HARRISTOWN - Teachers at Harristown Elementary School thought this year's Illinois Standards Achievement Test seemed more difficult than last year's.

"The extended response portion of the math section for third grade seemed grueling," Principal Glenda Weldy said. "I did some one-on-one testing with certain students, and it seemed they really struggled. My teachers thought the third-grade math test was rough."

As the percentage of children who must meet or exceed state standards rises every year under No Child Left Behind - for 2008 that number is 62.5 - schools already face challenges in meeting targets. Yet the Illinois State Board of Education said the test is not more difficult from one year to the next.

"Tests should always be the same level of difficulty from one year to the next (at any given grade level) for comparison purposes," said state board spokeswoman Andrea Preston. "(The greater difficulty) may be a perception more than anything else."

One of the challenging aspects of the ISAT is students are required to give an extended response. It's not enough to simply answer a math question or even to show your work; students must write a paragraph explaining how they arrived at their answer. Though teachers practice that with students, it still raises the level of stress when students are faced with it during the actual test.

Sangamon Valley Superintendent Wayne Honeycutt has heard the same thing from his administrators, that the test seemed more difficult this year.

"That was the message we received from principals and teachers," he said.

Weldy said that on the ISAT, some questions don't count against a student's score because they're pilot questions the state board is trying out for possible use on future tests. Those questions could be more difficult than the "real" questions that will be scored, but neither school personnel nor students know which questions are pilot questions and which are counted.

"There are always field test items included in the assessment, and eventually, they'll go into review, so they can be scored in future years," Preston said. "They're going to go in a review to see their appropriateness for next year."

Valerie Wells can be reached at vwells@herald-review.com or 421-7982.