Students opting out of PSAE
Some students from Gage Park High School are planning to boycott part of the Prairie State Achievement Examination (PSAE).
About 80 Gage Park students walked out of a NAEP exam earlier this year. NAEP is a national exam used to compare districts and states across the U.S. The students objected to having their time taken up with tests that had no bearing on their studies, at a time when some students didn’t even feel safe inside the school.
A WBEZ report quotes the students saying they are sick of test prep and opposed to the use of PSAE test scores to evaluate teachers, principals and schools.
The danger of the PSAE boycott is that the exam is a state graduation requirement — students don’t have to
Threat to special education class size rules
With everything else going on these days, I’ve neglected the very important story about ISBE’s proposal to lift class size caps on special education classes and on the percentage of special education students that can be served in regular education classes.ISBE claims that removing this critical protection for special needs students is necessary to help districts balance their budgets and to make local determinations about the best way to serve the children.
Comments on this proposal are being accepted at rules@isbe.net until the end of the day today. I apologize for the last minute notice. Please reference proposed Amendments to 23 Ill Adm Code 226; 37 Ill Reg 2637.
Here’s what I just sent to ISBE:
Parents United for Responsible Education opposes the proposed rules changes to eliminate class size caps for special education programs and the percentages of special education students allowed in a regular classroom.
The fact that districts like Chicago have consistently failed to meet these standards and are now crying poor is