Apparently not content with being the last state in the nation to turn around its 2006 test scores (they came out at roughly the same time that kids were taking the 2007 tests), Illinois has made the news again for jimmying with student eligibility criteria in ways that generally help schools pass AYP (State uses test loophole). No, it’s not the subgroup size loophole -- that’s so 2006. It’s the date of enrollment loophole, which Illinois moved back to May 1 of the PREVIOUS year. Nice. Result? Thirteen percent of scores not counted, or 283K kids (one in four African-American kids), 53 schools made AYP that otherwise wouldn’t have. Chicago Tribune.
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