Dist. 204 fairly happy with state test results

Indian Prairie Unit District 204 administrators again are beaming with pride over their students' "strong, stable scores that are well above state averages."

As a district, 92.6 percent of the district's 29,000 students met or exceeded state standards on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test for the combined reading, math and science tests.

"I'm never totally satisfied because we can always do a little better," Superintendent Stephen Daeschner said. "But I'm very happy with our gains. It shows we are continuing to add value to our children as they go through our schools."

Some district highlights include math achievement scores, ranging from 92.3 percent meeting or exceeding standards in eighth grade to 96.1 percent in third grade.

Reading scores ranged from 89.9 percent meeting or exceeding standards in third grade to 93.5 percent in eighth grade.

Science is another area where students achieved, with 91.7 percent of fourth graders and 92.7 percent of seventh graders meeting or exceeding state standards.

Daeschner attributed the success to "focus and time."

"I think that we are blocking our time better to make sure that we spend the appropriate time on reading, writing, math and science," Daeschner said. "And our intervention program has proved to raise scores that are lower than they should be."

Only 77.8 percent of elementary and middle school students met or exceeded standards in writing, but that is up from 67.5 percent last year.

"The main reason for that is that we did not concentrate on writing the year before," Daeschner said. "We did last year and got a nearly 12 percent bump, so I have no reason not to believe we won't get another big bump this year."

While the district made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as measured by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, four of the district's 31 schools did not reach this year's federally mandated target of 62.5 percent of students in each category meeting state standards. Last year's target was 55 percent.

Gombert Elementary reached the goal in all categories except for reading among economically disadvantaged students. Still Middle School's students with disabilities fell short in reading.

Waubonsie Valley High School made progress in all areas except African-American students' reading and math scores, Hispanic students' reading, students with disabilities scored in reading and math, and reading scores for economically disadvantaged students. Neuqua Valley made progress in all areas except African-American students' math scores.

"Test scores show the majority of our students are achieving at very high levels, but we must continue to focus on our students who are not meeting standards," Daeschner said. "The kids are doing a good job, but we're going to move the rigor up a notch or two because these kids can handle it. The more kids we get to exceed, the better we'll be overall."