James R. Sorenson, Tips for Passing the Basic Skills Test
James R. Sorenson, Director of Golden Apple Scholars, 1999 Golden Apple Fellow
April’s Best Practice is for pre-service teachers and their mentors, especially those residing in Illinois. Jim has compiled a user-friendly annotated list of links to helpful sites to help students pass the Illinois Basic Skills Test.
The Basic Skills Test is a state-mandated assessment of students’ competency in reading, language arts, math, and writing. Here is what we are hearing: (1) the test is presently harder to pass than in years past, (2) there may not be a correlation between a student’s GPA and the results of this test, (3) students may not take the test more than five times.
This means that some potentially good teachers will never become certified in Illinois, if they do not pass this exam. Golden Apple encourages our pre-service teachers to be proactive and prepare for this test, so Jim, working with our university partners, has compiled this helpful support.
Also, Jim offers a special thanks to our friends at the University of Illlinois/Chicago, especially Jennifer DeLago, Coordinator of Advising and Registration, in the College of Education for her helpful contributions to this list.
If you are a student, please check with your individual university’s or program’s requirements regarding this test.
James R. Sorensen, Director of Golden Apple Scholars, is a 1999 Golden Apple Fellow who became a full time staff member in June 2006. He has taught language arts, literacy, social studies, and science for thirty-four years at Chippewa Middle School in Des Plaines Elementary School District #62. The Illinois State Board of Education commended him with a Those Who Excel Award of Merit in 1992, and the North Suburban Library Association named him Community Advocate of the Year in 2003 for his service projects bringing children into the library. He received his BA from NIU and his MA from Concordia.