U-46 high schools flunk

For at least the fifth straight year, four Elgin Area School District U-46 high schools failed to meet state standards in reading and math.

Three-year-old South Elgin High School also missed the mark on its first round of state tests.

Scores on the 2006-07 Prairie State Achievement Exams are preliminary, but an initial review shows all five high schools falling well short of having 55 percent of all students, from all targeted groups, meet state standards.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Law, a school is considered failing if less than 55 percent of students from any targeted group pass standardized tests in reading and math.

The groups include students with special learning needs, English learners, black and Hispanic students, and students from low-income families.

At all the high schools, a smaller percentage of students passed in reading, math -- or both -- than last year.

At Bartlett High School, consistently the district's strongest performer on high school tests, 61 percent of students passed the reading test, down from 71 percent last year.

Hispanic students, in particular, struggled at all five high schools.

Less than 16 percent of Hispanic students at Elgin High School passed the reading test.

After touting the gains its Hispanic students made during the 2005-06 year, Bartlett saw just 31 percent of its Hispanic students pass the reading test, down from 49 percent last year.

While U-46's high schools have struggled year after year on state tests, elementary and middle schools have posted solid gains.

In 2005-06, all 40 elementary schools met state standards.

Last year, just one missed the mark, based on the scores of its special education students.

"We're hoping that improvements at elementary and middle schools will continue to translate to higher scores at the high school level as those students continue through the system," U-46 spokesman Tony Sanders said Friday.

For the first time, U-46 is expanding its curriculum roadmap, which guides and standardizes instructions at the lower levels, to the high schools.

Sanders also noted that the late release of the 2005-06 scores -- which did not arrive until March, about the time students took the 2006-07 tests -- made it difficult for Illinois schools to use the data to make improvements.

Two years ago, U-46 increased the rigor of its high school curriculum, as the state ramped up graduation requirements. For example, all U-46 freshmen are now required to take algebra, and struggling students are placed in math classes for a period and a half.

U-46 officials had hoped the changes would pay dividends on the 2006-07 tests.

U-46 high schools get failing marks

Here are the percentages of juniors at the five Elgin Area School District U-46 high schools who met or exceeded standards on the Prairie State reading and math tests taken in the spring. The passing grade is 55 percent.

Reading Bartlett Elgin Larkin S.Elgin S'wood

All students 61.4 34.3 50.1 44.1 43.6

White 64.8 63.2 65.1 47.2 49.3

Hispanic 31.2 15.8 31.9 30.3 32.2

Asian/Pac. Islander 72.7 - - - -

Limited English - - 44.4 - 57.9

Students w/disabilities 12.2 - - - 13.3

Low income 40.0 18.7 30.3 24.1 33.5

Math Bartlett Elgin Larkin S.Elgin S'wood

All 61.9 37.2 44.9 50.4 44.9

White 65.9 59.7 61.2 56.7 56.8

Hispanic 27.3 23.0 26.5 34.8 24.0

Asian/Pac. Islander 77.9 - - - -

Limited English - - 16.7 - 24.6

Students w/disabilities 12.2 - - - 6.7

Low income 44.3 21.2 22.4 27.6 24.5

Note: Black students are not listed because no high school had enough black juniors to qualify as a separate group under the federal No Child Left Behind law. Dashes indicate which schools did not have enough of the students in that category for a subgroup.

Source: Elgin Area School District U-46