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Presidential Election Could Change Face of School Exams

By Laura Gibbs

ROCKFORD - Regardless of who wins the presidential election, school districts across the country have to keep the No Child Left Behind rules in mind. By 2014 all children must be proficient in reading and math.

We just got a better look today at the results of the Illinois Standards Achievement Test and Prairie State Exam. Elementary and middle schools didn't do so bad, many area high schoolers struggled.

Already one things set to change next year: testing 9th graders. Regional Superintendent Dr. Richard Fairgrieves says, "That would allow us to track students from 9th to 11th grade."

Just one solution as educators brainstorm ways to improve reading and math scores in high school. Fairgrieves says, "I think they're smart students but if they don't see a reason for doing something they don't put forth their best effort."

To meet or exceed state standards schools had to hit 62.5% this year. That target number grows every school year. That is unless one of these two men and the lawmakers under them do something. "I think we're going to see a major change in No Child Left Behind when the new Congress is seated and the new administration."

Dr. Fairgrieves doesn't see how every single student could learn at their own grade level. He says by 2014 all schools would likely fail. But billions of dollars goes into developing each state's assessment. One reason why there's talk of a uniform test. "Do we really need 50 tests or would one test be okay? That kind of gets us to a national curriculum and a lot of people had opposed that."

The ISATs and Prairie State Exam have changed over time. One thing Fairgrieves says all school in our area work really hard to achieve is making the test and the curriculum match.

If you want to look at these test scores. click on the link to this story.