Round Lake High School looks to improve report card

Buried under mountains of debt, things looked grim for Round Lake Area Unit District 116 back in 2002. The district racked up $14 million in short-term debt with no hope of paying it off. Under the threat of a shutdown, the state board of education took control of the district's finances.

And now, six years later, there's been a dramatic comeback. Their financial house is in order, and they hope to regain local control this summer.

So with one major distraction out of the way, school administrators are looking forward to focusing on improving student's academic performance, particularly at Round Lake High School. Results from the state's report cards released today show student scores well below state averages.

"We are looking forward to 'stage two,' " said Principal Kurt Sinclair. "We had a clear plan for fixing our finances, now we have a clear plan on improving student learning."

The annual report showed 48 percent of junior students scoring below standard in reading. Math scores weren't much better, with 43 percent scoring below standard. That's worse than the state averages of 37 percent below standard for science and 36 percent for math.

But Sinclair and his staff have implemented a number of new initiatives they say will have a positive impact on student performance.

"The thing we're most excited about is our new collaborative school schedule," Sinclair said.

He said this is the first year where teachers have taken a "team approach." "They are all the same page now," he said. "Whether it's math or English or science, they are all teaching the same content."

There are daily 45-minute meetings when the teachers gather together to discuss strengths and weakness of the curriculum and share ideas that are working in their own classrooms. "They are talking to each other," Sinclair said. "They are sharing strategies and techniques. It's a powerful idea."

In addition to the team-teacher approach, Sinclair said they will be adding two AP courses in studio art and Spanish raising the AP offerings to 11 classes. They have also raised the credits needed for graduation to 23.5 from 22. "We are really focusing on curriculum now," he said.

Math teacher Garry Ebel says he's happy the financial mess is out of the way.

"I'm excited that we are looking at and talking about core academics," he said.

The 21-year veteran Round Lake High School teacher says he's glad the subject of money isn't dominating the conversations these days. "We're talking about college expectations and ACT scores and are focused on what's most important," he said.