Busy year school year gets rolling in Dist. U-46

Nearly 40,000 Elgin Area School District U-46 students went back to the books Wednesday for what promises to be a busy year for the state's second largest school district. Among the things to watch for are:

Boundary changes

The long awaited results of a capital planning and facilities study, released in mid-July, found several schools packed to the brim and in need of quick relief.

Hillcrest Elementary in Elgin was found to be the most overcrowded campus, at 130 percent capacity this past school year with 656 students. Lincoln Elementary in Hoffman Estates; Coleman, Highland, Fox Meadow, Lords Park and Lowrie elementary in Elgin; Nature Ridge Elementary in Bartlett; Oakhill Elementary in Streamwood; Laurel Hill Elementary in Hanover Park; Kenyon Woods Middle School in South Elgin; Larkin High School in Elgin and Streamwood High School were also among some of the most overcrowded.

The district's Citizens Advisory Council will look for relief at those schools first, with boundary changes expected to be approved by December.

Class size targets

District officials have heralded a new initiative to lower student-teacher ratios in U-46's 40 elementary schools to 25:1 in general education kindergarten through third-grade classes and 28:1 in fourth- through sixth-grade classes. Old targets were set at 28:1 for kindergarten through second grade and 29:1 for third- through sixth-grade classes.

However, with several schools found packed to the brim in the recently released capital planning study, how well is this expected to work out?

District spokesman Tony Sanders noted that class size targets are only that, targets. District data on individual schools' class sizes should be available in the coming weeks.

Test scores

Without the IMAGE test for students new to English, U-46 saw 19 of 40 elementary schools, three of eight middle schools and all five of its high schools fail to meet federal No Child Left Behind benchmarks on last year's report cards.

This year, the bar has been raised again - with 70 percent of a school's students expected to meet or exceed state standards in reading and math on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test and the Prairie State Achievement Exam, up from 62.5 percent last year. ACT scores released last week found that high schoolers across the district made modest gains on the test in 2008, with some schools' composite scores up by a point. Could this be a telltale sign of improved scores? The state will release 2009 report cards this fall.

New initiatives

Along with lower class size targets, several new programs will be introduced in U-46 schools this year.

Average achieving seventh- and ninth-graders will take part in Advancement Via Individual Determination study skills courses to help them develop better organizational and critical thinking skills, with the aim of performing well in more challenging courses.

Middle schoolers now have the option of taking world language classes for the first time.

Writing intensive curriculums have also been implemented at the elementary, middle and high schools.