The state’s annual accountability report for Evanston/Skokie District 65 schools showed that its schools met the achievement goals for mathematics for all subgroups, but did not meet the goals in reading for black students and students with disabilities.
The state’s annual accountability report for Evanston/Skokie District 65 schools showed that its schools met the achievement goals for mathematics for all subgroups, but did not meet the goals in reading for black students and students with disabilities.
Nevertheless, the percentage of students in the district meeting or exceeding standards in reading and mathematics has improved every year since 2008, with 87 percent of students meeting or exceeding the standards in reading and 92 percent in mathematics.
The report was presented at a special 7:30 a.m. meeting Thursday of the district’s Board of Education.
The Illinois State Board of Education develops and administers the tests to third and eighth graders each year. The report split out the results for each school in the district.
Seven schools met their targets for the 2010-11 school year. They were Dewey, Lincolnwood, Orrington, Walker, Washington, Willard, and Bessie Rhodes.
Dawes met the target for all subgroups in math, but not in reading for Hispanic students.
Kingsley and Lincoln met the targets for all subgroups in math, but not in reading for economically disadvantaged students.
Oakton met the targets in math, but did not meet the target for all students in reading.
Chute did not meet the target for students with disabilities in reading or math.
Haven did not meet the target for black students in reading and did not meet the math target for students with disabilities or economically disadvantaged students.
Nichols met the target for all subgroups in math, but did not meet the reading target for students with disabilities.
King Lab met the target for all subgroups in math, but did not meet the reading target for economically disadvantaged students.
The full report is available on the district’s website.
The wording “all students” is deceptive
At Oakton, just as in all the other D65 schools, there is an achievement gap. However, the population at Oakton is not the same as other schools in the district. White students at Willard score the same as white students at Oakton, but at Oakton they are a minority and don't even show up in the AYP scores. Same with the students of color at Willard who are in the minority there– they don't even show up. If you're skeptical you can look up AYP info on the Illinois Schools Report Card website.
When I read in article after article that our school hasn't met our target for reading with "all students" that upsets me. It upsets me because our struggling subgroups' scores continue to rise in reading. There is a segment of our school population that is meeting and exceeding in math AND in reading. This doesn't get explained. The district needs to dispute or explain this poor wording because it doesn't properly acknowledge the hard work of our students and wonderful staff.