As Illinois student performance standards get tougher each year, more schools are falling short of the mark, according to statewide report cards released this week.

While most western suburb schools’ overall tests scores were well above the state requirements, the results show that in many cases low-income students and students with disabilities are below the standard.

The annual report cards track performance for the federal No Child Left Behind Act. This year’s reports for the roughly 4,000 schools and 869 districts in Illinois were posted online at iirc.niu.edu Friday, Oct. 30.

Out of DuPage County’s 231 elementary, middle and high schools, 55 did not make the grade this year, up from 36 last year.

While many of the substandard schools performed well overall — in almost half, the entire student body performed better than the state average — the schools often fell short because of low grades among certain demographics. In 35 of the schools, for example, students with disabilities did not meet the standard in math or reading.

Officials at Woodridge School District 68 said they are satisfied with their scores in the report cards, but they acknowledge more work needs to be done.

While the district failed to make AYP, only a small percentage of students in subgroups are not meeting the standards.

Rebecca Surber, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for District 68, said the district continues to outperform state averages.

“We’re well aware, though, that we will need to continue to improve in all areas at an accelerated rate if we are to meet NCLB’s goal of all students meeting or exceeding in 2014,” Surber said.
One of the areas the district has progressed during the last year is in reading.

“This has been a focus of the district’s, with the implementation of a new literacy curriculum, the addition of literacy coaches and the development of a literacy enrichment program at the elementary level,” Surber said.

Three schools in District 68, Jefferson Junior High and Meadowview and Edgewood elementary schools, failed to meet AYP standards. Each school had one subgroup that did not meet standards.

“Designations like the ones given to these schools fail to acknowledge successes like 90 percent of all eighth-graders at Jefferson meeting state standards in reading, all sixth-graders at Meadowview meeting or exceeding in writing, and 92 percent of all fifth-graders at Edgewood meeting or exceeding in writing,” Surber said.

District 68 lengthened the school day this year by 35 minutes to provide students with additional instructional time. “Although NCLB and AYP have placed a heavy emphasis on low- achieving students, District 68 is committed to addressing the needs of all children along the spectrum,” Surber said.

The report cards are based on the results of two statewide tests, one taken from third to eighth grade and the other given during junior year of high school.

Each school’s report card breaks down the scores into smaller student demographics. These subgroups — based on race, socioeconomic status or other factors — are measured if a school has 45 or more students in the group.

For a school to achieve adequate yearly progress, a certain percent of the entire student body and each subgroup has to pass the bar in both math and reading. In 2009 the minimum is 70 percent.

If after four years the school still has not made adequate progress, the district has to draft a more intensive restructuring plan for the school, and that plan is put into place after five years of not making progress.

The state gives school districts several options for the fifth-year restructuring plan, such as reopening as a public charter school, replacing much of the teaching staff or overhauling the curriculum. School districts tend to go with that last option, said Melina Wright, the No Child Left Behind liaison for the Illinois State Board of Education.

Seven years after the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted, some schools still are not making progress even after the fifth-year restructuring. And the law does not require additional steps.

“The law is silent,” Wright said. “For whatever reason the law does not address what happens beyond the restructuring phase.”

Next year, 77.5 percent of students have to pass, and the goal is to have 100 percent of Illinois public school students passing by 2014.