Dist. 204 meets most of its student achievement goals
A nitty-gritty look at data from this year's state report card shows Indian Prairie Unit District 204 met most of its own goals in improving student academic achievement.
“The thing I'm really excited about is that we've shown growth,” said Michael Popp, director of school improvement and planning.
The district aimed to increase the percentage of students in each grade who exceed state standards, to raise test scores of 8th, 10th and 11th graders taking the Explore, Plan and ACT tests, and to close achievement gaps in subgroups of students including minority students, those receiving free or reduced lunch (FRL), students with learning disabilities (IEP) and limited-English proficient students (LEP).
Out of 82 specific goals set by District 204 officials, 60 were met or surpassed, said Patrick Nolten, director of research and assessment. For instance, more students in all grades exceeded state standards in math than in previous years. When it came to district goals in other areas: 11th graders exceeded science and writing goals; fifth, eighth and 11th graders surpassed reading goals; and most student subgroups met district goals in reading, writing, math and science. Students met or came very close to meeting district improvement goals on the Explore, Plan and ACT tests. To see specific figures, go to http://www.boarddocs.com/il/ipsd/Board.nsf/files/8B3U2A79E86C/$file/Microsoft+PowerPoint+-+Board_Goals_1-3_nov_2010_update1.pdf.
“It's useful in that it gives us a global, overall snapshot of how the district is functioning,” Nolten said. “It's not diagnostic, but it does show us strengths and weaknesses. Math is probably our greatest strength, and writing is probably the area we've got to focus the most on.” He cautioned against reading too much into small gains and losses in various grades and noted that the district's expectations for its students are high. “There's a pretty organized effort to push our students academically as far as they can go and to make sure that all kids are challenged,” he said.
While the state plans to assess only 11th graders in writing next year, the district will continue assessing all its students. School officials use the report card data to tweak instruction depending on student needs that may vary by school. Many of the district's schools are solely working on increasing the number of students who exceed state standards, while others are trying to reach Adequate Yearly Progress goals mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Those schools include Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools; Crone, Fischer, Granger and Gregory middle schools; and Georgetown, Longwood and McCarty elementary schools. By 2013-2014, the Act requires 100 percent of students to meet progress standards.
The district performed well on the state report card with more than 89 percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards in reading and more than 92 percent in math under the No Child Left Behind mandate. High school students received a 23.9 percent composite ACT score, above the state average of 20.7 and more than 93 percent of students meet or exceed state standards on the Illinois Standards and Achievement Test.