Although scores for white students rose in Community High School District 99, the district still failed to achieve adequate yearly progress — with black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students falling further behind.

To have met AYP, as required by the No Child Left Behind Act, 70 percent of all students, and all subgroups, had to meet or exceed expectations in math and reading on the Prairie State Achievement Exam, which includes the ACT.

Compared to last year, almost all subgroups but white students went down by about 2 to 13 percent in both reading and math. Students with disabilities increased by 3 percent points in math.

District 99 Superintendent Mark McDonald said although the district’s overall performance is above the standard, each subgroup must make the mark for the district to achieve AYP.

“One year, one group is successful — we focus our efforts on another group, then that group drops off,” McDonald said. “It’s been a confounding issue for us. We’re not making excuses, but it is a confounding issue for us.”

The AYP is based off of the Prairie State Achievement Exam from the class of 2010 and the ACT scores of the class of 2009.

Subgroups are defined by each state under the No Child Left Behind. The groups are broken up by white, black, Asian, Hispanic, disabled and economically disadvantaged students. Each district has to have at least 45 students in each group for it to be considered a subgroup, according to Mary Biniewicz, assistant superintendent for student learning.

The district’s goal for 2010 is to have 77.5 percent of all students meeting or exceeding expectations in reading or math, as required by federal law, according to McDonald. By 2014, 100 percent of students nationwide must meet or exceed standards.

The assessments show that students are improving in their performance, but not enough to make the AYP, McDonald said.

There are more students now that are capable of doing high-level work, attending college, succeeding in the high tech work place, he said.

“We think that’s very positive,” McDonald said.

But despite the overall improvement, there are some groups of students who are struggling.

White students were the only subgroup to have met AYP. In reading, 79.7 percent of white students exceeded standards, while 81.2 percent of the same group succeeded in math.

The other subgroups in District 99, missed AYP by as much as 40 percent. Still, the subgroups at District 99 were still above state averages — and even exceeded them by 10 to 30 percent for both portions of the test.

The ACT scores have also exceeded state standards. The class of 2009 scored nearly two points above the state average, and a little more than one point above the national average.

Nationally, the average score was 21.1 while the state of Illinois had a 20.8 average. Community High School District 99 had a 22.7.