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District 102 makes adequate yearly progress, except for one category
Updated: January 2, 2012 1:43AM
La Grange Elementary District 102 students met or improved on a number of targets for 2011 standardized test scores and complied with all but one federal expectation for adequate yearly progress.
At the district level, 74.7 percent of students with limited English proficiency met math standards but fell short of the 85 percent benchmark of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Other subgroups of at least 45 students met safe harbor targets — a lower standard allowing those who didn’t meet standards last year to show progress — in reading and math for the Illinois Standards Achievement Test given in March.
Among all students in the district, 90.6 percent met the reading benchmark and 93.5 percent achieved the math goal.
“With our increased emphasis on reading achievement for minority and low-income students, we’re really excited to see grades 3, 5 and decrease the number of students who did not meet standards by about half,” said Lori Gehrke, assistant superintendent for instruction.
“The percentage of Hispanic students meeting or exceeding standards has increased by 12.2 percent over two years,” Gehrke said. “The low-income students have increased steadily over the last two years with an increase of 13.1 percent.”
Gehrke said a combination of efforts and programs resulted in the improved scores.
“We have a real emphasis on all students attaining annual academic growth and additional catch-up growth in areas of reading,” she said. “There are structured additional blocks of time for catch-up growth in reading with interventions to help close that gap sooner and quicker.”
Students improved through a combination of a research-based reading program, afterschool tutoring, full-day kindergarten, summer school, pull-out instruction, highly qualified teachers, differentiated instruction and the efforts of district liaisons with minority students.
“We will continue to focus on mathematics for Limited English Proficiency students to increase the number who meet the state standards,” Gehrke said. “There is a district committee currently investigating ways to meet these students’ needs.”
When looking at all students, Gehrke noted increases in reading scores for students in third, fifth and seventh grades. There were math score increase in third, fifth, sixth and eighth grades.
For the second year, Park Junior High School students made adequate yearly progress in all categories with scores 7 to 10 percentage points above state averages. The highest achievement category is for eighth-grade girls who met or exceeded math standards by 96.2 percent.
Congress Park students fell short of the reading standard with 81 percent meeting or exceeding the goal. There was a gender gap in meeting science standards with 92.6 percent of fourth-grade boys and 71.4 percent of girls making the grade.
Cossitt School complied with all requirements and achieved the 100 percent mark for fourth-grade girls in reading.
Forest Road made the grade, except for economically disadvantaged students with only 68.9 percent meeting reading standards.
At Ogden Avenue School, only 63.3 percent of students with disabilities met the reading requirement, falling short of the 70.6 percent safe harbor target. All of the third-grade and fifth-grade girls met the math standard, and 100 percent of fourth-grade boys achieved the math benchmark.
