the test, which could have contributed to their low scores.

Elser said District 104 is looking for training opportunities for its teachers so they can get a better understanding of the science standards.

Assistant Superintendent Hacke said that although Highland District 5 teachers would make time for science, it could be difficult for them because of the focus on preparing students for PARCC, another state test that covers English language arts and math.

“Sometimes, it is very challenging to fit it into the school day when ELA and math requirements and time required for those lessons and teaching those skills has increased over time,” he said. “It’s really squeezed science”

In general, though, students performed better on the new science assessment than they have previously on PARCC.

Statewide, only about 34 percent of students are scoring high enough to meet PARCC’s standards.

Mason-Clark Middle School eighth-graders in East St. Louis scored almost that high on the 2016 science assessment — about 31 percent of them met the standards — and were among the lowest-scoring for their grade level.

How do the state tests compare?

The state’s goal with the PARCC assessment was to move away from asking students to memorize facts. Instead, it asks them to support their answers and show how they solved problems, which Illinois education leaders say will prepare them for college or a career.

The new state test asks students to apply what they know about science. Here’s an example of the kinds of questions students see on the Illinois Science Assessment:

▪  Dragonflies are insects. They have six legs and long, thin bodies. Dragonflies have two pairs of wings. They have two big eyes, and two small antennae. What are these sentences mostly about: why dragonflies fly; where dragonflies live; what dragonflies look like; or how dragonflies use their wings?

Some questions on the science assessment are multiple choice, but others require students to write their own answer, according to the state board. The test covers engineering, technology, applications of science and life science. Fifth- and eighth-graders are also tested on earth and space sciences and physical science.

Students take both the science assessment and PARCC online if their schools have the means.

Time limits are more flexible for the science assessment. It’s designed to take about an hour, but students can take as long as their school allows, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. The only requirement is that they finish the test in one day.

And while PARCC has five categories that students’ scores can put them in — including partially meeting or approaching state standards — they either meet the standards or they don’t on the science assessment.

Why were schools left waiting for results?

Without a state budget for more than two years, the Illinois State Board of Education says it struggled to pay vendors to create and score the science assessment.

State Superintendent Tony Smith has called the timeline for releasing the 2016 test scores “unacceptable.” The results from the science assessment that students took in 2017 are expected to be released next month.

And by the end of February, school districts should also have more detailed information on how much students knew about specific areas of science in 2016.

Right now, schools know what percentage of their students scored high enough for the state to consider them proficient in science. They’re waiting on score reports for individual students, which will give them a better idea of where they might need to make changes to the way they teach science.

Eventually, schools will also send a copy of the student reports to their families.

Parents who don’t receive a report should contact their child’s school or district. They can also request a copy from the Illinois State Board of Education if they know their child’s nine-digit state student ID number by calling 1-866-317-6034.

More students will take the Illinois Science Assessment this spring — sometime between March 1 and April 30.

Shiloh District 85 Superintendent Dale Sauer said he’s looking forward to more feedback in the future because there have been staff changes in the middle school’s science department since 2016. Those changes come after Shiloh Middle School eighth-graders were among the top-scoring in the area.

“... Any new trend data will be helpful in assessing our instruction,” Sauer said.