ISAT Scores and NCLB Requirements Continue To Rise

Preliminary 2011 Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) results indicate District 15 continued to excel academically last year as the requirements of federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation continued to climb.

District 15’s analysis of its 2011 ISAT scores indicates that the District and its schools met approximately 87 percent (169 of 194) of their academic measures for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward NCLB’s goals, and 95 percent (406 of 431) of their total AYP measures.

“Overall, we are pleased with our progress toward making AYP, especially now that the requirements for doing so are escalating so quickly,” said Mary Zarr, assistant superintendent for curriculum, special services, and school improvement.

NCLB’s goal is for all students to meet or exceed standards in reading and mathematics by 2014. So each year the state calculates a school’s adequate yearly progress toward that goal to determine if students are improving their performance. Illinois continues to raise its AYP target 7.5 percentage points each year. For instance, in 2011, Illinois’ AYP target climbed from a requirement that 77.5 percent of all students and all qualifying demographic subgroups meet or exceed state standards in reading and math, to a requirement that 85 percent do so.

According to the 2011 ISAT results, 15 of the District’s 19 reporting school’s made AYP in reading while 16 did so in math. In all, 85.7 percent of the District’s students are meeting or exceeding state standards in reading while 96.1 percent are meeting or exceeding them in math.

Mrs. Zarr presented these preliminary results to the Board of Education during its August 10 meeting, and noted two specific highlights from this year’s report. First, the District made AYP in its Limited English Proficiency (LEP) subgroup for the first time since the 2006-07 school year. LEP students must take the same test in English as other students even if their ACCESS scores indicate they are not yet proficient in English.

“We are extremely proud of this achievement, as this is an area we have focused on as a District for a very long time,” said Mrs. Zarr, offering her congratulations to Cheryl Wolfel, Ed.D., the District’s director of second language programs, and to the teaching staff across the District.

Mrs. Zarr also congratulated the staff at Thomas Jefferson School, who raised reading achievement across the board in every category. In 2010, the school’s Hispanic, LEP, and economically disadvantaged subgroups did not make AYP in reading. In 2011, the school made AYP in those categories, increasing the number of students in those three subgroups who met or exceeded state reading standards by 15.2, 17.5, and 11.9 percentage points, respectively.

“They put together an extremely strong plan of action to accommodate the needed interventions, and that resulted in huge gains for all of the subgroups,” Zarr said.

When the complete 2011 Illinois School Report Cards for District 15 and its schools are available from the state later this fall, they will be posted on the District’s website, www.ccsd15.net.

Story Submitted by Community Consolidated School District 15