District 113A Sees Academic Success Despite Increasing Standards, Financial Constraints

In a year when 80 percent of Illinois school districts failed to meet standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, stands as a glaring exception.

According to 2011 school report card data released last month, District 113A was one of only 172 districts out of 868 to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress, which is defined as having 85 percent of students meet state standards in testing.

READ MORE:

Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, all students must meet or exceed state standards in the subjects of reading and mathematics by 2014. Since 2003, the state of Illinois has used AYP to determine whether students are improving their scores based on annual benchmarks.

The state of Illinois uses scores from the Prairie State Achievement Examination (PSAE), the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) and the Illinois Alternate Assessment (IAA) to measure student improvement. The ISAT is administered to students in third through eighth grade, while the PSAE is taken by all high school juniors. Students with disabilities are administered the IAA.

This year, the state's target for students meeting or exceeding math and reading standards was 85 percent—a 7.5-point increase from 2010. The benchmark was hit by all four District 113A schools—each of which improved upon last year's test results.

Last year, Old Quarry and River Valley failed to make AYP after missing benchmarks in subgroups (students with disabilities and limited English proficiency). This year, however, the district met requirements in all categories.

Old Quarry and River Valley will remain in State Improvement Status, as schools must make AYP two years in a row to have the designation removed.

In an email to Patch last week, District 113A Superintendent Tim Ricker, Asst. Superintendent Mary Gricus and Director of Student Services Susan Wulczyn said they "are very proud of the work teachers and staff have done, especially under present conditions."

"We are very pleased with the results, particularly for two sub-groups (students with disabilities and English Language Learners) that achieved AYP this year, after not meeting the previous year," they said. "We commend all members of the school team who contributed to these results: the principals who led their staffs in analyzing the data to determine which efforts required the most focus; the teachers for using the data to guide their instruction; the parents for creating environments that support student achievement; and the students for their hard work."

Increasing Achievement in Large Classes

Perhaps the most dramatic increase reflected on the district's report card was the jump in class sizes — a direct result of the $3.56 million cut to the 2010-2011 budget, which included the loss of 70 employees district-wide.

In 2011, the pupil-to-teacher ratio jumped to 26.9 — up from 20.2 in 2010. The state average, according to the report card, is 18.8.

The average class size for each grade level is shown in the table below.

During the Oct. 18 meeting of the District 113A Board of Education, Ricker said the district anticipated the challenges of growing class sizes and limited resources, but maintained focus on individual students and targeted intervention.

"The success with our general student population and our subgroups is the direct result of the perseverance of the principals, teachers, support staff and parents who worked diligently to address the individual needs of students despite challenging class sizes," he said. "The implementation of system-wide curricular changes in reading and math as well as the addition of several academic interventions also contributed to our students' success." 

Especially noteworthy, Ricker said, is that a higher percentage of students met or exceeded the state standards for reading and mathematics this year compared to the last two years.

"The staff and teachers were monitoring our progress with local assessments throughout the year and felt we had worked especially hard to make our target progress," he said.

Additionally, District 113A scored above state average across all state tests. The district had 89.5 percent of students meet or exceed standards in 2011, while the state had only 76.5 percent.

On the ISAT, District 113A had 89.7 percent meet or exceed standards, while only 82 percent of students met or exceeded standards statewide.

State Seeking NCLB Waivers

With 92.5 percent of students expected to meet or exceed state standards in each of the next two years, the number of schools failing to make AYP is likely to increase, according to state officials.

This summer, President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced that the U.S. Department of Education would consider waiving specific provisions of the No Child Left Behind law in exchange for states agreeing to targeted reforms.

From the Huffington Post: "Obama's No Child Left Behind Package Offers Waivers in Exchange for Teacher Evaluations, Standards"

The Illinois State Board of Education announced last month that the state will seek "flexibility" from No Child Left Behind through the federal waiver process.

“We need a realistic, measurable accountability system based on growth and individual student progress rather than an absolute, unattainable goal handed down from Washington,’’ State Board of Education Chairman Gery J. Chico said in a news release. “Illinois will request a waiver that builds upon the Board’s goals to better prepare every student for success in college and careers, raising expectations for all students and closing achievement gaps.”

District 113A officials said they appreciate the benefits of No Child Left Behind, primarily "the culture of academic achievement by all students." However, the benchmark for academic success is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve, and may not accurately reflect the progress made by schools and individual students, they said.

"I have yet to meet an educator that finds No Child Left Behind standards reasonable," said District 113A Board Member and official spokesperson Lisa Wright. "As a parent and a board member, I appreciate the data collected under No Child Left Behind, but we need to put that data to better use for individual students, celebrate their strengths and continue to work on their weaknesses."

Ricker said the district is in favor of a growth model "that will allow schools to meet AYP by demonstrating that students in the most challenging subgroups have made gains over time." The district also hopes to see flexibility through the federal waiver process.

"The new growth models states are permitted to utilize show promise in their ability to address individual achievement trajectories as well as achievement in the aggregate, and likely will be embraced by many school communities, including our own," he said.

Editor's Note: Later this week, we'll take a look at one school — — and the methods its teachers have used to make academic gains over the past few years.