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Outrages

  

9486 in the collection  

    CASE Erased

    A controversial high school exam written by Chicago public school teachers is being dumped in favor of a new test that will probably be written by professional test writers, officials said Thursday.

    In fact, officials are planning two new tests: a new end-of-year exam that will replace the troubled Chicago Academic Standards Exams in high schools and a new writing test--to be given in 100 elementary and high schools in
    January--that would be used only for diagnostic purposes. The CASE allegedly cost more than $1 million to develop, but critics said many questions were poorly written and it was too time-consuming.

    CASE triggered student protests and vows in October by at least 12 teachers not to give the exam. George Schmidt, editor of the teacher-written newspaper Substance, was fired as a teacher for publishing parts of the
    CASE. He still faces a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by the Chicago Board of Education.

    CASE was developed under former schools CEO Paul Vallas to count for at least 10 percent of the grades of freshmen and sophomores in four subjects. It was intended to ensure that schools were not dumbing-down their curriculums.

    But Vallas' successor, Arne Duncan, said Thursday he wants a "better exam" that may be written by professional test writers because "that was part of the issue with CASE--that it was not written by professional test writers."

    The new test should be better aligned with the new Illinois Prairie State Achievement Exam and the ACT, which is used for college admission and is part of the Prairie State, Duncan said.

    The new test may start counting for kids as early as next school year and should be piloted this May or June in all high schools, said Chief Education Officer Barbara Eason-Watkins.
    Schmidt was busy Thursday changing "Erase the CASE" buttons to read "We erased the CASE" and wondering how the latest decision would affect his court case. "They are going to have to explain to the judge why they continue to sue me for something they now say is worthless," he said.

    — Rosalind Rossi
    Schools Getting Rid of UnpopulaExam
    Chicago Sun-Times
    Dec. 6, 2002
    http://www.suntimes.com/output/education/cst-nws-case06.html

    INDEX OF OUTRAGES

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