Low test scores among two subgroups of students at West Chicago Middle School pushed District 33 just out of reach of a federally mandated Annual Yearly Progress goal last year, according to a state Report Card released last week.
Students with disabilities and students with limited English proficiency at the middle school scored well below the reading standards set forth by the Illinois State Board of Education, even as other subgroups in the school and all elementary schools met the AYP standards in both reading and math for the second straight year.
Districtwide, 68.8 percent of students met testing standards in reading and 78.8 percent met math standards.
“As a whole student body, they were well above the 55 percent benchmark and the benchmark for next year,” Superintendent Ed Leman said. “Every school will have a subgroup of students that’s going to be struggling.”
Leman said the district has already initiated several intervention programs designed to improve test scores, including a reading intervention program and Problem Solving, a program to assess individual students and cater instruction to their specific needs.
“All of our (schools) are expanding their Problem Solving method,” Leman said. “It’s not a simple or quick change in practice but we’re moving in that direction.”
School Board President Dave Barclay said the data from the Report Card will also help the board evaluate annual School Improvement Plans created by teachers. The board informally approves the plans and offers suggestions to make sure the schools are getting the resources they need to make the goals set forth in the plans.
“We got more data this year and that will help us do a better job as well,” Barclay said.
The ISBE grades school and district achievement once a year based on student scores on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, administered to grades three through eight, or the Prairie State Achievement Examination, given to eleventh-graders. Yearly goals increase by 7.5 percent each year to establish a timeline for achieving 100 percent proficiency by the 2013-2014 school year, as required by the No Child Left Behind Act.
| All students | White | Latino | Limited English Proficiency | Students with disabilities | |
| *ISAT Reading | 68.8 | 83.9 | 61.7 | 57.6 | 35.3 |
| *ISAT Math | 78.8 | 92.5 | 72.5 | 67.2 | 52.6 |
| **AYP Goal | 55 | 55 | 55 | 55 |
42.8 (Reading) 55 (Math) |
*Percent meeting or exceeding testing standards on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test.
**Subgroups with low performance in previous years are given a Safe Harbor Target lower than the Annual Yearly Progress goal of 55 percent. The subgroup can meet AYP standards by meeting the Safe Harbor Target.
—Source: Illinois State Board of Education
