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SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate recognize the
3critical importance of reading proficiency for children to
4prepare for college and careers in the 21st century workplace;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, The most important period for development of
7reading proficiency is kindergarten through grade 2; and
 
8    WHEREAS, The State of Illinois in 2000 authorized and
9funded the development of a multifaceted, classroom-based
10literacy assessment that provides data to design meaningful
11instruction in order to identify students in need of additional
12attention and to enable all children to meet the Illinois
13Learning Standards as measured by the Illinois Standards
14Achievement Test in grade 3; and
 
15    WHEREAS, This assessment, known as the Illinois Snapshot of
16Early Literacy (ISEL), was developed collaboratively by
17Illinois institutions of higher education, classroom teachers,
18and administrators throughout our State; and
 
19    WHEREAS, ISEL has been used beneficially to help guide
20instruction for thousands of Illinois schoolchildren, thus
21proving its value in literacy development and subsequent

 

 

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1advanced reading skills; and
 
2    WHEREAS, ISEL is owned by the State Board of Education; and
 
3    WHEREAS, ISEL is research-based, valid and reliable,
4endorsed by national literacy experts, and aligns closely to
5the Illinois Learning Standards and Common Core State
6Standards, which have been adopted by Illinois; and
 
7    WHEREAS, ISEL is made available by this State to all
8Illinois schools in paper form free of charge; and
 
9    WHEREAS, ISEL is complemented by a sophisticated
10technology platform that was funded by this State, the Chicago
11Community Trust, and other charitable foundations and was
12developed by the Center, Resources for Teaching and Learning,
13an Illinois 501(c)(3) organization that has worked closely with
14the State Board of Education and other State agencies for the
15past 40 years; and
 
16    WHEREAS, ISEL can be administered by school districts at a
17substantially lower cost per student than any other
18technology-based commercial assessment instrument, thus saving
19schools a substantial amount of money; and
 
20    WHEREAS, ISEL was designed by this State and its

 

 

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1collaborators to work effectively with any computer operating
2system and mobile device, thus further reducing the cost of
3using this instrument; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Illinois has adopted the Common Core State
5Standards and is a member of the Partnership for Assessment of
6Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC); and
 
7    WHEREAS, Other states have received recognition for the
8national use of assessments and other diagnostic instruments
9developed with their own resources; and
 
10    WHEREAS, PARCC plans to develop a K-2 formative assessment
11for early literacy; therefore, be it
 
12    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL
13ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we endorse and
14encourage the use of ISEL by Illinois schools and by the
15additional 21 states within the PARCC consortium; and be it
16further
 
17    RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois formally encourages
18ISBE to make ISEL available to the other states within the
19PARCC consortium so that their students and teachers may
20benefit from this excellent assessment, developed in Illinois
21by Illinois early literacy experts, institutions of higher

 

 

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1learning, educators, and administrators; and be it further
 
2    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
3delivered to the Chairperson of the State Board of Education
4and the PARCC governing board.