School administrators across Illinois, including in Riverside, Brookfield and North Riverside, hit the panic button last week when materials for the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) were late.
Most schools began testing Monday in grades three through eight, but by Thursday many school districts hadn’t yet received their test booklets and other materials students needed to complete the tests.
By Monday, districts in the Landmark coverage area had, indeed, begun testing for all students, but there were plenty of tense moments, even into Monday morning.
“We have everything, but it was all last minute,” said Thomas Hurlburt, principal of S.E. Gross Middle School in Brookfield-LaGrange Park District 95. “Typically we get materials at least a week ahead of time. The staff is a little bit stressed.”
Last Wednesday, Illinois State Board of Education Superintendent Randy J. Dunn fired off a letter to the publisher of the ISAT test, Harcourt Assessment, complaining of the late delivery of the testing materials to state schools.
“ISBE deems the unacceptable deliveries as a failure by Harcourt to observe and perform its agreements, obligations and duties under the agreement,” Dunn wrote. “As ISBE has communicated during its frequent supercala
