Student Assessment
ISBE Student Assessment Science Overview
2008 ISAT and PSAE
ISAT Science
The 2008 Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) for grades
4 and 7 will take place from March 3-14, 2008. It will contain
80 multiple-choice science items given in two 45 minute sessions.
Session One of the Science ISAT for grades 4 and 7 will have 40
science items and Session Two will have 40 science items with 45
minutes to complete each session. Students are allowed up to an
extra 10 minutes, beyond the 45 minutes, if they are actively engaged
in testing.
Thirty norm-referenced items from the SAT 10 and 50 Illinois-developed
criterion-referenced items comprise the science portion of ISAT.
All 80 items follow the SAT 10 style and all items have color.
The test items in the 2008 ISAT are aligned to the Illinois Assessment
Framework (IAF) which can be found at www.isbe.net/assessment.
The IAF in Science defines the content that will be assessed
on ISAT and PSAE. There are also sample items available at www.isbe.net/assessment/htmls/sample_books.htm.
New sample books will be sent to schools in December and they
will also be available online.
Harcourt Assessment, Inc. is the contractor responsible for developing
the ISATs. Harcourt works with Illinois item writers and ISBE to
develop the test items. Illinois teachers write and review test
items each year. If you would like to become a writer or reviewer,
please contact Pam Stanko at pstanko@isbe.net. Pearson Educational
Measurement (PEM) is the contractor responsible for printing, distributing
and retrieving test booklets, scoring, and providing reports for
all districts.
Scores will be available to districts online by June 1, 2008.
Reporting categories for the 2008 ISAT in science will be determined
using the following Standard groupings: 11A and 11B, 12A and
12B, 12C and 12D, 12E and 12F, 13A and 13B. An item analysis
will be sent to the schools identifying all of the assessment
objectives that were assessed and the percentages of students
at each grade who correctly answered those objectives. Harcourt
Assessment prepares this report.
Important Note: Science is not used for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for school accountability. Only reading and math scores are used for AYP in schools. NCLB states that science must be assessed in all states by 2008 at three levels: elementary, middle and high school. Illinois already had a science assessment in place at grades 4, 7 and 11, thus meeting the federal requirements. Science will only be included in AYP calculations if NCLB is reauthorized to include science as an AYP subject. As of September 10, 2007, this has not occurred.
PSAE Science
The 2008 Prairie State Achievement Examination (PSAE) will be given from April 23-24 to all high school juniors. The make-up session will be held on May 7-8, 2008. Day 1 of the PSAE is the ACT Science Assessment which is comprised of 40 multiple-choice items. Day 2 of the PSAE involves the IL-Developed Science with the ACT WorkKeys Reading for Information and Mathematics. More information can be found at www.isbe.net/assessment/psae.htm.
The IL-Developed Science portion of the PSAE takes place on April 24, 2008. Students will have 40 minutes to answer 45 multiple-choice items.
Like the ISAT, test items that appear on the PSAE are aligned to the Illinois Assessment Framework (IAF). Unlike the ISAT, students do not have up to an additional 10 minutes if they are actively engaged in testing.
All science Standards except 11A appear on the IL-developed portion of the PSAE. The ACT Assessment in science (Day 1 of the PSAE) includes many items that require students to use science inquiry (11A) skills and strategies. Sample items for 2007-2008 Preparing for the ACT can be found at http://www.actstudent.org/testprep/index.html.
ACT is now our contractor for Day 2 Science test development. Our procedure for test item development is the same as it was last year. Illinois teachers still write and review the items for Day 2 Science.
Questions concerning the science portion of the ISAT or the science portion of the PSAE should be directed to Pam Stanko at the Illinois State Board of Education, 217/782-4823 or email at pstanko@isbe.net.
