Burlington-Central must file improvement plan
This year, Central Unit District 301 schools are facing a dilemma familiar to many school districts across the suburbs: how to make sense of state testing data that show success at lower grades and challenges at the high school level.
Results on spring standardized tests show that in District 301 schools, students in grades three through eight scored well above the state threshold in reading, with 84 to 94 percent of students at each of those grade levels meeting or exceeding state standards.
In math, District 301's elementary and middle school students did even better. At every level from grade three through eight, at least 93 percent of students met standards this year.
In large part because of the different ways in which results are reported on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (taken in grades three through eight) and the Prairie State Achievement Exam (taken in the 11th grade), test scores at Burlington-Central High School did not appear so stellar.
Fewer than 70 percent of high school juniors met standards in reading, math and science this year. Central's inability to meet state standards two years in a row means the school must submit an improvement plan to the state for the first time.
Central's new principal, Matt Haug, acknowledged the below-par results were partly a product of testing quirks, but he said the school was working aggressively to raise the achievement of the lowest-performing students.
“There is this misalignment between the ISAT and the PSAE,["] Haug said. “Having said that, that's not an excuse.["]
The high school has added a math strategies class and a reading strategies class, both of which target about 40 kids each year who need the most help in those critical areas. The school will also require four-year plans for each of its incoming freshmen.
Central should also benefit from a districtwide push for more assessments to accurately track student growth across grade levels and within an academic year. For example, starting this year, high school freshmen will take the EXPLORE test, which will allow educators to identify areas where students need extra help.
“This gives us enough time to intervene in their sophomore year,["] said Esther Martin, District 301's director of curriculum and assessment.