U-46 approves improvement plans for three schools

In hopes of staving off further state and federal sanctions, the Elgin Area School District U-46 school board has signed off on improvement plans for three schools labeled "failing" by 2008 state report cards.

Like the district as a whole, Oakhill Elementary in Streamwood, Larsen Middle School in Elgin and South Elgin High School each failed to meet state standards in reading and math for at least the last two years.

While Oakhill made Adequate Yearly Progress in 2006, Larsen has been labeled failing for the past six years. South Elgin did not make Adequate Yearly Progress in either 2007 or 2008.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind law, a school is considered failing if less than 62.5 percent of students from any targeted group pass standardized tests in reading and math.

The groups include students with special learning needs, English learners, black and Hispanic students, and students from low-income families.

Oakhill failed because fewer than 62.5 percent of students learning English met standards in reading.

To improve, Principal Patricia Barrett said the school will focus on developing vocabulary and reading comprehension.

English language learners will use focused literacy computer programs both during and after school, Barrett said, and practice reading both long and short passages with more involved vocabularies.

Parents will be asked to complete reading logs charting their children's work, she said. At Larsen, which also failed because of low reading scores among English language learners, Principal Randy Hodges said struggling students will be able to participate in intervention classes before and after school.

Progress will be monitored through grades and the district's Measure of Academic Progress test, Hodges said. At South Elgin High School, Hispanic students did not meet benchmarks on the reading or math portions of the Prairie State Achievement Examination. White students also missed the mark in math.

To make gains next year, college readiness standards have been infused into the school's curriculum, Principal Melanie Meidel said.

Low-performing students will receive one-on-one English tutoring and teachers will learn to make instruction more relevant to Hispanic students, she said. Like those of the three schools, a districtwide improvement plan also was approved by the board.

In all, 19 of 40 U-46 elementary schools, three of eight middle schools and all five of the district's high schools failed to meet benchmarks in 2008.

In 2007, 39 of 40 elementary schools passed.

District officials blame the drop in elementary scores on the elimination of the Illinois Measure of Annual Growth in English test for English-language learners. Instead, the state now requires those students to take the same tests as their peers. All third- through eighth-grade students were required, for the first time, to take the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, and high school juniors must take the Prairie State Achievement Examination.

The improvement plan includes providing more professional development in reading and for bilingual teachers across the district, more intervention programs before and after school, and sharing goals with some of the district's community advisory groups, Superintendent Jose Torres said.

All four plans will be submitted to the state.