DECATUR - The federal government requires states to do periodic reviews of their compliance with the No Child Left Behind education reform act, and on Tuesday the Illinois State Board of Education testing review committee met with Norman Webb from the University of Wisconsin.

Webb is known nationwide for his expertise, said Becky McCabe, division administrator for the assessment division of the board, and he put together a group of reviewers from both inside and outside Illinois to scrutinize the Prairie State Achievement Exam.

"Part of the reason (for the review) is to make sure the assessments are aligned to learning standards," McCabe said.

The way to do that, Webb said, is to train the reviewers on the Illinois Learning Standards and how to compare the test questions to the depth and knowledge levels required in the standards. Once that's accomplished, they can examine each section of the test to make recommendations for changes, if necessary.

"Alignment, as we are thinking about it here, is not new," Webb said. "It's been around for a number of years. In the broad scope of things, we're trying to get all the pieces of the system working together to achieve student learning."

The Prairie State exam combines the ACT college exam with two "WorkKeys" assessments, "Reading for Information" and "Applied Mathematics." The ACT covers reading, math and science skills.

Illinois' learning standards, Webb said, are not complicated but are rigorous, making it easier to determine if the test adequately covers the standards expected for 11th-graders, the age at which the Prairie State test is given.

Criteria used to determine that included whether the test adequately covers the content in the standards, whether both the breadth and depth of knowledge are tested and whether the test is balanced (putting equal emphasis on each learning standard).

For example, the reading portions of the test emphasize reading comprehension more than knowledge of literature.

"What (the reviewers) found in regard to literature," Webb said, "is there are a lot of passages, but they didn't think the items required the students to really answer the questions about literature. It deals with the first (language arts) standard, but not the second."

Similar problems cropped up in math and science, but the state of Illinois, he said, could make the argument to the federal government that a multiple-choice test is not the best way to assess a student's knowledge of research and analysis. Wisconsin made that argument five years ago and showed how they measure that in classroom work.

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