School District 65 officials confirmed this morning that Oakton Elementary School Principal Q.T Carter has resigned.
The district administration has been under increasing pressure from parents at Oakton concerned about poor performance by the school’s students on standardized tests.
Mr. Carter, who had been Oakton’s principal for almost 10 years, will take a new job with the district working on a parent involvement initiative and other activities.
School Superintendent Hardy Murphy said he appreciates “the challenges and opportunities” that Oakton presents.
The school, located at Oakton Street and Ridge Avenue in south Evanston, has the most complex instructional program in the district, with regular and special education classes, a strand of the district’s two-way immersion bilingual education program and an African-centered curriculum program.
Parents have complained that the school is burdened with the highest proportion of low income students in the district and that continuing poor achievement test scores have driven an increasing number of middle income parents to switch their youngsters to private schools.
The superintendent, in a news release, acknowledged that “the school is not making the gains that the administration and district expect.”
He said the administration will start looking for a new principal immediately.
Some Oakton parents have an ongoing discussion about conditions at the school on the Oakton School discussion board.