Burlington Dist. 301 aces state tests

For the most part, Central Community Unit District 301 sailed through state tests this year.

Four of the Burlington-based district's elementary schools and one middle made federal No Child Left Behind benchmarks (called Adequate Yearly Progress,) with 70 percent or more of student meeting standards in both reading and math, up from 62.5 percent in 2008. Its high school and remaining middle school missed the mark, but barely.

"We're pretty excited," said Esther Martin, District 301's director of curriculum and instruction.

Lily Lake Elementary in Maple Park earned the highest marks, with 93.6 percent of students in third through sixth grades meeting standards in reading, and 98.2 percent meeting them in math. Country Trails and Prairie View elementaries in Elgin and Howard B. Thomas Elementary in Burlington were not far behind, with more than 80 percent of students meeting benchmarks in reading, and more than 90 percent of students meeting them in math.

At the middle school level, Central Middle School in Burlington made Adequate Yearly Progress, with 91.9 percent of seventh- and eighth- graders meeting standards in reading, and 93.3 percent in math. While 93.1 percent of Prairie Knolls Middle School students met standards in reading and 95.3 percent in math, the school did not meet state standards because of the scores of its students with disabilities.

According to the federal No Child Left Behind Law, specific subgroups within a school, including low-income students, learning-disabled students and English-language learners must meet the rising standards on both the reading and math portions of state tests. Otherwise, the entire school fails to make Adequate Yearly Progress.

Because there is a concentration of special education students at Prairie Knolls, and their scores count along with the rest, the school as a whole didn't meet state standards.

Bilingual students across the district didn't either.

The group failed to make AYP, with 41.1 percent of students meeting benchmarks in reading; 62.3 percent in math.

For the second year in a row, English language learners were required to take the same test as kids who grow up in an English speaking households. All third- through eighth-grade students are now required to take the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, and high school juniors must take the Prairie State Achievement Examination.

"That's the frustrating part," Martin said. "... How do you service students who speak the language well but are tested in English? It's a challenge. We just have to examine how we can improve that service even better."

At Central High School in Burlington, juniors met benchmarks on the Prairie State Achievement Exam - a two-day test composed of the ACT and the practical WorkKeys examination - in reading but not in math. Last year, the school met standards in both subjects.

"We need to look at the numbers and try to move forward," Martin said. "Learning (the results of the scores) helps. Any data helps us to drive instruction.

District 301 is voluntarily releasing data to the public early. The state board of education will publish results for districts across the state later this fall.