IPSD News
Superintendent's Message on Test Scores
Reported by janet_buglio@ipsd.org on 9/15/09
At last night's board of education meeting we spent time reviewing the results from Indian Prairie's 29,000 students who took standardized tests last year. I'm excited to share with you results that show our students continue to have strong, stable scores that are well above state averages.
As a district, 92.8 percent of students met or exceeded state standards on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) for the combined reading, math and science tests.
Other highlights include strong math achievement scores, with all elementary and middle school grades tested achieving scores from 92.4 to 95.2 percent.
Reading scores ranged from 88.9 percent in third grade to 93.2 percent in eighth grade.
Science is another area where students showed outstanding achievement, with 91.5 percent of fourth-grade students and 92.4 percent of seventh-grade students meeting or exceeding standards.
The district's ACT composite score of 23.8 showed an increase of 0.4 compared to the state's increase of 0.1. Our students continue to outperform the state average of 20.8 and the national average of 21.1.
While the district's overall scores show high achievement, the district did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as measured by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in three subgroup areas: special education reading and math and economically disadvantaged reading.
Five of the district's 33 schools did not reach this year's NCLB target because students in subgroup categories did not meet NCLB standards: Neuqua Valley High School, Waubonsie Valley High School, Hill, Granger and Scullen Middle Schools.
I recognize that many are critical of NCLB because it is difficult for a district to have subgroups meet NCLB benchmarks. I personally believe the strength of NCLB is that it not only focuses our attention on the academic performance of subgroups, but on individual students that need the most help. It also creates focus on the other end of the spectrum to help us challenge high-performing students to increase their academic performance so they far exceed standards. As a result, we are writing stronger school improvement plans to deliver academic support to our students.
We are also first in the nation to enter a partnership with ACT to assess our sixth and seventh graders. We hope this innovative approach increases educational opportunities for students by providing instructional improvement programs targeted toward college readiness standards. I was invited to attend a Superintendent's Symposium last month in Washington D.C. that focused on practical solutions for increasing college and career readiness. At the symposium, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan shared information regarding upcoming national standards and innovation funds. We intend to be well informed and ahead of this movement and believe our partnership with ACT will help our students be best prepared for the future.
I invite you to review the academic achievement presentation materials from the September 14 meeting. The video is online at Academic Achievement Summary Video and the presentation slides are at the link below.
Academic Achievement Summary Slides (pdf)
Sincerely,
Kathy Birkett
Superintendent
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